How To Import Items Into QuickBooks Pro

Products and services are the bread and butter of small businesses. But you can’t start sending invoices for items until you have actual items to invoice. That’s why we’re going to teach you how to quickly and easily import your items into QuickBooks Pro.

If you’ve been following our QuickBooks Desktop Pro 101 Series, then importing your items is going to be a breeze. If not, don’t worry.

We’ve broken the process down into 7 easy steps.

Import Your Items

To import your items, begin by going to File>Utilities>Import>Excel Files…

Note: QuickBooks Pro recommends creating a backup company file before importing your items or products.

Step 1: Select “Products I Sell”

You’ll be taken to a screen that asks if you’re importing “Customers,” “Vendors,” or “Products I Sell.”

Click “Products I Sell.”

You should then be taken to a screen that looks like this:

Note: If your Excel file is already formatted like QuickBooks Pro’s Customer Import template, skip this step and click the “Advanced Import” section on the right-hand side of the screen to complete your import.

If this is your first import (or if you haven’t disabled this message), you’ll see a popup box warning that you can’t undo imported information. Don’t worry. Simply click “yes” to continue importing your products.

Step 2: Copy & Paste Your Item Data

Next, you’ll need to copy the data from your existing Excel file (ours is on the right) and paste it into the QuickBooks Excel template file (on the left).

If you hover over a cell, QuickBooks Pro will give you instructions on what type of information should be included there. You’ll also find an example of how to format each cell above the column headings.

You can save the following customer information in QuickBooks:

• Product Name
• Description
• Sales Price
• Manufacturing Part Number
• Tracked as Inventory

If you are tracking inventory, it’s important to know that QuickBooks Pro automatically puts “No” in the Tracked Inventory Excel column. You’ll have to manually change this to “Yes” for inventory items.

Step 3: Resolve Any Issues

Before you complete the import process, make sure there are no errors in your file. If there is an issue, QuickBooks Pro will put a message in the error box on the top left-hand side of the file and a red warning triangle in the corner of the problematic cell.

Even if there is an error, QuickBooks will tell you what’s wrong and how to fix it.

Step 4: Click “Add my Data Now”

Once all of your data is entered correctly, click the “Add My Data Now” Button.

Step 5: Save Changes

Since we haven’t saved the changes we made to our QuickBooks Excel template, we’ll need to save them now. Click “Save & Add My Data Now.” (If you click “I’ll Add My Data Later” you will lose your progress.)

Then you’ll need to save the file on your computer.

Step 6: Select the Appropriate File

After you save the document, the saved document should automatically appear in the box below. If not, click “Browse” and select the appropriate file.

Step 7: Import Your File

Click the blue “Add My Data Now” button on the bottom of the screen.

You should then be taken to a screen that looks like this:

Now your items have been successfully imported! You can view your item list to see the proof for yourself.

If you’ve been following our QuickBooks Desktop Pro 101 series then you’ve already imported your contacts, vendors, and items, which means you can move on to the fun stuff! Keep watching our QuickBooks Desktop Pro 101 Series for the latest installments.

If you have any troubleshooting issues, check out the QuickBooks Community or call QuickBooks directly. Don’t forget to check out the rest of our QuickBooks Desktop Pro 101 Series to learn how to add items, import customers, import vendors, and more.

Overwhelmed by QuickBooks Pro? Maybe it’s time to switch to QuickBooks Online. QBO is easy to use, cloud-based, and affordable. Best of all, you can easily import your QuickBooks Desktop data into QuickBooks Online. Check out our full review on QuickBooks Online for more details.

Outgrown QuickBooks Pro? Switch to QuickBooks Premier. It’s the same QuickBooks Desktop software you love but with more users and advanced, industry-specific features, which we cover in our QuickBooks Premier review.