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Category · Leaving QuickBooks Desktop

Leaving QuickBooks Desktop?

A price rise, a renewal reminder, or a "lifetime" licence that has stopped working. Before you decide where to go, get your data out safely. Here's a checklist, and the newer options owners are moving to.

Start with the checklist No sign-up. Nothing to buy from us.
A red and black USB flash drive plugged into the side of a silver laptop
Photo: Mrs Chimpanzeee on Unsplash

Sound familiar?

Owners asking recently

What we keep hearing: the move itself is the easy part. The worry is losing years of history if the licence stops before the data is out. Intuit's own help answers differ on whether you can still open a Desktop file after a subscription lapses (some say view-only for a while, others say not without an active licence), so export everything while QuickBooks still opens.

The export checklist

Do this while your subscription is still active. It takes an afternoon.

  1. Write down your version and licence number. Press F2 in QuickBooks to see the product information screen.
  2. Back up the company file. File > Back Up Company > Create Local Backup. Copy the backup file (.qbb) to a USB drive or cloud storage, away from this computer.
  3. Export the main reports to Excel for every year you want to keep. Open each report, set the dates, and use the Excel button:
    • Profit and Loss, and Balance Sheet
    • Trial Balance at each year-end
    • General Ledger
  4. Export what's open today: A/R Aging Detail (customers who owe you) and A/P Aging Detail (bills you owe). If you hold stock, add Inventory Valuation Detail.
  5. Export your lists: Reports > List > Customer Contact List, Vendor Contact List, Item Listing and Account Listing, each to Excel.
  6. If you run payroll in QuickBooks: export the Payroll Summary and Employee Earnings Summary for each year, and keep copies of the payroll tax forms you filed.
  7. Copy any attached documents. If you attached receipts or bills in the Doc Center, save those files to a folder too.
  8. Check every file opens, then keep two copies in different places.
We put this checklist together ourselves. Check with your accountant that it covers everything you need, including how many years of records to keep.

Where to go next

What each option says about itself, on its own website. A conversion copies your whole file, so read what each one says about security and about what it leaves behind.

Staying on Desktop, or moving to QuickBooks Online yourself

Staying on Desktop

  • Intuit says there's no sunset deadline for Desktop 2024, and that it will keep version 24.0 up to date for years to come
  • If Desktop still suits you and the price works, keep your subscription current and accept the in-product updates
From Intuit's own help articleIntuit's note →

Moving to QuickBooks Online yourself

  • Intuit's own migration, built into Desktop. Intuit says there's no charge
  • Moving into a QuickBooks Online company that already has data replaces it, and can't be undone
Stated by Intuit

Moving to new software

Jet Convert

Owners moving into Xero in the US, Australia or New Zealand

Country not stated on its site (serves the US, Australia and New Zealand)

Into Xero · Xero's conversion partner

  • Converts QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online into Xero
  • US Standard package: $0, fully subsidised by Xero. Covers the current and previous financial year, with up to 2 more years at $150 each
  • US Accelerate package: $470 after Xero's subsidy, with 3 previous years and phone support before the move
Standard $0 · Accelerate $470 · each extra year $150 (currency not stated)Visit site → · Xero App Store →

MMC Convert

Anyone moving between many systems, worldwide

Country not stated on its site. Offices in Melbourne, London, Chicago, Dubai and Indore

Into Xero, QuickBooks Online, Zoho Books and more

  • Converts many systems into Xero, QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent, Zoho Books and more
  • From A$399 for software other than QuickBooks Online, MYOB or Reckon, with extra years from A$85
From A$399 · extra years from A$85Visit site →

Balances

Small businesses wanting accounting run with an AI agent

United States US · San Francisco · founder Alex Campbell

A newer all-in-one option · AI agent you teach

  • Small-business accounting in the browser and on iPhone
  • Imports fully from Wave. For QuickBooks and Xero, it says "the agent guides your changeover"; it doesn't mention a direct Desktop import
  • Pro US$20 per business a month, Global US$40, 14-day free trial
Pro US$20 · Global US$40 per business a month · 14-day free trialVisit site →

Facts as shown on each provider's own site or app listing, checked 15 Oct 2026. Jet Convert's prices show a $ sign with no currency, so we show them the same way. MMC Convert's prices are in A$. Balances' prices are in US$.

What usually doesn't move

Products and stock, bank rules, recurring invoices, payroll and budgets are the usual ones. See the full list on our page Moving a client's books →

Want a shortlist for your setup?

Tell us what you use now and what's getting in the way, and we'll reply with the tools that fit.

Free checklist Email us

info@in2fpa.com

How we pick

First Contact is a small marketing team. We aren't paid by any provider on this page and these aren't endorsements. We list newer or niche tools that solve the problem owners are asking about, using only what each one says on its own site. QuickBooks Online and Xero appear only as destinations.

Not accounting advice. Talk to your accountant or bookkeeper before you move your records.

Spotted something wrong, or want your tool listed? Email info@in2fpa.com.