Connecting Eano to QuickBooks Online means your jobs and your books finally tell the same story. Expenses you log on site show up in your accounting. Invoices you send clients land in QuickBooks the moment they go out. Payments flow back so your records stay current — no double entry, no spreadsheet exports, no wondering whether the two systems agree.
This guide is the big-picture tour: how to connect, what moves between the two systems and in which direction, and the handful of things worth understanding so the sync stays boring and reliable — which, for accounting, is exactly what you want.
If you’d rather watch than read, here’s a quick walkthrough: QuickBooks integration overview.
The Mental Model: One Ledger, Two Doors
The easiest way to think about the integration is that your financial data lives in one shared ledger with two doors into it — Eano and QuickBooks — and each kind of record has a preferred door.
Expenses can come through either door. Enter a bill or charge in QuickBooks and it flows into Eano for job tracking; record an expense in Eano and it’s pushed to QuickBooks. For expenses you enter in QuickBooks, QuickBooks stays the source of truth.
Invoices go out through Eano. You create and send them in Eano, and a matching invoice appears in QuickBooks.
Payments come back through QuickBooks. Record a payment there and the invoice’s status updates in Eano automatically.
Accounts flow from QuickBooks to Eano, so the categories you pay from are the same ones your accountant already uses.
Hold onto that picture and the rest of this guide is mostly common sense.
If your QuickBooks plan supports projects, you can go one level deeper and link an Eano project to its QuickBooks counterpart, so each job’s expenses and invoices land in the right project on both sides — Eano can even create the QuickBooks project for you. That’s a separate, gradually-rolling-out feature with its own walkthrough: Syncing Projects with QuickBooks.
Before You Connect
A couple of things to have in hand:
An Admin or Owner role on your Eano team. Only Admins and Owners can connect or disconnect QuickBooks and change sync settings.
A QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced subscription with Purchase Orders enabled. Eano records your expenses in QuickBooks as Purchase Orders, so this feature isn’t available on the lower QuickBooks Online tiers. You’ll also need to be an admin on the QuickBooks side to authorize the connection.
QuickBooks Desktop isn’t supported — the integration works with QuickBooks Online only.
Connecting Your Account
Connecting takes just a few minutes, and it all happens from your Finance tab.
Open the Finance tab and find the Connect with QuickBooks button in the Income section. Give it a click.
Choose your sync start date — how far back you’d like Eano to reach when pulling in your QuickBooks history. “This Year” is the default and a great starting point for most teams, but you can pick Last 30 Days, Last 7 Days, or a custom range. (This date only matters for data coming from QuickBooks — more on that below.)
Sign in to QuickBooks in the pop-up window, review the access Eano asks for, and click Authorize. The pop-up shows a quick success animation and closes on its own.
Set your sync toggles. Once connected, Eano starts importing right away, and you’ll see switches that control what stays in sync going forward. Flip on the directions you want and click Done.
The four toggles are:
QuickBooks Expenses to Eano — brings your QuickBooks expenses and bills into Eano.
QuickBooks AP Accounts to Eano — keeps your accounts-payable categories in sync.
Eano Invoices to QuickBooks — sends invoices you create in Eano over to QuickBooks.
Eano Expenses to QuickBooks — pushes expenses you record in Eano into QuickBooks.
They’re all on by default so data flows freely both ways. Turn any of them off if you’d prefer a one-way street for that kind of data.
Each QuickBooks company can be linked to one Eano team at a time. If your QuickBooks account was connected to a different team before, that older connection is gracefully retired when you set up the new one — no data is lost on either side.
Expenses: A Two-Way Street
Expenses are the records that move most, and they can travel in either direction. Here’s what happens each way.
When you enter an expense in QuickBooks
Bills, credit card charges, and other purchases entered in QuickBooks are imported into Eano so you can tie them to jobs. Each one carries its key details across:
The vendor or supplier on the transaction
The amount and the transaction date
How it was paid — credit card, check, cash — with credit card charges flagged
Its paid status: a bill with an outstanding balance comes in unpaid, a fully paid one comes in paid, and when you later pay that bill in QuickBooks, the matching Eano expense flips to paid on its own
Every line item, plus the currency if you work in more than one
QuickBooks stays the source of truth for these, so edits and deletions there flow through to Eano. If an imported expense isn’t tied to a job yet, you can assign it to one once it appears in Eano.
Choosing which expenses come in
Not everything in your QuickBooks books belongs on a job. The company card that buys lunch, the payroll run you’ve already captured through timesheets, the owner’s draw you keep separate — pulling those into Eano just adds noise, and sometimes double-counts money you’ve already tracked another way.
So you get to choose. In your QuickBooks settings, right under the QuickBooks expenses toggle, there’s a panel called Expense Accounts — Choose which expense sources in QuickBooks to import. It lists the categories you file purchases under in QuickBooks — your expense, cost of goods sold, and other expense accounts — nested exactly the way you’ve nested them there. Uncheck anything you’d rather Eano left alone. You’ll see the same panel while you’re first connecting QuickBooks, so you can set it before any history comes across.
A few things worth knowing about how it behaves:
Everything starts checked. Whether the connection is brand new or has been running for months, the default is to import all of it. Nothing changes until you uncheck something.
Parent accounts carry their sub-accounts. Unchecking a parent unchecks everything nested under it, and checking it brings them all back. Click the arrow next to a parent to expand it and pick through its sub-accounts one at a time — a parent with some children on and some off shows a dash instead of a checkmark.
It only applies going forward. Turning an account off stops new expenses in it from coming over. Expenses already in Eano stay exactly where they are — unchecking a box never deletes anything.
A purchase that spans several accounts comes in if any one of them is checked. Say an electrician’s bill splits across rough materials and labor, and you’ve turned rough materials off but kept labor on. The bill still imports, once. Eano leans toward bringing a transaction in rather than losing it.
Uncheck everything and the sync switches off. That’s the same as saying you don’t want QuickBooks expenses at all, so Eano turns the QuickBooks expenses toggle off and tells you why. Your selections are remembered either way — turn the sync back on later and they’re just as you left them.
Accounts you add in QuickBooks later don’t slip in unnoticed. A brand-new top-level account starts unchecked, so a category you set up months from now can’t quietly fill Eano with expenses you weren’t expecting. A new sub-account under a parent whose other sub-accounts are all checked joins them and starts checked. Either way, check the box and re-import if you want its history.
Your changes save the moment you click. If you’re heading straight into a re-import, give the checkboxes a second to land — the button greys out briefly while they save so a change can’t get lost in the shuffle.
Only Admins and Owners can change these settings, and they apply to your whole team.
When you enter an expense in Eano
Expenses you record in Eano are sent to QuickBooks as Purchase Orders, so they’re easy to spot and never overwrite anything in your existing books. Along the way:
The category you pick in Eano (Labor, Rough Material, Finish Material, and so on) files the Purchase Order under a matching EANO-prefixed expense account, which Eano creates automatically the first time it’s needed.
Each Purchase Order is tagged with a reference number that links it back to the original Eano expense, so you can always trace where it came from.
An open expense becomes an open Purchase Order; mark it paid in Eano and the Purchase Order closes to match.
Only the structured data is sent. If you snapped a receipt photo, that stays in Eano.
Best practice: start your expenses in Eano whenever you can, ideally from inside the specific project. They’ll line up with the right job automatically and flow to QuickBooks without a second thought.
A note on re-importing
If you ever re-import your QuickBooks expenses, Eano pulls a fresh copy of everything in the date range you pick, from the accounts you’ve kept checked. Anything it already has is updated to match QuickBooks rather than duplicated, so you won’t end up with two of each.
It’s also how you catch up an account you’ve just switched on: check the box, then re-import over the stretch of history you want. Expenses from accounts you’ve unchecked are skipped and left as they are.
Invoices: From Eano to Your Books
Invoices flow one way — you create and send them in Eano, and a matching invoice appears in QuickBooks the moment you send it. Drafts stay in Eano until you’re ready, so nothing reaches your books prematurely.
Each synced invoice arrives in QuickBooks as a full record, complete with:
The client’s name, email, phone, and address from the project
The invoice number, the invoice date, and the due date
Every line item, with its description, quantity, and price
Any additions or discounts, your client-facing notes, and file attachments
One clean line item. Every line is filed under a single product called “Eano Service,” with the line’s own description, quantity, and price riding along on the line itself. That keeps your QuickBooks products-and-services list tidy — it doesn’t sprout a brand-new item for every line you’ve ever invoiced. Eano creates the “Eano Service” item automatically the first time it’s needed.
When a client pays. Whether they pay by card, ACH, or another method, the payment is recorded in QuickBooks too, with any processing fees handled so your deposit matches what actually hits your bank.
Editing and voiding. Edit an invoice in Eano and the linked QuickBooks invoice updates to match — and changes made directly in QuickBooks sync back to Eano, so the two stay aligned whichever side you work on. Eano lets you void an invoice but not delete it, and voids travel to QuickBooks automatically. Voiding keeps the record on the books but zeroes it out, which preserves the sequential numbering and audit trail that accountants and tax authorities expect — deleting would punch a hole in that history.
Choosing Where Invoices Land
When the invoice sync is on, a Data Mapping section appears in your QuickBooks settings, giving you two controls over how invoices show up in QuickBooks:
Destination — choose which QuickBooks account a client’s payment is deposited into. Eano pulls in your real accounts, so you just pick the right one. If you don’t choose, Eano falls back to a sensible default.
Customer name — decide what names the QuickBooks customer: the client’s name (the default), their company, the project address, the project name, or the project ID. Pick whatever matches how you organize QuickBooks.
Both apply to invoices going forward and never rename invoices already in QuickBooks. The customer-name choice matters more than it looks, which leads straight into the next section.
Keeping Your Customer List Clean
When an Eano invoice syncs, it attaches to a QuickBooks customer matched by exact name. To the matcher, “120 W Oak Ave” and “120 West Oak Avenue” are two completely different customers — so a little consistency up front saves a lot of cleanup later.
Pick one naming convention and stick with it. Decide whether your QuickBooks customers are organized by client name, company, or project address, set it in your Data Mapping settings, and then leave it alone. Switching back and forth creates the same job under several different customers, with invoices scattered across them. There’s no single right choice — the right one is the one you’ll actually keep.
Write names and addresses the same way every time. Small differences create separate customers. Pick a format — “St” or “Street,” ZIP or no ZIP, with or without “LLC” — and be consistent. Make sure the field you’re mapping is actually filled in before the first invoice goes out.
If duplicates have already crept in, merge them in QuickBooks into the one record you want to keep; going forward, Eano matches new invoices to that one. Decide which version is your “real” one before merging, since merging in QuickBooks can’t be undone.
Running into duplicate customers, split projects, or odd invoice numbers? Our guide to fixing and preventing duplicates has the full playbook — what causes each kind, how to clean it up, and how to keep it from coming back.
Managing the Connection
You can manage everything from the QuickBooks settings on your Finance tab — reconnect, disconnect, check your connection status, and adjust your sync toggles and Data Mapping.
If something doesn’t seem to be syncing, the first moves are usually: confirm you’re connected to the correct QuickBooks company, check that the relevant toggle is on, and — if needed — disconnect and reconnect.
Disconnecting simply stops the live sync. Your existing data stays put in both systems, and you can reconnect any time using the same steps.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
Only Admins and Owners can connect or disconnect QuickBooks and change sync settings. If the options look grayed out, that’s why.
The sync start date only applies to data coming from QuickBooks — your expense and accounts-payable imports. The two Eano-to-QuickBooks directions don’t use a date range at all; they send data as you create it going forward, not retroactively.
Changing a setting never rewrites history. Adjusting your customer-name mapping, destination account, or any other setting only affects records synced from that point on. Previously synced records keep what they had.
The sync is only as tidy as the data you feed it. Almost every messy QuickBooks list traces back to the same client or job being described two slightly different ways. Consistency at the point of entry beats any cleanup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do I connect QuickBooks — Settings or Finance? From the Finance tab. Look for the “Connect with QuickBooks” button in the Income section.
Why don’t I see my QuickBooks accounts in Eano? Make sure the integration is connected, you’re using the correct QuickBooks company file, and you have admin permissions on the QuickBooks side. If needed, disconnect and reconnect.
Why aren’t my expenses syncing? Check that the expense was created after the integration was connected, that no required fields are missing, and that you’re still connected to the right QuickBooks company.
What happens if I edit something in QuickBooks? For records QuickBooks owns — bills, payments, and accounting categories — changes there flow into Eano. For example, paying a bill in QuickBooks marks the matching Eano expense as paid.
Does my receipt photo get sent to QuickBooks? No. Only the structured data syncs — amount, vendor, date, category, and description. The receipt image stays in Eano, where you can always find it on the expense.
Will I get duplicate invoices or payments if I re-sync? No. Eano keeps a private link between each Eano invoice and its QuickBooks counterpart, so editing or re-sending updates that same invoice and payment rather than creating a second one.
Will re-importing my QuickBooks expenses create duplicates? No. Eano recognizes an expense it has already imported and updates it to match QuickBooks instead of adding a second copy. A re-import covers the date range you pick and the accounts you’ve kept checked in Expense Accounts.
How do I stop a whole category of QuickBooks expenses from coming into Eano? Open your QuickBooks settings from the Finance tab and uncheck it in the Expense Accounts panel under the QuickBooks expenses toggle. New expenses in that account stop coming over right away. Ones already in Eano stay — remove those yourself if you don’t want them.
I unchecked an account, but its old expenses are still in Eano. That’s on purpose. Unchecking changes what comes in from here on and never deletes anything you’ve already got, so a stray click can’t wipe out your history.
I created a new expense account in QuickBooks and nothing is importing from it. New top-level accounts start unchecked, so nothing arrives from a category you haven’t reviewed. Open Expense Accounts, check it, and re-import if you want the transactions already sitting in it.
My QuickBooks expenses toggle turned itself off. Why? You unchecked every account in the Expense Accounts list, which Eano reads as “don’t import any of these.” Turn the toggle back on and your previous selections come back exactly as they were.
An expense is split across two accounts and I only want one of them. What happens? It comes in. As long as one account on the transaction is still checked, Eano imports the whole expense once rather than dropping part of it.
Why can I void an invoice but not delete it? Deleting an invoice erases it from your records entirely, which breaks the audit trail and sequential numbering that accountants and tax authorities rely on. Voiding cancels the invoice’s financial effect while keeping the record on the books — the standard accounting practice, built into both Eano and QuickBooks.
Can I use QuickBooks Desktop? No. The integration supports QuickBooks Online only.
What happens if I disconnect QuickBooks? No new data syncs, your existing synced data stays in both systems, and you can reconnect any time.
Related Articles
Syncing Projects with QuickBooks — linking Eano and QuickBooks projects, and letting Eano create the QuickBooks project for you automatically.
Fixing and Preventing Duplicates in Your QuickBooks Sync — the full playbook for duplicate customers, split projects, and odd invoice numbers.
Creating Invoices in Eano Pro — the three ways to create an invoice before it syncs.
What Your Payment Milestone Statuses Mean — how payments flow back from QuickBooks and what each status tells you.