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Migration Guide

Switch from QuickBooks to LeaseBase

QuickBooks is great for accounting — but it wasn’t built for property management. No units, no leases, no tenants, no compliance. Export your financial data and let LeaseBase handle the rest.

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What You Can Export from QuickBooks

Data TypeDesktopOnline (QBO)
Chart of AccountsIIF, CSV, Excel, PDFExcel (XLSX), PDF
Customer/Vendor/Item ListsIIF, CSV, ExcelExcel (XLSX)
Financial Reports (P&L, Balance Sheet)CSV, Excel, PDFExcel (XLSX), PDF
Transaction RegistersCSV, ExcelExcel (XLSX)
Invoices, Bills & PaymentsCSV, Excel, PDFExcel (XLSX), PDF
1099 DataCSV, ExcelExcel (XLSX)

Common misconception: IIF files (Desktop) can only export lists, not transactions. To export transactions from Desktop, use CSV or Excel. QBO Online exports primarily as Excel (XLSX) — save as CSV using File → Save As in your spreadsheet app. Row limits: 32,770 (CSV), 65,536 (XLS).

Step-by-Step: Export Your Data from QuickBooks

QuickBooks Online (QBO)

Step 1. Log in to QuickBooks Online and go to Reports.
Step 2. Run the Profit & Loss by Customer report (if you track tenants as customers). This gives you income per tenant.
Step 3. Click the Export icon and choose Export to Excel. QBO exports as XLSX — you can save as CSV from Excel if needed.
Step 4. Export your Customer List from Sales → Customers → Export to capture tenant names and contact info.
Step 5. If you use Classes for properties, export the P&L by Class report to get per-property financials.

QuickBooks Desktop

Step 1. Open QuickBooks Desktop and go to Reports → Company & Financial.
Step 2. Run the reports you need (P&L, Balance Sheet, Transaction Detail). Click Excel or Export in the toolbar.
Step 3. For customer/vendor lists, go to File → Utilities → Export → Lists to IIF Files. Note: IIF exports lists only, not transactions.
Step 4. Upload all exported files to LeaseBase.

How LeaseBase Imports Your Data

1. Upload — Drop your CSV, XLSX, or PDF files into LeaseBase. Upload one file or many at once.
2. AI Classifies & Extracts — Our AI identifies each document type and extracts property names, tenant names (from your customer list), and financial data. QuickBooks doesn’t have property/unit/lease concepts — our AI maps your Classes, Customers, and Items to real property entities.
3. Review & Confirm — Smart entity matching resolves name and address variations. Green means auto-matched, amber means confirm. Nothing changes until you approve.

What Gets Imported

Properties

Mapped from QB Classes, custom fields, or lease docs

Units

Created from sub-classes or lease documents

Tenants

Names and contacts from your QB Customer list

Leases

Terms, dates, and deposits from uploaded lease PDFs

Financial history from QuickBooks is exported for your records. LeaseBase starts fresh with rent collection — tenants pay through your new LeaseBase tenant portal. You can continue using QuickBooks for accounting alongside LeaseBase.

Why Landlords Switch from QuickBooks

  • Built for property management. LeaseBase has native concepts for properties, units, tenants, and leases — no more shoehorning rentals into Classes and Customers.
  • Compliance monitoring included. California rent caps, deposit limits, and required disclosures for 60+ cities. QuickBooks has zero compliance awareness.
  • Tenant portal and online rent collection. Tenants pay online, submit maintenance requests, and access their lease. No separate payment app needed.
  • Keep QuickBooks if you want. Many landlords use LeaseBase for property management and QuickBooks for tax accounting. They work well side by side.

Ready to add real property management?

Export your tenant and financial data from QuickBooks, upload to LeaseBase, and have a real property management system running in an afternoon.

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Start your switch →