Smartsheet has no built-in Smartsheet QuickBooks integration. A Smartsheet employee said so on its community in 2023. You have four ways to connect them: the Connector for QuickBooks Online that SoftwareX lists on Smartsheet's marketplace, a Zapier zap, Data Shuttle loading a QuickBooks report into a sheet on a schedule, or, for QuickBooks Desktop, the time export in Smartsheet Resource Management. Where they stop: someone still exports the report, matches projects to customers, and checks that each invoice went over once. AI agents do that matching and checking, and send your team what doesn't agree.
What a Smartsheet QuickBooks integration has to do
Smartsheet is where projects get planned: budgets, due dates, who owns each row. QuickBooks is where the real money sits: invoices, bills and payments. With no link, someone copies numbers from one to the other by hand, and the project sheet shows a budget nobody has checked against what was spent.
Most teams want one of two things. Actual costs and payments from QuickBooks shown next to the budget in each project sheet. Or rows that are ready to bill in Smartsheet turned into invoices in QuickBooks, once and only once. A good connection does the one you need and tells you when a number doesn't match.
Four ways to connect Smartsheet and QuickBooks
None of them is made by Smartsheet or Intuit for the pair. Each one is an app, a zap or a file.
Connector for QuickBooks Online by SoftwareX
- How it works
- Listed on Smartsheet's marketplace. The listing says it moves data both ways, lets you map QuickBooks fields to Smartsheet columns and set filters, and can run in real time, on a schedule or when you ask. You get it by selecting Contact SoftwareX on the listing; a specialist then contacts you.
- Good for
- QuickBooks Online teams who want a set connection built for them, in both directions.
- Where it breaks
- The listing doesn't say which QuickBooks data it carries, and there is no self-serve setup. Each user needs access to both programs.
A Zapier zap
- How it works
- Zapier's Smartsheet app starts a zap on New Row or Updated Row, and can Add Row to Sheet or Update Row. QuickBooks Online can start one on events like New Invoice or New Payment, and its actions include Create Invoice and Create Estimate.
- Good for
- One clear job, like an invoice in QuickBooks Online when a row is marked ready to bill.
- Where it breaks
- Each zap is one trigger and one action. A zap that starts on Updated Row starts again on each later edit, so it needs its own check to stop a second invoice.
Data Shuttle with a QuickBooks report
- How it works
- Data Shuttle is a Smartsheet premium app. It loads an Excel, CSV or Google Sheets file from OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Box or a sheet attachment into a sheet, on a schedule. You export the QuickBooks report to Excel and save it where Data Shuttle can see it.
- Good for
- Budget against actual on project sheets, where a daily or weekly number is enough.
- Where it breaks
- Data Shuttle reads files, not QuickBooks, so someone exports and saves the report first. Smartsheet caps a run at 20,000 rows when merging and 5,000 when replacing.
Arkeo agents
- How it works
- Agents read the project rows in Smartsheet and the invoices, payments and reports in QuickBooks, match each project to its customer, fill in the actuals, check each ready-to-bill row has one invoice, and send your team what doesn't agree.
- Good for
- Project and service firms that plan in Smartsheet and bill from QuickBooks, with nobody free to do the matching.
- Where it breaks
- Anything your rules keep for a person, like a project over budget or an invoice that needs a change, goes to the owner in one message.
How to connect Smartsheet to QuickBooks with Data Shuttle and Zapier
This is the route most teams can set up on their own. Each vendor's guide has the full screens.
- 1Decide which way the numbers move
Write down the one job first: actuals into Smartsheet, invoices into QuickBooks, or both. Add a column that holds the QuickBooks customer or project name exactly, so rows can be matched.
- 2Export the QuickBooks report to Excel
In QuickBooks Online, go to Reports, then Standard reports, and open the report. Select Export, or Export/Print in the new layout, then Export to Excel. Save the file to OneDrive, Google Drive or Box.
- 3Build a Data Shuttle upload workflow
Open Data Shuttle from Launcher, select the add button, then Upload Data. Set the source file and the target sheet, merge on your matching column, map the columns, and set a schedule. Data Shuttle uses UTC.
- 4
For invoices, build a zap
In Zapier, start with Smartsheet's New Row or Updated Row on your billing sheet and add QuickBooks Online's Create Invoice. Add a filter on a ready-to-bill column and write the invoice number back to the row.
- 5
On QuickBooks Desktop with Resource Management, export time
In Resource Management, run a Time and Fees report, then select Export Time Entries for QuickBooks to get an IIF file. In QuickBooks Desktop, import it from File, Utilities, Import, then create the invoice.
What still has to be done by hand
Each route moves numbers. None of them knows which project a QuickBooks line belongs to, or whether an invoice already went out.
The report still has to be pulled. Data Shuttle reads a file in OneDrive, Google Drive or Box. QuickBooks Online saves an exported report to your computer, usually the Downloads folder, Intuit's guide says. So each time, someone exports the report and moves it where Data Shuttle can find it, or the sheet shows last month's numbers.
Projects and customers have to match. A row called "Smith kitchen" in Smartsheet and a customer called "Smith, J." in QuickBooks are the same job only to a person. On Smartsheet's community, owners asked for years for actual costs against budget per project and per expense category. The replies point them to Data Shuttle, the API or Zapier.
Billing loops back by hand. In one long thread on Smartsheet's community, a team that builds invoices in Smartsheet described their week: a report of rows ready to bill, an export to Excel, an import into QuickBooks Desktop with another app, then going back to mark each row as exported. Others in the thread asked how to do the same with less clicking.
And the fine print adds limits. A Data Shuttle run takes up to 5,000 rows when it replaces the sheet. The Resource Management export works only with QuickBooks Desktop on a PC. The SoftwareX listing doesn't say which QuickBooks data it carries.
The agents that do it
Each agent does one job from start to finish, in your own Smartsheet and QuickBooks. Your team talks to them in Slack or Teams.
Bills go out on time, and late payers get caught.
- Checks finished work against each client's planat month end
- Builds the invoiceper client
- Flags unpaid invoicesevery week
Status updates written without a meeting.
- Pulls what got done, what is late and what is nextevery Friday
- Writes the status update for each clientevery Friday
- Sends it to your teamFriday afternoon
Questions
Is my customers' information safe?
Yes. Agents work in your own Smartsheet and QuickBooks and see only what their job needs. Customer details never go into public AI. Agents connect to AI through business-grade connections audited under SOC 2.
Does Smartsheet integrate with QuickBooks?
Not on its own. A Smartsheet employee wrote on its community in 2023 that there is no specific Smartsheet integration for QuickBooks. You connect them with the SoftwareX connector, Zapier, Data Shuttle, or the Resource Management export for QuickBooks Desktop.
Is there a QuickBooks Smartsheet integration for QuickBooks Desktop?
Smartsheet Resource Management can export time entries as an IIF file that QuickBooks Desktop on a PC can import. For Smartsheet sheets, you export the Desktop report to Excel and load it with Data Shuttle.
What does it cost?
You get the price on the call, along with the hours it saves your team.
Sources
- smartsheet.com: connector quickbooks online
- help.smartsheet.com: create data shuttle upload workflow
- help.smartsheet.com: export to quickbooks
- quickbooks.intuit.com
- zapier.com: smartsheet
- community.smartsheet.com: quickbooks smartsheets
- community.smartsheet.com: quickbooks smartsheet
- community.smartsheet.com: smartsheet integration with quickbooks