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How does the integration work?

What does Garde send to QuickBooks? Invoices and journal entries. Invoices show up in Accounts Payable as bills, so you can pay them in QB like you always have. Journal entries cover your daily sales data, inventory adjustments, and non-AP expenses. How does data actually move between the two? Through QuickBooks Web Connector. Unlike the QBO integration (which is cloud-to-cloud), Desktop requires you to run a sync from within QuickBooks. When you hit “Update” in Web Connector, Garde reads your chart of accounts and vendor list, then pushes any queued transactions into your company file. You decide what gets queued. In manual mode, you pick each transaction. In auto mode, everything queues up on its own and you just run the sync when you’re ready. Most people start manual and switch to auto within a few weeks. (More on that below.) Can I have multiple Garde locations flow into one QuickBooks company file? Yes. You can keep locations separate in Garde for clean record-keeping and have them all export into the same QB file. Classes are a good way to keep the data organized in QB, but not required.

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Will Garde mess with my QuickBooks?

No. Do I control what goes in and when? Yes, both. For content, you control:
  • How invoices are coded (category totals, dates, vendor settings)
  • What sales entry lines are included and how they’re categorized
  • Inventory adjustments don’t post to QB until you close them in Garde
For timing:
  • Manual mode (the default) — nothing goes to QB without your say-so
  • Invoices are processed 24–48 hours after Garde receives them, then they wait for you to approve
  • Auto mode queues everything automatically, but nothing actually enters QB until you run Web Connector
That last point is worth repeating: with Desktop, you always have a final gate. Even in auto mode, data only flows when you run the sync. Does Garde edit my vendors or chart of accounts? No. Garde reads your chart of accounts and vendor list. It never edits, updates, or deletes anything in your company file. Can I split a product across different accounting categories? Yes. You can split by percentage — 30% of lemons to the bar, 70% to the kitchen. Learn more about product categories. Does Garde change transactions after they’ve posted? Never. Once an invoice, payment, or sales entry is in QuickBooks, Garde won’t touch it. If you need to fix something, delete it in QB and resend from Garde. Does Garde control payment terms? No. Payment terms come from QuickBooks. When Garde sends bills, due dates are based on the vendor terms you’ve set up in QB.

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Manual mode vs. auto mode

Can I control exactly what gets sent? Yes. In manual mode, you select every invoice, sales entry, and inventory adjustment before it queues for the next sync. In auto mode, Garde handles the queuing for you. Learn more about export settings. What happens in auto mode? Every closed invoice, sales entry, and inventory adjustment is automatically flagged as “Pending” in Garde — ready to be pulled into QB on your next Web Connector sync. You don’t need to go into Garde to select anything. Just run the sync from QuickBooks when you’re ready. About 90% of our clients end up on auto mode. If I’m in auto mode, will I ever need to open Garde? For the routine stuff, not really. But you’ll come back when you need to:
  • Look up an invoice by vendor or date range
  • Figure out why something’s missing from QB
  • Change a product’s category
  • Adjust a vendor’s settings

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Invoice processing

Can I flag invoices for review before they export? Yes. You can require a second review for all invoices, invoices above a dollar threshold, or invoices in specific categories. Set up invoice approval here. What if a really old invoice shows up? If you’ve closed the books for that period, Garde codes the invoice to the current period. If you haven’t closed books yet, it goes into the original period. The Close Books feature lets you lock periods automatically after a set number of hours, keeping Garde and QuickBooks in sync. What if I already paid an invoice by check or ACH? If the uploaded invoice has a payment noted on it (handwritten check number, ACH reference), Garde sends both the invoice and the payment info to QB. What if I already paid by credit card? Credit card invoices don’t go as bills to AP. Garde sends them as journal entries instead — booking the expense (say, $100 to Food) and the offset to your specified credit card account.

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Paying bills

Can I pay bills from Garde? Bill Pay is coming soon. For now, pay bills directly in QuickBooks.

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Sales data

Can Garde use Classes for sales and invoice data? Yes, for both. What do sales entries look like in QuickBooks? Journal entries. Garde pulls sales data from your POS (payment methods, comps, discounts, etc.) and exports it early each morning. You can customize the format to match however you’ve been doing it. Can Garde send sales as sales receipts instead of journal entries? No, journal entries only.

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The Web Connector, specifically

Do I have to run Web Connector manually every time? You can set Web Connector to run on a schedule — say, every hour or once a day. That way data flows without you clicking anything. The sync just happens in the background while QuickBooks is open. What if Web Connector shows an error? Common causes: the wrong company file is open, your Garde password changed, or QB isn’t running. Check out our troubleshooting guide or email contact@garde.app and we’ll sort it out. Does my computer need to be on for syncing to work? Yes. QuickBooks Desktop and Web Connector both need to be running on the machine where your company file lives. If you’re in a hosted environment, your hosting provider usually keeps things running 24/7.

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Support

Is there a charge for support? Nope. Support is included with your subscription, no limits. Email us at contact@garde.app whenever you need a hand.