To export a customer list from QuickBooks Online, open Customers & leads and select the Export icon, or run the Customer Contact List report and export it to Excel after choosing columns. In QuickBooks Desktop, use the Excel dropdown in the Customer Center. On the Online Customers page, check Include inactive first, or inactive names will be missing.
Where is the customer list export in QuickBooks Online?
The customer list export in QuickBooks Online lives in two places: the Customers & leads page, which exports a fixed set of columns, and the Customer Contact List report, which exports whatever columns the firm chooses. Intuit notes that each method gives a different result, so pick the one that matches what the file is for.
Intuit's Export customer data to Excel in QuickBooks gives both routes.
From the Customers page:
- Go to All apps, then Customer Hub, then Customers & leads.
- Select the Export icon next to the Print icon.
- Choose Export to Excel.
That export carries Name, Company, Address, Phone number, Email Address, Customer type, Attachment, Currency, Balance and Notes. It is the quickest route when the firm only needs contact details and balances.
From the Customer Contact List report:
- Go to Reports, then Standard reports.
- Under the Sales and Customer section, select Customer Contact List.
- Open the three-dot menu, select Customize, then use Rows/Columns and Change columns to add fields.
- Select Run report, then the Export icon next to Print, then Export to Excel.
Intuit's US run reports in QuickBooks Online page also lists Export as CSV on the Export/Print menu. Which format suits the next step is covered in should accounting exports be XLSX or CSV.
Exporting the customer list from QuickBooks Desktop
Exporting the customer list from QuickBooks Desktop starts in the Customer Center, from a button labelled Excel. The export sends names, balances and contact details into a new Excel worksheet or into an existing one. A transaction export from the same menu is useful when the firm needs activity by customer as well.
Intuit's US Import or export MS Excel files article for Desktop gives the steps:
- Open the Customer Center (the article calls it the Customer/Vendor/Payroll center).
- From the Excel dropdown, choose Export Customer/Vendor/Employee list. Choose Export Transactions instead to export transactions.
- In the Export window, create a new worksheet or update an existing one.
- Select Export. QuickBooks opens Excel with the list.
That article offers only the worksheet options for list exports, and it does not describe a CSV choice in this window. If a CSV is needed, save the Excel file as CSV, and check what Excel did to zip codes and account numbers first. The section on what Excel does to dates and account numbers on open shows the damage to look for.
Desktop customer lists include jobs, which sit under their customer. Keep that in mind when counting rows against the Customer Center.
Which customer fields to add before exporting from QuickBooks
The customer fields to add before exporting from QuickBooks depend on the file's next use, but most firms want email, billing address, open balance and active status. The Customer Contact List report in Online lets the firm add columns before running it; the Customers page export has a fixed set.
Add columns in the Customer Contact List through Customize, Rows/Columns, Change columns, and select Save customization to reuse the layout next time. Intuit's Create a mailing list using the contact list report article filters the Customer Contact List by Full name and checks that the Full Name and Billing Address fields hold data before the file is used.
Open balance is simplest from the Customers page export, which includes Balance. Active status is the field Intuit's export articles say least about. Run the export once with inactive customers hidden and once with them shown, and compare row counts. The difference is the inactive list.
Example column set
This example shows a cleaned export for a fictional firm client. The second row is a sub-customer, with the parent name in its own column so it can be sorted and filtered. QuickBooks may present the full name differently in the raw file; this is the layout after cleanup.
| Customer | Parent | Billing address | Open balance | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marlow Dental Group | ap@marlowdental.example | 400 Pine St, Springfield, IL 62701 | $4,210.00 | Active | |
| Eastside Office | Marlow Dental Group | eastside@marlowdental.example | 18 Lake Rd, Springfield, IL 62702 | $1,075.50 | Active |
Splitting the parent out matters when the list is going into another file. The import side, including how QuickBooks matches names, is covered in field mapping for customer and vendor CSV imports. The wider walkthrough is importing CSV into QuickBooks. Clients moving their contacts out of Xero rather than QuickBooks have a different starting point, set out in exporting Xero to QuickBooks.
Why does the exported QuickBooks customer list miss names?
An exported QuickBooks customer list misses names mostly because inactive customers are hidden by default, and sub-customers and jobs can sit under a parent rather than standing alone. A list that looks short is usually filtered, not incomplete. Check the inactive setting first, then count parents and sub-customers separately.
Inactive customers in Online. Intuit's Delete or make a customer inactive in QuickBooks Online explains that inactive customers drop off active lists while their history stays in reports. To see them, open Customers & leads, select the Settings gear above the list and check Include inactive. In reports, their transactions show the name followed by "(deleted)".
Sub-customers. The same article says that making a parent inactive also makes every sub-customer under it inactive. A client who deactivated one parent can lose a dozen locations from the export at once. A customer with linked projects cannot be made inactive until the projects are deleted.
Desktop. Intuit's Desktop export article does not say whether inactive customers are included in the list export. Count the rows in the exported worksheet against the Customer Center before using the file, and look into any gap.
An example check: a fictional client's Online export shows 212 rows. With Include inactive checked, it shows 241. The 29-row gap is inactive customers, and 11 of them are sub-customers under one deactivated parent.
Customer names also anchor invoice exports. When the firm pulls invoices to sit beside this list, the steps and the tie-out to A/R are in how to export invoices from QuickBooks.
When the customer list is going to drive a document chase, Schema CPA keeps one upload link and one missing-documents checklist per client, and exports its results to Excel or CSV for the firm to compare with the list. The client tracker demo shows how each client's folder is checked.