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Convert Sage 50 to QuickBooks Online With Expert Tips 

• 
• By Jonathan Browns
• Aug 09, 2025
• Accounting
• 7 min read

At times, the businesses might find it difficult to convert Sage 50 to QuickBooks Online due to the risk of data loss. But now you can access the Dataswitcher conversion wizard for transferring the accounting data automatically. If you are also having trouble converting the Sage data to the QBO application, then don’t worry. In this detailed post, we have provided you with the complete guidelines for the conversion process. Thus, it will help you convert the data securely so that you can resume working with QBO smoothly. 

Explaining How the Conversion Process Works & What Data Will be Migrated 

Before moving Sage 50 to QBO, the users must know that conversion might involve some risk to data. Therefore, it is necessary to take help from the QuickBooks ProAdvisor accountant or a QuickBooks Solution Provider regarding the data conversion. 

Data You Can Migrate & The Fees Included 

With the help of Dataswitcher, you can convert the data up to 2 fiscal years from Sage 50 to QBO without paying any charges. 

• Opening balances
• Customers and vendors
• Chart of accounts
• Invoices and credits
• Journal entries
• Transactional history
• Matched payments

However, if you wish to convert the following data, then you have to pay an additional fee. 

• Fiscal data up to 3 years. 
• Inventory items
• Company Details (address, email, contact number, etc.)
• Jobs & Departments (also known as Classes & Locations within QuickBooks)

Product Requirements 

• Sage 50: Ensure that you are working on the US Edition of Sage 50cloud, year 2016 or later. 
• QuickBooks Online: Make sure that you have a paid subscription for the QBO (US) edition. If you don’t have a subscription, then you have to buy a subscription from its main website. In case you have a free trial, then you can upgrade your subscription. 

Accounting Method

• You can run the accrual-basis accounting method from the start. 
• For instance, if your books of accounts in Sage 50 are on a cash basis originally, then moving the account from a cash basis to an accrual basis won’t work. This is so because Dataswitcher only detects what you are using originally. 

User Permission Levels

For the conversion of Sage 50 data to QBO, it is essential to have the involvement of one or multiple users with the Sage 50 & QBO admin permissions.

How much time will it take to convert Sage 50 data to QuickBooks Online?

The time taken for converting Sage 50 data to QBO completely depends on the size and format of the Sage 50 file. It usually takes around 72 hours from the time you upload the data to the Dataswitcher conversion wizard. However, if you find that the data file is still not converted after 72 hours, take help from the QBO support team for further details. 

Sage 50 Data That You Can’t Convert 

Herein, we have described all the data types that you can’t convert from Sage 50 to QBO.

• Work tickets
• Deleted transactions
• Reversed journal entries
• Non-posting entries (estimates)
• Attachments
• Invoice template and other templates
• Sales orders
• Memorized transactions 
• Projects
• Closed or partially closed estimates and purchase orders
• Jobs that aren’t linked to the transactions
• Bank reconciliation history
• Memorized transactions 
• Budgets
• Fixed assets 

Payroll 

You aren’t able to convert the following payroll data in Sage 50. 

• Employee Year-to-Date pay information
• Employee Payroll 

What are the Drawbacks of the Sage 50 Conversion Service?

The following are the drawbacks of converting Sage 50 files to the QuickBooks Online application. 

Audit trail 

The transactions that you have converted from Sage 50, the QBO application won’t represent any details for auditing. So, in that case, you must retain a copy of your Sage 50 backup file for auditing. 

Cash basis files 

DataSwitcher isn’t compatible with the Sage 50 to QBO conversions via the cash basis accounting method. 

Cash Refunds

QBO application won’t provide a refund for the cash payment made to the vendor. If your Sage 50 file holds this type of transaction, then you have to convert them as a regular journal without having any link with the Customer or vendor. 

Charts of Accounts 

• The QBO application won’t support account numbers having eight or more characters. 
• If you are having multiple linked Account IDs in your Sage 50 Charts of Accounts, then the conversion may fail. 

Check Refunds

QBO also won’t support the refund received from the check payment from a vendor. 

Jobs

Jobs within the Sage 50 application will eventually become Classes in the QBO application. However, the job conversion may require an extra cost. 

Departments

Departments within the Sage 50 application will eventually become Locations in QBO. Within QBO, you can assign only one Department/Location per transaction. However, if you have transactions in Sage 50 that comprise Departments per line item upon conversion to QBO, it will implement one of those Departments across all line items. 

Foreign Currency 

You can convert foreign currency transactions within QBO via the historic exchange rate in Sage 50. 

Inventory items 

The Dataswitcher conversion wizard is compatible with converting Sage 50 files up to 1,000 inventory items. If the inventory items exceed, you can import or generate them manually in QBO once the conversion is done. 

DataSwitcher can convert the following data associated with inventory items:

• Name
• Description
• Quantity on hand
• Cost
• Sales price/rate

Journal entries- Accounts Receivable & Accounts Payable

Within the Sage 50 application, if you have manual journal entries of A/R and A/P, it will reflect within suspense customer /vendor accounts in QBO after conversion.

Journal Entries- Reversals

You can’t convert the reversed journal entries from Sage 50 to QBO.

Transfer From QuickBooks Online to Sage 50 With Easy Steps 

Herein, we have described the proper steps to transfer from QuickBooks Online to the Sage 50 application. 

First Stage: Pre-Conversion Checklist in Sage 50

Before moving your file from QBO to Sage 50, it is necessary to perform certain tasks. Below, we have described all of them. 

1. Complete your current tax period to conversion.

It is advised that you plan for the conversion at the end of the current period or the future period. However, at the end of the tax period, it is essential to file the taxes according to your Sage 50 data. Then, you can begin from the fresh period in the QBO application. 

2. Review the Sage 50’s File Integrity

Transferring the poor quality of the data might create problems in QBO further. So, to minimize the risks, it is essential to examine the data integrity of the Sage 50 file. 

• Browse the main menu and then tap on the Help menu. 
• After this, pick the Support Utilities tab. 
• Now, choose the Integrity Check tab. 

If the Sage 50 application represents any discrepancies, then it is mandatory to get it fixed before the conversion. 

3. Examine the Account Number Ranges

The Sage 50 software utilizes the ranges for its account numbers and is known as Account IDs. However, it is necessary to check that all account numbers are properly arranged within the charts of accounts. If not, then Dataswitcher won’t be able to identify which account type it belongs to while converting to QBO. 

Besides this, it is necessary to check that the account number used to clear the P& L accounts at year-end isn’t changed from its default. If it doesn’t change, then QBO will mark it as duplicate entries while conversion, which will keep your accounts out of balance. 

4. Clean Up Account Numbers (Optional)

It is suggested that you remove any account numbers that you might require in the future. You must ensure that you go through any transactions in your suspense account. Also, verify that you categorize all these transactions within the appropriate account. 

5. Tally Outstanding Payments & Sales (Optional)

The users have to tally their outstanding payments and credit memos on accounts with their respective invoices. If you won’t tally these transactions, then they will be brought over as journal entries that you have to tally before the post conversion. However, it might be possible that converting the historical AR & AP in QuickBooks Online might be inappropriate. 

6. Aged AR & AP

It is mandatory to run the Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable reports. Also, you must verify that these balances tally within the General Ledger according to the conversion date. If the balance won’t match, then you must fix the discrepancies and run the file integrity check in Sage 50 if mandatory. 

7. Reconciliation of your bank accounts

Another important thing is to reconcile your bank accounts within the Sage 50 software. If not, then it might get difficult to verify if the conversion has been done successfully. 

8. Reconciliation of Your Tax Accounts

The users have to reconcile their tax accounts within the Sage 50 software. Otherwise, you might face trouble in verifying whether the conversion is successful. 

9. Run Reports that are utilized for checks after the conversion

Once you are done with the conversion process, you have to examine the results. For that, all you require is to run and download a copy of the reports below in Sage 50 before your conversion. 

• Balance sheet report till the conversion date
• Aged receivables up to the conversion date
• Income statement
• Taxable/Exempt Sales 
• Trial Balance up to the conversion date
• Aged payables till the conversion date 
• Bank Account balances up to the conversion date

10. Establish a Backup copy of the Sage 50 file

We suggest that you establish a backup of the Sage 50 file. If you still have to clean up the Sage 50 file, then rename the backup file as PRE_CONVERSION.PTB. In case you previously cleaned up the Sage 50 file, then you must access the following file name: PRE_CONVERSION.001. However, for auditing purposes, you must verify that you generate a copy of the following and place them in a secure location.  

• Sales tax report
• Purchase tax report
• Account Transactions

Cleaning Up & Repairing the Sage 50 Database (Optional)

Generally, all locally stored data files, including the Sage 50 data files, also become corrupt over time. However, if you detect that the data file is having some corruption, then clean it up before you send it to Dataswitcher. 

Rebuild Your Sage 50 Data File (Optional)

For instance, if you are having any problem with the password authentication in Sage 50, then you have to rebuild your file. In that scenario, you must reach out to the Sage support team if you are completely unaware of how to rebuild the data file.

Once the rebuilding process is over, you must compress all the data and data files. All you require is to construct another backup and name it as DS_CONVERSION.001. 

Second Stage: Pre-Conversion Checklist Tasks in QuickBooks Online 

The following are the tasks that you must perform in QuickBooks Online before submitting your Sage 50 file to Dataswitcher. 

Remove your QuickBooks Online Data 

Once you carry on with the conversion process, make sure that no existing transactions are available in the QBO file. Follow the steps below to remove the QuickBooks Online data before submitting the Sage 50 file to Dataswitcher. 

• The users must log in to their QuickBooks Online account.
• Now, if you agree to delete your company data, hit the Yes tab and then the OK option. 
• Afterwards, pick your industry name by hitting the drop-down arrow. 
• Next, choose the Create accounts based on my industry. With this, it will initiate you to set up the charts of accounts once your data is removed. 

Sales Tax 

You mustn’t turn on the Sales Tax on QBO before doing the conversion. If you see that it is turned on, then remove your QBO data. 

Bank & Credit Card Accounts

The first time you sign in to the QBO account, it might prompt you to link your bank and credit card accounts. 

Multiple Currencies (Optional) 

For accessing the multiple currencies in Sage 50, disable multi-currency in QuickBooks Online. If you have strategised to remove your QuickBooks Online data, ensure to enable multi-currency after removing the data.

Departments & Projects (Optional)

For accessing departments and projects in the Sage 50 application, you must turn on the tracking of classes and locations in QBO. However, to remove QBO data, enable multi-currency after you have removed the data. As a result, this process will change your settings once again.

Third Stage: Begin the process of converting your Sage 50 data to QuickBooks Online

After winding up the pre-conversion checklist tasks for Sage 50 and pre-conversion lists for QBO, you will get a file with the name DS_CONVERSION.001 (not PRE_CONVERSION.001). This is the file that you have to send to Dataswitcher. 

However, to send the file to Dataswitcher, you must fill out the online form on our website. The following are the steps you must perform within the Dataswitcher conversion wizard. 

First Step: Information That You Must Know 

In the welcome screen of the Dataswitcher conversion wizard, you will be prompted regarding:

• Examine the pre-conversion checklist
• Resetting the QuickBooks Online account
• You can’t run the QBO unless the conversion part is over. 

Once you are all set, tap on the Let’s Do It option. 

Second Step: Contact Information 

The users must insert the necessary details. 

• Name of the Company
• The email address of the person at your Company who is liable for conversion.

Furthermore, hit the Next or sign in with your Intuit ID option. 

Third Step: What do You Want to Move?

The users must pick the Pro Plan and then hit the Continue tab. 

Fourth Step: Examine Your Selection 

The Dataswitcher will present you with all the data that you can convert by default, along with some additional ones; however, to pick some optional extras for the conversion, you must choose them appropriately. Later on, move on to the Continue option. 

Fifth Step: Get Ready With Your Data 

You must place a tick-mark beside the checkboxes that you have accomplished all mandatory pre-conversion tasks, consisting of:

• Reconciled all accounts in Sage 50.
• Extracted all open invoices and credits from Sage 50.
• Verified that you are using the accrual accounting method.
• QuickBooks Online has been reset.
• Completed tax reporting in Sage 50.
• Extracted all required reports from Sage 50 as described in the pre-conversion steps.
• Read and understood the limitations of the Sage 50 conversion process. 

Now, when you have chosen all the checkboxes, you can insert Sage 50 by opting for the Browse on the computer option. Then, pick the Sage 50 file by hitting the Open tab. Furthermore, choose the Confirm tab for uploading the files accurately. 

Sixth Step: Data File Checks 

Herein, the Dataswitcher will eventually start reviewing your QBO account settings to verify whether it is all set to receive the converted data. It might consume a few minutes and don’t exit from the browser. Once you are all set, hit the Start tab to send your Sage 50 file to Dataswitcher. 

Seventh Step: Start Moving Your Data 

Dataswitcher ensures that they start the process of transferring your data. Then, mention a URL that you can provide to your browser anytime to examine the status of your conversion. 

As a result, you will get an email with the confirmation receipt of your Sage 50 company file. Also, it will send you a link back to the Dataswitcher conversion wizard so that you can check the status of the conversion according to your preference. 

Fourth Stage: Post-Conversion Checklist Tasks in QBO Application 

The following are the tasks that you must perform before converting the QBO application. 

Examine Your Approve Your Conversion 

Once you have transferred your data, you will receive an email regarding the same. That email has the subject header “Your conversion is ready to review” from Dataswitcher. 

From the date and time of receipt, to examine and approve your conversion, you have around 72 hours. However, to check the file, hit the Review Conversion, which will redirect you to the Dataswitcher conversion wizard. 

The following are the instructions you must perform to review the conversion. 

• Switch to the Dataswitcher conversion wizard, having the subject line “Your conversion is ready to review.”
• After this, pick the review Conversion tab and mark the checkbox to confirm that you have completed the checklist. Then, give your approval for the migration. 
• With this, you have now given the approval for conversion and access to the QBO application. 

Don’t connect your bank or credit card accounts. 

Before linking your bank or credit card accounts, mark up your transactions in QBO as reconciled for examining the bank reconciliation you have done in Sage 50 pre-conversion. Make sure that you won’t link your bank or credit card account, as it is covered later. 

Mention or Review Your Company Details 

Below, we have mentioned the complete steps for adding your company details.

• In the beginning, move to the Settings tab and hit the Account & Settings > Company option. 
• After this, mention the Company and the contact details.
• Now, update or review the email address so billing communications and customer communications are managed appropriately. 
• Thereon, add the email address in the Company email where you wish to receive the monthly invoices from Intuit according to your QBO subscriptions. 
• If you don’t prefer to access the Company’s email address for your customers that connect with you, provide the email address within the Customer-facing email box. 
• At last, hit the Save tab to complete the entire process. 

Setting Up the Fiscal Start Month 

• Firstly, pick the Advanced and then hit the Accounting tab. 
• After this, choose the first month of your fiscal year. 
• Once all the changes are done, hit the Save and then choose the Done tab. 

Review the Data By Comparing Reports in Sage 50 & QBO 

By running the below given reports by “This Fiscal Year or This Year” in QBO you can tally with the reports you export earlier via Sage 50. 

QuickBooks Online Report	Sage 50 Report to compare it with
Balance Sheet	Balance Sheet
Trial Balance	Trial Balance
Accounts Receivable Aging Summary	Aged Receivables
Accounts Payable Aging Summary	Aged Payables
Profit & Loss	Income Statement

Sales Tax 

If you have received the sales tax, then enable the sales tax option in QBO. Then you can examine the sales tax balances within QBO for accuracy. 

However, to examine the sales tax balances, you must launch the Sales Tax liability report in QBO. Then, you can tally it with the Taxable/Exempt Sales report in the Sage 50 application. 

If the accounting data won’t tally, then you can’t identify and rectify the issue. 

Marking Up Transactions as Reconciled 

Within the pre-conversion checklist for Sage 50, it is prompted to reconcile the transactions in Sage 50 before sending the data to Dataswitcher. Your QBO file has no information regarding the reconciliation. Therefore, to resolve the problem, you must check-mark all the transactions till the conversion date as reconciled so that you can assume future transactions for reconciliations. 

Start the bank reconciliations process in QBO, and carry on with the process given below. 

• Choose the blank check option located beside the Deposit (USD) option. 
• After this, pick the Yes, select all option. 
• Now, beside the Save for later, tap on the drop-down arrow to choose the Finish Now option. 
• With this, the QBO application will understand that all transactions are converted from Sage 50 and are reconciled. 

Matching of the unmatched entries 

Have a look at the instructions given below to tally with the unmatched entries. 

• Firstly, launch a vendor and if the open amount isn’t equal to the overdue amount, move to the next step. Otherwise, you must move to the next vendor. 
• Afterwards, choose the New Check option and hit the Add All option.
• With this, the QuickBooks application will eventually make a payment linking with the journal entries and the bills. The amount must be paid as 0.00. 
• Once all the necessary changes are done, hit the Save and Close tab. 

Stage 5: Begin Running the QuickBooks Online Application

Once you have examined and completed the post-conversion checklist and have gotten approval for conversion, you may start running the QBO application. 

If you and your team haven’t run the QBO application before, then review the content for guidance to understand more regarding the new accounting solution. 

Conclusion

We hope that by performing the steps above, you can easily convert QuickBooks Online to Sage 50 without any hindrance. Thus, it will allow you to accomplish your business accounting task with QBO with ease. Furthermore, if you are still struggling while converting the data, then have direct communication with our QB professionals for the right guidance.