What you need

• QuickBooks Desktop 2022 or newer (64-bit). QuickBooks 2012–2021 are 32-bit and cannot be reached from Backbone MRP.
• Backbone MRP and QuickBooks installed on the same Windows computer.
• Access to your company file as QuickBooks’ built-in Admin user — once, to authorize the connection.

Turn the integration on

A company administrator opens Company Settings → Integrations, ticks QuickBooks Desktop, and clicks Save. The desktop app picks the change up the next time it is refreshed or restarted.

It is safe to turn this on company-wide even if only some of your workstations run Windows — the tools simply do not appear on the others.

First-time setup

Do these in order. Most failed connections come from skipping step 1 or 2.

1. Match permission levels. Backbone MRP and QuickBooks must both run normally, or both as Administrator — a mismatch fails, usually silently. The reliable configuration is both normal:
   • Do not launch Backbone MRP with “Run as administrator”.
   • Right-click your QuickBooks shortcut → Properties → Compatibility, and make sure “Run this program as an administrator” is unchecked. QuickBooks support articles often tell people to tick that box; it breaks this connection.
2. Open QuickBooks first, and in it:
   • Open the company file you want Backbone MRP to use.
   • Log in as the built-in Admin user — not just a user with admin rights. The authorization prompt only appears for Admin.
   • Switch to single-user mode (File → Switch to Single-user Mode).
   • Leave QuickBooks at its home screen with no dialogs open.
3. In Backbone MRP, open QuickBooks Desktop from the toolbar and either:
   • tick Use the company file QuickBooks already has open — recommended, because it sidesteps path matching entirely; or
   • enter the exact company file path. Get it by pressing F2 inside QuickBooks and copying the location shown there. Do not type it from memory: a mapped drive and a UNC path to the same file count as different files.
4. Click Connect, then switch to the QuickBooks window. The authorization prompt appears inside QuickBooks and does not bring itself to the front. Choose “Yes, always allow access”.
   Backbone MRP will look frozen until you answer that prompt. That is expected — it is waiting on QuickBooks. If nothing seems to be happening, Alt-Tab to the QuickBooks window and look for the dialog.
5. Check the status line at the bottom of the connection window. It names the company file you are connected to — worth reading, because connecting to the wrong company file looks exactly like success until invoices start appearing in the wrong books.

Authorization is remembered per company file, so this is a once-per-file exercise. Afterwards, connecting is just Connect.

Linking your records

Open Customers, Accounts, Vendors or Order Terms and click the Show QBD… button. Drag one of your records onto the matching QuickBooks record to link them.

Linking is optional but worth doing: a linked record is matched by its exact QuickBooks id, so it keeps working even if someone renames it inside QuickBooks. Unlinked records are matched by name, and an unlinked customer is created in QuickBooks automatically the first time you export one of their invoices.

Accounts have two links, because a QuickBooks invoice line names two different things: the item (what was sold) and the account (where the revenue posts). Use the Show QBD Accounts and Show QBD Items panels to set them independently.

Exporting invoices and bills

Select one or more invoices on Open Invoices, right-click, and choose Export invoice(s) to QB Desktop. Vendor bills work the same way from Open Vendor Bills.

• Re-exporting updates rather than duplicates. An invoice you have already sent is updated in QuickBooks, not copied. If someone edited it inside QuickBooks since your last export, you are asked before their changes are overwritten.
• Sync selected invoice(s) with QB Desktop reads paid and open amounts back from QuickBooks.
• Backbone MRP looks unresponsive while an export runs. That is expected — it is waiting on QuickBooks, which does not allow the work to happen in the background.

When it will not connect

Re-prompting authorization

QuickBooks remembers a denial as firmly as an approval. If the prompt never reappears:

1. In QuickBooks: Edit → Preferences → Integrated Applications → Company Preferences.
2. Make sure “Don’t allow any applications to access this company file” is unchecked.
3. If Backbone is in the application list, select it and click Remove. That clears the remembered answer so the prompt can appear again.