Handling variations when syncing with QuickBooks Desktop

Easily map and sync WooCommerce variations with QuickBooks Desktop while using MyWorks Sync.

Written by the MyWorks Team

Updated at July 1st, 2023

Table of Contents

Overview

MyWorks Sync fully supports WooCommerce variations, which are product options built from attributes that allow you to create “child” products that represent different SKU types of a single product, like multiple sizes or colors. You are most likely already familiar with the concept of WooCommerce variable products if you’re already reading this article and/or use variations actively in WooCommerce, but if not, we encourage you to check out the documentation on WooCommerce.com.

MyWorks Sync supports mapping a WooCommerce simple product or variation to a QuickBooks Desktop product (inventory, non-inventory, etc). Since Quickbooks Desktop doesn't include a structure for "variations", normally each WooCommerce variation would be represented by an individual item in Quickbooks Desktop.

Mapping

As discussed above, the only requirement in our sync regarding variations is to map them correctly in MyWorks Sync > Map > Products > Variations. This can easily be done in several ways:

Auto-Map by SKU (recommended): As long as the WooCommerce variations and QuickBooks Desktop products that represent these variations have matching SKUS, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button to AutoMap by SKU. This will scan both WooCommerce Variations and QuickBooks Desktop products and automatically match the ones with matching SKUs to save you time manually matching them.

Auto-Map by name: As long as the WooCommerce variations and QuickBooks Desktop products that represent these variations have matching names, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and click the button to AutoMap by Name. This will scan both WooCommerce Variations and QuickBooks Desktop products and automatically match the ones with names that match exactly to save you time manually matching them.

Manually: Simply choose the matching product in QuickBooks Desktop that corresponds to the appropriate WooCommerce variation in the dropdown on this page.

Once your variations are mapped, there’s no further action needed. When a variation is ordered in WooCommerce, the correct QuickBooks Desktop product will show in the invoice/sales receipt in QuickBooks Desktop when the order syncs over. When the inventory level of a variation is changed in WooCommerce - it will correctly sync over to update the inventory of the matched product in QuickBooks Desktop.

Best Practices

Although the end goal is matching products/variations in WooCommerce and QuickBooks Desktop - sometimes getting there can be a bit tricky. We've compiled a list of best practices to assist this process:

  1. Check your WooCommerce product/variation setup first.  If products are already in both WooCommerce and QuickBooks, try to ensure all products and variations have a unique SKU. For example, a T-shirt could have variations with SKUS of “SHIRT1-SM, SHIRT1-MD, SHIRT1-LG”, for example, although MyWorks doesn't require your products/variations to have a SKU - it simply helps you more easily map them together.
  2. Next, verify your QuickBooks Desktop item list. Get rid of unneeded products, if your WooCommerce products are already present in QuickBooks, try to ensure your QuickBooks Desktop item list matches the SKUs in WooCommerce. Then, they can be easily mapped together in MyWorks Sync > Map > Products > Variations.
  3. If products are either only in WooCommerce or in Quickbooks Desktop, it's easy to use our Push or Pull pages to easily sync your products from one platform to the other!