Shopmonkey: How do I set up and manage QuickBooks Desktop?

Review recommended steps for the most common QuickBook Desktop setup questions

Zack Buffum avatar
Written by Zack Buffum
Updated over a week ago

Shopmonkey’s integration with QuickBooks Desktop allows for important info to sync for accurate bookkeeping. If you haven’t set up this integration yet check out our article How do I integrate Shopmonkey with my QuickBooks Desktop account? If you’ve set up the integration and have an advanced setup or want to make sure your setup is correct the tips below will help make sure it’s ready to go.

Shopmonkey's QuickBooks Desktop integration supports the following versions: Pro and Premier 2014 and later, and Enterprise 14.0 and later.


Sync Manager

Make sure you have the most current version of Shopmonkey’s sync manager Autofy. Since Autofy is the bridge between your Shopmonkey info and QuickBooks Desktop it’s important to have the current version and to always update when new versions are available. Here is a link to the newest version of Autofy.

Note: The Sync Manager is currently only supported on computers running Windows 8.1 or newer.


Install Location

Since Autofy is necessary to make the connection between Shopmonkey and QuickBooks, it’s important that it’s installed in the correct location. Autofy should be installed on the same device as the QuickBook Desktop company file. So if your company file is located on a computer, then Autofy should be installed on the same computer. If your company file is located on a virtual machine server then Autofy should be installed on the virtual machine server. Once Autofy has been installed in the correct location no other Autofy installations are necessary. If you have installed Autofy on other computers uninstall them so only the one located on the device with the company file exists.


Windows Users

Computers can have multiple users that log in. Each user has their own login and their own content and applications. If your shop has multiple users sign in and sign out of the same computer it’s important that only the Windows user that set up the Shopmonkey, Autofy, QuickBooks Desktop connection is signed in.

Along with this, when the Windows user is not logged in the connection between Shopmonkey and QuickBooks Desktop stops. This might happen automatically if Windows is set to log out users after inactivity or if a different user signs in to the same computer. With this in mind, the Windows user that set up the Shopmonkey integration to QuickBooks Desktop should remain active to prevent any sync issues.


QuickBooks Admin

Similar to Windows users, QuickBooks Desktops allows different logins. Each QuickBooks user might have different settings and access. If your shop has different users sign in and out of QuickBooks Desktop it’s important that the QuickBooks Desktop Admin is the one opening up the QuickBooks Desktop program.


QuickBooks Prompts

During the setup process, we recommend selecting "Yes, always: allow access even if QuickBooks is not running." This allows Shopmonkey to have constant access to your QuickBooks Desktop account. There may be situations when QuickBooks requires a user to click on something. This could be an automated prompt or window. If the user doesn't click on the necessary window, then QuickBooks and Shopmonkey won't sync and will display an error. For example, if a shop has QuickBooks Desktop running on a different computer than the computer used to run Shopmonkey and QuickBooks Desktop has a message, Shopmonkey will receive error messages when syncing. To prevent this from happening, check your QuickBooks Desktop to make sure there are no actions that need to be addressed, especially when encountering sync errors in Shopmonkey.


Where to find Logs

In some troubleshooting scenarios, you may need to know how to access the Autofy logs. If asked for those logs, double click on the version number in the bottom left. This will open up the directory of the log file. The log will list all actions attempted and allow Shopmonkey and Autofy to see more details for troubleshooting.


Still have questions? Feel free to reach out to us through the Chat Icon in the bottom right corner of your screen. Thanks for reading!

Did this answer your question?