> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.fieldpulse.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Troubleshooting QuickBooks Online Sync Errors > Find your QuickBooks Online sync error and its fix, covering customers, line items, invoices, payments, tax, accounts, and connection errors. When a record fails to sync with [QuickBooks Online](https://www.fieldpulse.com/company/partners/quickbooks), FieldPulse tells you which record failed and why, so you can fix it and re-sync. For any record that fails — customers, invoices, payments, and more — use the in-app troubleshooting tool: select the Failed Sync button next to the record to open a page listing every sync error for that record. ## Overview Sync errors happen when a record doesn't meet a [QuickBooks Online](/integrations/accounting/quickbooks-online/overview) rule — a duplicate name, a missing account, a closed accounting period, an item set up as the wrong type. Most are fixed by correcting the record in FieldPulse or QuickBooks Online and re-syncing. This page lists the common errors by the record they affect, with the cause and the fix for each. To see which records currently need attention, use the **QuickBooks Online Statistic** page (see [How to Manage QuickBooks Online After Syncing](/integrations/accounting/quickbooks-online/post-sync)). Failed Sync button and the QuickBooks Sync Failed dialog showing an invalid email error ## Why records don't sync Before looking up a specific message, these are the most common reasons each record type fails to sync: * **A customer** may not sync because its email is missing or badly formatted; its name duplicates another vendor; the email or phone exceeds 31 characters, or notes exceed 4,000 characters; its name uses a colon ( : ); it is the child of a parent customer that isn't synced; or it is archived in QuickBooks Online. * **A line item** may not sync because: a field is missing or badly formatted; the name exceeds 100 characters or the SKU exceeds 30; the name duplicates another item; it's not marked as a product or service in QuickBooks Online; its sales or purchase account is not active in QuickBooks Online; or it's a “Product - Inventory” item but your QuickBooks Online plan doesn't support inventory. * **An invoice** may not sync because: the customer isn't synced; a line item isn't synced; internal notes exceed 4,000 characters; or it falls in a closed accounting period in QuickBooks Online. * **A payment** may not sync because: there is an archived payment already synced on the invoice; or the related invoice isn't synced. ## Common issues ### Customer errors | **Error message** | **Cause** | **Fix** | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | "This name is being used by another vendor. Please use a different name." | Customers and vendors must have unique display names. | Give the customer a different display name. | | "Duplicate Name Exists Error... Another entity is already using this name." | Two customers or vendors share a display name. | Choose a different name or add an abbreviation to the end. | | "Invalid Customer... The customer you have specified has been deleted." | The customer is archived in QuickBooks Online. | Reactivate the customer, let it re-sync, then sync related records. | | "Invalid Email Address format..." | The email on the customer record is invalid. | Correct the email to a valid format, e.g. [name@example.com](mailto:name@example.com). | | "Please make the parent customer active first. Then you can make this sub-customer active." | The parent customer is archived. | Activate the parent customer first, then the related customer. | | "Related Parent Customer # sync failed!" | The parent customer hasn't synced. | Open the parent customer and select Sync with QuickBooks first. | | "This customer cannot be deleted because it has one or more projects." | The customer has an active project (related customer) in QuickBooks Online. | You can't archive a customer with an active project or related customer. | | Customer is archived in QuickBooks Online (no error text — the record just stops syncing) | The customer record was made inactive in QuickBooks Online. | Reactivate the customer in QuickBooks Online, then let it re-sync. | | "Cannot Change Who Customer Bills With Error..." | You can't unlink a parent-child relationship while payments on the parent are applied to invoices for the related customer. | Delete those payments/invoices in QuickBooks Online first. | | "Cannot Delete Object... You can't make this customer inactive because it has sub customers." | The customer has active related customers. | Archive the child customers first. | | "Delete Customer Has Unbilled Expenses Error..." | The customer has unbilled charges. | Remove or close out the unbilled charges in QuickBooks Online before archiving the customer. | | "Delete List Has Balance Error... This customer can't be deleted because it has a non-zero balance." | The customer has open invoices. | Remove or close out open invoices in QuickBooks Online before archiving the customer. | | "You must enter the email address for this customer in order to email statements." | The customer record has no email address. | Add an email address to the customer record. | | "No name provided" (Title/GivenName/MiddleName/FamilyName/DisplayName/Suffix must be non-empty) | No name field is filled in. | Fill in at least one required name field. | | "Parent Cannot Be Child... This item can't be a sub-item of itself." | A customer is linked to itself as its own parent. | Link the customer to a different customer, not itself. | | "Invalid Reference Id: Customer assigned to this transaction has been deleted..." | The customer on the transaction is archived. | Reactivate the customer in QuickBooks Online, then re-sync before syncing related records. | | "A project must be a sub-customer billed to its parent." | The project (related customer) isn't linked to a parent customer. | Edit the project and link it to its parent customer. | | "A project cannot contain sub-customers." | A related customer is linked to a project instead of a regular customer. | Link the related customer to the appropriate parent customer instead. | | "Project records sync disabled" / "Related Project records sync disabled" | This record exists as a project in QuickBooks Online and project sync is currently disabled. | Contact support to enable the QuickBooks Online project sync. | | "This customer cannot be deleted because it is used on a recurring template." | The customer is used on a recurring invoice template in QuickBooks Online. | Archive the recurring invoice first, then archive the customer. | | "Another customer is already using this name and it cannot be merged because this customer has sub-customers." | The customer has related customers linked to it. | Reallocate the related customers first, then merge. | ### Line item and account errors | **Error message** | **Cause** | **Fix** | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | "Not a valid product or service name. Names must have at least one character and cannot include tabs, newlines or ':'." | The item name has invalid characters. | Use a simple name with no colons, extra spaces, or line breaks. | | "You can't change a Category into another item type." | The item exists as a Category in QuickBooks Online. | Replace it on the estimate/invoice with a product or service type item. | | "Item # sync failed!" | The item on the invoice isn't synced. | Open the item and re-sync it before the invoice. | | "There is no income account associated with the item." | The item has no sales/income account. | Select a sales account on the item, then re-sync. | | "Invalid account type used... the income account must have Account Type: 'Income'..." | The wrong account type is used for an inventory item. | In your QuickBooks Online chart of accounts, set the income account to Type 'Income' / Detail 'Sales of Product Income' (and the expense account to 'Cost of Goods Sold' / 'Supplies and Materials'). | | "When you create an item, if Track Quantity on Hand is turned on, the item must be of type Inventory." | An item tracks quantity but isn't set to Inventory type. | Change the item type to Inventory. | | "Feature Not Supported Error... This feature is not included in your QuickBooks Online subscription." | Your QuickBooks Online plan doesn't support the feature (often inventory). | Inventory items won't sync on plans without inventory support — use a service/non-inventory item or upgrade your QuickBooks Online plan. | | "Invalid Type... Item of type Inventory cannot be changed to Service/Non-inventory item type." | You can't convert an inventory item to another type. | Create a new item of the correct type. | | The item's sales or purchase account is inactive in QuickBooks Online (silent sync failure) | The account tied to the item was made inactive in QuickBooks Online. | Reactivate the account in QuickBooks Online, then re-sync the item. | | "You can't change a bundle to another product or service type." | This item exists as a bundle in QuickBooks Online. | This item's type can't be changed. | | "The account associated with this product or service has been deleted. Please undelete first or pick another one." | The item's sales/purchase account was deleted. | Undelete the account in QuickBooks Online, or choose another one. | | "When you create an item, if Track Quantity on Hand is turned off, the item cannot be of type Inventory." | An item is set to Inventory but isn't tracking quantity. | Change the item type to Product - Non-inventory. | | "Initial quantity on hand for an inventory item is required." | No starting inventory amount was set. | Set the initial inventory amount when creating the item. | | "You are not allowed to modify the quantity of an inactive inventory item." / "You need to activate this item before updating the quantity." | The item is archived. | Reactivate the item before editing its inventory amount. | | "Select a date that's after the last transaction for this item." | The invoice date is before the item's created date. | Adjust the invoice date or the item's created date. | | "This needs to be active because it's the default product or service for sales." | The item/account is used as a default in QuickBooks Online. | You can't delete an item/account used as a default in QuickBooks Online. | | "Please make the parent product or service active first..." | The parent item is archived. | Activate the parent item before activating related items. | | "Description-only Item can not be synced to QuickBooks!" | This FieldPulse item type is description-only and isn't meant to sync. | This message can be ignored. | | "You can't create or modify a transaction with a date that comes before you started tracking quantity on hand for \[item]." / "Transaction date is prior to start date for inventory item." / "You can't delete or void this transaction because it was created before you started tracking quantity on hand for \[item]." | Inventory tracking started after the invoice date. | Change the inventory tracking start date in QuickBooks Online to before the invoice date, or change the invoice date. | | "Item is a category!" / "An item in this transaction is set up as a category instead of a product or service." / "Categories cannot be used in transactions." | The item exists as a category in QuickBooks Online. | Replace it with a product or service type item — categories can't be used on estimates or invoices. | ### Invoice, payment, and amount errors | **Error message** | **Cause** | **Fix** | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | "Draft invoice # is not available for sync!" | Draft invoices don't sync. | The invoice will sync once it's finalized (Invoiced status). | | "Enter a transaction amount that is 0 or greater." | The invoice total can't be blank or below 0. | Adjust the line item amounts or add additional items. | | "The discount amount can't be greater than the subtotal." | The discount pushes the total below 0. | Reduce the discount so the total is 0 or above. | | "Related Customer # sync failed!" | The invoice's customer isn't synced. | Sync the related customer first, then sync the invoice. | | "Related Invoice # sync failed!" | The payment's invoice isn't synced. | Sync the related invoice first, then sync the payment. | | "This transaction is matched to a downloaded transaction. If you want to change the account, you need to unmatch the transaction first." | The record is matched to a bank-downloaded transaction in QuickBooks Online. | Edit the record in QuickBooks Online, not FieldPulse. | | "Deposited Transaction cannot be changed" / "This transaction has been deposited..." | The payment has already been deposited in QuickBooks Online. | Edit it in QuickBooks Online. | | "Enter a transaction amount to continue." / "You must set a transaction amount." | The estimate or invoice is empty. | Add line items before saving. | | "Cost estimate is not assigned to a valid project." | The estimate isn't linked to a valid project (related customer). | Open the estimate and select a valid project before saving. | | "Related Class # sync failed!" | The class assigned to the invoice/estimate isn't synced. | Make sure the class is active in QuickBooks Online, or create a new one. | | "Invalid Reference Id: Class assigned to this transaction has been deleted. Before you can modify this transaction, you must restore \[class]." | The class was deleted in QuickBooks Online. | Restore or recreate the class in QuickBooks Online and make sure it's active. | ### Tax errors | **Error message** | **Cause** | **Fix** | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | "Make sure all your transactions have a GST/HST rate before you save." | A line item is missing a GST/HST rate (Canada). | Edit each line item, select a GST/HST rate, and save. | | "Looks like you tried using an invalid or incorrect tax classification code. Try again with a different code." | The tax code is invalid. | Select a different, valid tax rate. | | "We're sorry, we can't save the sales tax you're trying to set up right now." / "...QuickBooks encountered an error while calculating tax..." | There's an error with the tax applied to the line items. | Remove the line items from the record and add them again to reset the tax. | ### Accounting period and connection errors | **Error message** | **Cause** | **Fix** | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | "Account Period Closed... Txn Date=# is before book closing date=#" / "...Cannot Update Through Services API..." | The accounting period is locked in QuickBooks Online. | Unlock the period in QuickBooks Online to sync updates, or make the change directly in QuickBooks Online. | | "Authorization Failure... You do not have access to use QuickBooks Online. statusCode: 401" | The connecting account lacks access. | Make sure the account used to connect is active and has admin permissions. | | "Authorization Failure... Unknown Error during Authentication. statusCode: 500" | FieldPulse and QuickBooks Online have disconnected. | Disable the QuickBooks Online integration and enable it again. | | "Invalid Company Status... Subscription period has ended or canceled or there was a billing problem." | The QuickBooks Online subscription has ended or been canceled. | Resolve billing in QuickBooks Online. | | "The action could not be completed because another user was creating, editing or deleting a transaction with inventory products at exactly the same time." | Someone has the same record open in QuickBooks Online. | Close the record in QuickBooks Online, then try again. | | "Another user is currently accessing this company. Please try again." | Someone else is editing the same record. | Close out of the record, then retry. | | "Stale Object Error... Another user finished before you did, so your work was not saved." | The record was edited in two places at once. | Close the record in QuickBooks Online or FieldPulse before editing again. | | "An unexpected error occurred while accessing or saving your data." | A temporary sync issue. | Wait a few minutes and try again; contact support if it persists. | | "Something this action required is no longer available. Another user may have deleted it." | The item/record was archived by another user. | Reactivate the item/record, use a different one, or create a new one. | | "Object Not Found... Another user has deleted this transaction." / "...Something you're trying to use has been made inactive." | The record was deleted or made inactive. | Reactivate the record before syncing it again. | | "QuickBooks side does not have record with such ID to be resynced!" | The record was deleted in QuickBooks Online. | Reactivate it in QuickBooks Online, or contact support to remove it from FieldPulse. | | "You can't use \[x] because \[x] already exists..." / "There is a duplicated records in FieldPulse database!" / "There is a multiply entities by this criteria" / "There is a multiply records in QuickBooks!" / "There is already synced record present in FieldPulse database..." | You have a duplicate record with the same name. | Rename one of the duplicates before re-syncing. | | "Number out of range..." / "String length is either shorter or longer than supported..." | The record name/value is outside the supported length. | Adjust the record name or value to fit within the supported length. | | "Invalid ID... Id should be a valid number." / "Required param missing..." | A system-level ID or parameter mismatch. | Contact support if you see this error. | | "Invalid Reference Id: \[x]" (an account, item, or customer is inactive, deleted, or no longer valid) / "Invalid Reference Id: This account has been deleted." | The referenced record isn't active in QuickBooks Online. | Make sure the related record is active and synced before syncing dependent records; check your chart of accounts if it references an account. | ## Still need help? [Reach the FieldPulse support team](https://www.fieldpulse.com/company/contact-us) through in-app chat or at [support@fieldpulse.com](mailto:support@fieldpulse.com). ## Related topics - [QuickBooks Online Overview](/integrations/accounting/quickbooks-online/overview.md) - [QuickBooks Online Sync Examples and Details](/integrations/accounting/quickbooks-online/sync-examples.md) - [QuickBooks Online](/integrations/accounting/quickbooks-online/index.md) - [How to Sync With QuickBooks Online](/integrations/accounting/quickbooks-online/sync.md)