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hgp123
March 22, 2022
Question

Fishbowl Inventory export to Quickbooks not working

  • March 22, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 20 views

My company uses Fishbowl Inventory which has an export to Quickbooks function. For at least a year now, we have had issues with Fishbowl exporting to QB and the fix has always been one of two things:

1. Run Quickbooks Database Manager "Start Scan"

2. Kill any open qbw.exe tasks or close/clear any Quickbooks windows or errors

Until recently I had always been using the first option but for the last few weeks option 2 has been working. Neither FB or QB support have been any help in finding a resolution. And today FB said this is a known issue with QB and QB needs to issue a fix. 

Does anybody know a workaround for this issue? We have to deal with it probably once a day and it's quite annoying.

3 replies

Fiat Lux - ASIA
Fiat Lux - ASIA
Level 14
March 22, 2022

Time to explore replacing your Fishbowl.

C
ChristieAnn 11
Level 9
March 22, 2022

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community, hgp123. I appreciate you taking some troubleshooting steps to resolve the Fishbowl Inventory issue. This isn't also the kind of feeling that I'd wish you to have. I'll make sure you're directed to the appropriate support to help you with this and can get back on track.

 

Since the issue continues to occur, I recommend contacting the Fishbowl Support Team. They can pull up your account and provide you the detailed information about how their process works. Also, investigate the cause of the issue since the imported data in QuickBooks Desktop depends on what your 3rd party app shares with us and how they're posted.

 

Lastly, I'm also sharing this article that you can utilize for your future reference: Set up Advanced Inventory. This link can guide you through the steps on how to track your inventory from different sites or locations.

 

You’re always welcome to post in the Community whenever you have other concerns about inventory or questions with your QBDT software. It’s always my pleasure to help you out. Take care and stay safe.

H
hgp123Author
March 24, 2022

Per my original post, I have already contacted Fishbowl support. I have even had Fishbowl support and Quickbooks support on the phone at the same time and talking to each other regarding this issue. There was no resolution. All of their suggestions have not been successful in resolving my issue. 

As of a couple days ago, Fishbowl support now says that this issue is a known issue with Quickbooks and that Quickbooks will need to issue a fix. Is there a specific person at Quickbooks I can contact to confirm that is true?

    A
    amn0270
    May 24, 2022

    One of my clients has the same issues with QB 2021. Its gotten even worse in recent months as now it won't work at all unless they actually leave the QB database logged in the QB server. It claims it cannot connect to the QB database unless its left open on the server, even though the export is being done on the bookkeepers computer in which she is logged into QB and FB. The server hosts both Fishbowl and the QB database.

    Up until a few months ago the exports would work without having to be signed into QB on the server but we still were getting the intermittent export problems you are experiencing. Not sure if all of this is a a QB issue or a FB issue and nobody on either end seems to be able to resolve it

    L
    LeizylMQuickBooks Team
    QuickBooks Team
    May 25, 2022

    Hi there, amn0270. 

     

    I know how it can be frustrating to be held up like this when the Fishbowl Inventory export to QuickBooks isn't working.

     

    With this, I suggest you contact our Technical Support team for further assistance. They can pull up your account within a secure environment, and investigate this matter for you. 


    See this article for the steps: Contact QuickBooks Desktop support. I also suggest you take note of their operating hours, so you know when they're available. 

     

    In case you need more ideas to organize your QuickBooks account, please see this link as your future reference: Help article.

     

    Come back to me if you have an additional concern. I’ll be more than happy to assist you.

     

    E
    Eleanor Cleverence
    October 14, 2025

    You've got a glitch there thats a total headache, I get it. Fishbowl’s export to QuickBooks is known to trip up sometimes, especially with them database target mappings. Running QuickBooks database manager or killing rogue processes can work, but it's more like a temp fix, ya know?

    Here's a thought though, not ideal, but you could schedule regular maintenance tasks to automate these steps when it’s not busy. You might script a task to close lingering qb processes and run the database scan overnight. Both are fairly straightforward if you've got some scripting knowhow, nothing too crazy.

    But yeah, there’s a bigger issue. Your setup should really have that seamless integration it ought to have, but Fishbowl's been known to change database configurations, which QuickBooks doesn’t always handle well. You might have to dig into those settings, and honestly, it can be a bit of a puzzle if you’re not into tinkering this stuff but, often, that's where the fix is.

    Stick with it, and good luck!

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