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QuickBooks Sync: the queue, the order screen and past orders

3 min read

Table of Contents

The queue #

Every order, refund and cancellation goes into a queue and posts from there, a moment later, in the background. Your checkout never waits for QuickBooks.

The Overview tab shows the connection and how many items are Waiting to post, Need attention and Posted. Pause syncing stops posting until you press Resume syncing; orders keep queuing meanwhile.

The Overview tab: Connection, Connected, Sandbox Company US 7ff5; Queue: Waiting to post 0, Needs attention 0, Held for rental rules 0, Posted 6, with a Pause syncing button
The Overview tab.

When QuickBooks doesn’t answer, an item tries again by itself after 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours and 12 hours, then moves to Needs attention. When the problem is one only you can fix, such as a missing setting, it goes there straight away. When the connection is lost, the whole queue pauses until you reconnect. Each document is sent with a key QuickBooks recognises, so an answer lost on the way never posts an order twice.

The Activity tab #

Needs attention lists each order that couldn’t post, with what to do. Fix it in QuickBooks or under Settings, then press Retry, or Retry all. Post again sends a document you deleted in QuickBooks once more.

Needs attention on the Activity tab: order #1095932 with Nothing is chosen for "Security deposits" lines. Choose them under Settings, then press Retry., a Retry button beside it and Retry all above
Needs attention: what to fix, and Retry.

The Log below says what happened to each order, refund and payment, when, with the details.

The Log on the Activity tab, newest first: when, the order or refund, and what happened, such as Posted Invoice Tto4hg9-985263. Payment recorded., Posted RefundReceipt Tto4hg9-985261., Payment recorded on the booking's invoice., Already up to date., and one error: Nothing is chosen for "Security deposits" lines
The log says what happened to each order, refund and payment.

On the order screen #

Each order has a QuickBooks box: its state (Posted, Waiting, Needs attention, Voided, Removed in the books or Not posted), Open in QuickBooks, Sync this order and View log. The orders list has a QuickBooks column with the same state, and the bulk menu has Send to QuickBooks for the orders you select.

The QuickBooks box on a posted order: a green Posted label, Invoice Tto4hg9-985260, Open in QuickBooks, Sync this order and View log
The QuickBooks box on the order screen. This sandbox company numbers documents itself, so the invoice has QuickBooks' own number.
The WooCommerce orders list with a QuickBooks column: two orders Posted and one, the booking's $320.00 balance order, Not posted
The orders list has a QuickBooks column. A balance order shows Not posted: its payment goes on the booking's invoice instead.

Past orders #

Orders from before you connected never post on their own. They only post from the Import tab, and only when you press Start.

  1. Choose a From and To date.
  2. Press Dry run. Nothing is sent. You see how many orders are in the range, how many are ready to post, how many are already linked, the refunds and the order totals.
  3. Press Start posting. Past orders post oldest first, behind new orders, with progress on the screen. Pause import and Resume import stop and carry on.
The Import tab: Past orders with From 01/01/2026 and To 10/31/2026 and a Dry run button, then the dry run: Orders in this range 675, Ready to post 627, Already linked 0, Refunds 8, Order totals 315546.98
Import: the dry run sends nothing.

If those orders are already in your books, entered by hand or by another tool, press These are already in my books: link only. Each order is matched to its QuickBooks document by number and linked, and nothing is posted. An order whose number isn’t found isn’t linked, and the log says so, so you can post it instead.

The dry run on the screen reads up to 2,000 orders of a range. WP-CLI reads them all.

WP-CLI #

  • wp siaccountingqb status shows the connection and the queue.
  • wp siaccountingqb sync <order id> posts one order now.
  • wp siaccountingqb drain runs the queue once.
  • wp siaccountingqb import --from=2026-01-01 --to=2026-03-31 queues past orders. Add --dry-run to check only, or --link-only to link orders already in your books.
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