You can publish cost and sales items directly from Dext to QuickBooks Online once your integration is connected. To publish successfully, you must configure your connection settings, set default tax rates, and review each item before publishing.
Before you start
Before publishing items to QuickBooks Online, make sure you have the correct permissions.
Admin users and accountants or bookkeepers accessing a client account can publish by default
Standard users must have publishing permissions enabled
If approval workflows are set up, items must complete the approval process before they can be published.
Configure your QuickBooks Online publishing settings
Before publishing any items, configure your defaults in Business settings > Connections > Manage (next to QuickBooks Online) > Settings. This is where you set publishing behaviour for both Costs and Sales.
The settings are grouped into:
General
Tax
Automatic publishing
Each section controls how items are published in QuickBooks Online.
Set the default “Publish to” destination for costs
The Default ‘publish to’ destination for costs determines where cost items appear in QuickBooks Online and whether they are marked as paid or unpaid.
You can set this:
As a default in the connection settings
Per item from the Item details page
As a supplier rule
If most items for a supplier are published the same way, set a supplier rule to apply the destination automatically.
Select the default item type for sales
The Default item type for sales controls how sales items are created in QuickBooks Online (for example, Sales invoice).
You can set this:
As a default in the connection settings
Per item from the Item details page
As a customer rule
Use customer rules if certain customers always require the same sales type.
Configure tax settings (required for publishing)
Before publishing to QuickBooks Online, make sure your tax settings are configured.
In Business settings > Connections > Manage (next to QuickBooks Online) > Settings > Tax, ensure:
Use tax list is turned on
A Default tax for costs is selected
A Default tax for sales is selected
QuickBooks Online requires every published item to have a valid tax rate. If you publish using Extracted amount, a default tax rate must be configured.
If no default tax is set, publishing will not complete and you’ll see this message on the item:
“Please select a tax rate or a default sales tax rate from Connections > Accounting software > Manage > Settings”
For full details on configuring tax settings, see How to configure tax settings for QuickBooks Online in Dext.
Automatically publish items to QuickBooks Online
You can enable automatic publishing to send items to QuickBooks Online as soon as they are marked as Ready.
In Business settings > Connections > Manage > Settings, open the Automatic publishing tab to turn on Auto-publish all items and set any exceptions.
For full setup details and how automatic publishing works, see How to use auto-publish in Dext.
Link payment methods before publishing paid costs
If you publish cost items as paid (Cash, Check, or Credit card), the selected Payment method must be linked to a bank account in QuickBooks Online.
To link a payment method to a QuickBooks bank account, see How to link a payment method to a bank account.
How the “Publish to” field works in QuickBooks Online
The Publish to field controls whether a cost item is treated as paid or unpaid in QuickBooks Online and where it appears.
Publish paid cost items
To publish a paid cost item:
Open the item in the Costs inbox.
Set Publish to as Cash, Check, or Credit card.
Make sure the selected Payment method is linked to a QuickBooks bank account.
Select Publish.
The item appears in Expenses in QuickBooks Online as a paid transaction.
Publish unpaid cost items
To publish an unpaid cost item:
Open the item in the Costs inbox.
Set Publish to as Bill.
Select Publish.
The item appears in QuickBooks Online as a bill waiting to be paid.
Both paid and unpaid cost items can be found in Expenses in QuickBooks Online.
Publish credit notes (negative amounts)
If you are publishing a document with a negative total amount, you must set Publish to as Credit note.
QuickBooks Online will reject negative amounts if they are published as Cash, Check, Credit card, or Bill.
To publish a credit note:
Open the item in the Costs inbox.
Confirm the document type is set to Credit note.
Set Publish to as Credit note.
Select Publish.
This ensures the item is created correctly in QuickBooks Online and avoids rejection by the QuickBooks API.
Publish credit card refunds to QuickBooks Online
If you are publishing a refund to a credit card, select Credit Card Credit in the Publish to field.
This ensures the refund is recorded against the correct credit card account in QuickBooks Online.
Note: Credit Card Credit is available only for QuickBooks Online users in the United States and Canada.
To publish a credit card refund:
Open the item in the Costs inbox.
Set Publish to as Credit Card Credit.
Make sure the Paid toggle is set to Yes.
Confirm the Payment method is linked to the corresponding credit card account in QuickBooks Online.
Select Publish.
The published item appears in QuickBooks Online under Expenses, against the selected vendor and credit card account.
Publish sales items to QuickBooks Online
To publish a sales item:
Open the item in the Sales inbox.
Select the correct Customer.
Confirm the Type (for example, Sales invoice).
Check the tax rate.
Select Publish.
The sales item is created in QuickBooks Online based on the selected type.
Note: Sales items use Product/Service instead of Category when publishing to QuickBooks Online.
Why is “Bill” not available in the Publish to field?
If you don’t see Bill in the Publish to field, your QuickBooks Online account is on the Simple Start (Easy Start) subscription.
This subscription only allows publishing as:
Cash
Check
Credit card
To publish items as bills, upgrade your QuickBooks Online subscription. After upgrading, reconnect the integration in Dext.
Use supplier and customer rules to automate publishing
Supplier and customer rules can automatically apply publishing defaults, such as:
Publish to destination (costs)
Item type (sales)
Tax rate
Category
Product/Service
Rules help reduce manual changes and keep publishing consistent for repeat suppliers and customers.
To set up rules, see How to use supplier and customer rules in Dext.