After you post a batch, its entries are in Rhythm’s books. Most associations keep their official books in separate accounting software, so you need to send those posted entries there. This article explains how to download posted batches to a file, or sync them directly when your business unit uses QuickBooks Online.
When to Use This
Use this when you have posted a batch and need to send its entries to your accounting software. You can download several posted batches from the same business unit at once, or download a single batch from its own page.
When you issue a credit, you choose the batch it belongs to. That choice can affect what your next QuickBooks download or sync sends, so review the credit’s batch assignment with your accounting team before you download or sync.
Prerequisites
- Permission to download batches.
- The batches you download must already be posted. You can’t download a batch that is still open; see Close, Reopen, or Delete a Batch and your posting steps to move the batch to Posted first.
- Every batch in one download request must belong to the same business unit.
- Your working business unit should be active. Downloads from an inactive business unit may not work as expected.
Download Batches
- Go to Finance & Billing › Batches, select the posted batches you want to download, and choose Download... from Batch Operations. To download one batch, open it and select Download this Batch, or choose Download... from its Batch Options menu.
- Review the list of batches that will be downloaded.
- Select Download Batches.
Result
What happens next depends on how the business unit is set up:
- QuickBooks Online: Rhythm sends the entries directly to QuickBooks Online through the integration. When the sync finishes, you see a Success confirmation. To confirm the debit and credit amounts and general ledger accounts sent for a batch, open the batch and review Subledger Entries.
- Every other accounting package: Rhythm creates a CSV file in the layout your accounting software expects, and your browser starts the download. Batch downloads are not available as a native Excel file. If the automatic download does not start, use the link on the completion screen to download the file again.
In both cases, Rhythm marks every downloaded batch as downloaded and records when that happened. The exported file also includes a Transaction ID for electronic payments, so authorized card and ACH payments carry their processor transaction ID into your accounting software. In the NetSuite layout, that value appears in the authorization-code column. This field appears only on batches downloaded after the field was added. To see it on a batch you downloaded earlier, unpost and repost the batch, then download it again.
Warning
The download screen shows the batches you selected, even if one of them is not posted yet. Rhythm checks their status only after you select Download Batches. If any selected batch is not posted, Rhythm refuses the entire download. The message tells you how many batches were not posted, but it does not identify them. If this happens, check each batch’s status before you try again.
Tip
Automatic transmission to QuickBooks Online sends only posted batches, so an open batch will not go out on its own until you post it. Turning off automatic QuickBooks Online posting does not stop the manual Download Batches action described above. You can still download a posted batch this way whether automatic posting is turned on or off.
Detail, Summary, and Per-Batch Summary
Your business unit’s setup controls how Rhythm groups entries in the download. Because those settings affect the layout, output that looks wrong at first may simply reflect a different download option or method than you expected. Check your business unit’s grouping and accounting-package settings before assuming something is broken:
- Detail sends every individual entry line, including the customer, transaction, and account information your accounting software needs for each line. Detail downloads can include payments applied to invoices from an earlier period, so a batch’s exported total will not always match the day’s deposit when some payments were for older invoices. Because entries stay at the line-item level, journal entries can appear as several lines per invoice instead of one rolled-up amount. Expect that level of detail when you reconcile against your deposits. A download can also omit the project field for only some transactions in a batch, rather than for the whole batch. Check individual rows before assuming a missing project applies to everything in the file. If project values are missing, reopening the period and posting and downloading the batch again has restored them in some cases.
- Summary combines lines into one row per general ledger account, project, and department across all downloaded batches. A summary download can still produce more than one row for what looks like a single result when the underlying entries use different accounting projects or revenue-split accounts. For example, a Sage export can show a separate row for each accounting project a fee’s revenue was split across. Rows keep separate department codes even when multiple entries share the same general ledger account. Department appears as a line-level value where it applies.
- Batch-level summary combines lines the same way, but keeps a separate set of totals for each batch instead of combining all batches together.
If your business unit is set up so a receivable line inherits its project code from the paired revenue line, that inheritance applies only in summary and batch-level summary downloads, and only for entries on the same underlying transaction.
Batch downloads use the invoice or transaction’s bill-to information for customer and billing fields, not any ship-to override. For a group registration billed to an owner or organization, the download shows that bill-to contact or organization rather than the individual who received the registration. Some columns may be blank when the bill-to is an organization. In the NetSuite layout, this appears in the ship-to-related columns.
The File’s Layout
For business units other than QuickBooks Online, the download file matches the accounting package your business unit is set up for, such as QuickBooks Desktop, Great Plains, NetSuite, Peachtree, or Sage Intacct. If your business unit names a custom download template written for your account, Rhythm uses that layout instead. If your business unit’s package has no built-in layout and no custom template is assigned, the download fails and tells you that no layout could be found and that you need to configure a custom download template.
The NetSuite layout does not include the invoice’s Balance Due. Rhythm leaves it out because the balance can change after the batch is created through a payment, credit memo, partial refund, or cancellation. Since the balance can change, it would not reliably match what your accounting software should show.
Warning
If QuickBooks Desktop refuses to import a downloaded IIF file, check its date fields for an unexpected timestamp suffix, such as T04:00:00.00Z; removing that suffix before importing has resolved this.
Effective date and expiration date appear in a regular batch download, but not in a deferred entry batch download.
For dues or membership-application invoices, a batch download includes only the contact’s current, approved effective and expiration dates. A first-time applicant with a pending application may show blank dates until the application is approved. After approval, post and download the batch again to see the membership dates that go with the approved application. There is no setting to show a pending application’s future dates before approval, because the application may not ultimately be approved. To avoid a mismatch in your accounting software, download a batch with membership-application invoices after the application is approved rather than before. If you already downloaded one before approval, you will need to adjust it manually or account for the date difference in your accounting system.
Why a Download Might Fail
- A batch isn't posted. As noted above, Rhythm refuses the whole download if any selected batch is not posted yet.
- A batch belongs to a different business unit. A download request can include batches from only one business unit, so Rhythm refuses requests that mix business units.
- No layout is available. If your business unit’s accounting package needs a custom template that is not configured, or the download method is not set up correctly, the download fails instead of creating a malformed file. This includes a missing transform or mapping for a transaction category. If the download fails with an error such as "IllegalOperation: No transforms set up for other," configure the missing transform or mapping, or assign a custom download template, then try again.
- A QuickBooks Online push error. If a posted batch download fails because of the QuickBooks Online push itself, temporarily switching your accounting-software setting to QuickBooks (file download) has let the download proceed as a file. Switch back once the push problem is resolved. A QuickBooks Online download has also failed in some cases when the batch included an electronic payment with incomplete captured payment details.
- A very large export. A deferred revenue batch with many entries can take a long time to generate. Generation used to time out after roughly 60 seconds on the largest deferred revenue exports; that timeout has since been increased. If a download seems to hang or fails without another explanation, try again, and consider downloading fewer batches at a time.
- The export started from the wrong place. Downloading directly from the batch record or Batch Operations gives you the columns and formatting described in this article. A similar-looking report pulled from elsewhere in Rhythm can produce different results.
- Your context or permissions differ from another user's. A download can fail for one staff member’s business-unit context or permissions while succeeding for another user on the same batch. If a download fails for you, confirm that you are working in the correct business unit and have the batch-download permission before escalating.
If a download fails partway through, Rhythm does not mark the batches as downloaded. You can correct the problem and try again without worrying that a batch was marked as sent when it was not.
Tip
If a batch download shows the wrong payment date, unposting and reposting the batch before downloading again has corrected it.
Warning
A downloaded CSV can look empty in spreadsheet software that doesn’t automatically use the right delimiter, even though the export itself has data. If a file looks blank, try opening it in different spreadsheet software, or import it using the delimiter your accounting software or spreadsheet expects, before assuming the download itself failed.
Tip
You can download an already-downloaded batch again. Rhythm does not stop you from resending the same batch to your accounting software. If you see duplicate journal entries in your accounting software, check whether the same batch was downloaded more than once.
Related Reading
To find a batch and confirm its status before you download it, see Find and Review a Batch. To understand what posting writes before a batch is downloaded, see How Posting Creates Ledger Entries. Your business unit’s accounting package and download method are set up separately in Finance & Billing configuration.