Connecting to QuickBooks Online
The connection is made from inside PortalPoint, on your own computer, because that is where the connection has to live.
Connecting for the first time
- Open PortalPoint on your computer.
- Go to Settings, then Integrations.
- Find QuickBooks Online and choose Connect.
- Your browser opens at Intuit. Sign in there and pick the company you want PortalPoint to work with.
- Intuit sends you back and the browser hands the connection to PortalPoint. The Integrations panel then shows the company name.
You need to be an administrator in PortalPoint to do this, and an administrator of the QuickBooks company you are connecting.
Reconnecting
A connection stops working if it is disconnected from the QuickBooks side, if it goes unused long enough for Intuit to expire it, or if the password on the Intuit account changes. PortalPoint says so on the Integrations panel rather than failing quietly.
Reconnecting is the same five steps. The button reads Reconnect instead of Connect, and nothing you have already synchronised is lost or duplicated by doing it.
What the connection reaches
PortalPoint reads and writes the parts of your QuickBooks company it needs to keep your invoicing and your customer list in step — customers, items, invoices and payments. It does not touch payroll, and it does not file anything with anybody.
QuickBooks stays the system of record for your accounting. PortalPoint is where the work happens; the numbers belong in QuickBooks, and the connection exists so you are not typing them twice.
Why this goes through our website
Intuit does not allow an installed application to receive the sign-in redirect directly, and offers no way to connect without a client secret. A secret shipped inside a downloadable application is readable by anyone who downloads it, so one application is registered here, at this domain, and every installation borrows it. You never register anything with Intuit yourself.
Nothing from the handshake is kept here. The authorisation is passed straight back to your own installation, the exchanges that need the secret are made and answered in the response, and the tokens live on your computer. No database row, no log entry, nothing at rest. This website never reads your QuickBooks data. The full account is in the privacy policy.
If it will not connect
- The browser opened and nothing came back. PortalPoint listens for the return on your own machine. If a firewall or a security product blocked that, the diagnostics page in Settings will say so.
- Intuit said the app is not authorised. You are signed in to Intuit as someone without administrator rights on that company. Sign in as an administrator and try again.
- You picked the wrong company. Disconnect in PortalPoint and connect again; you will be asked to choose.
Anything else: Trent@portalpointsolutions.com.