Set up QuickBooks Online inventory tracking

Overview

Configure inventory tracking between ServiceTitan and QuickBooks Online (QBO) to manage how inventory items export across invoices and bills. This guide covers how to set up your pricebook items, configure QBO, and understand how each transaction type behaves when exported.

Proper setup helps prevent item mismatches, reduces manual corrections in QBO, and keeps your inventory records accurate across both systems.

Things to know

• QuickBooks Online uses FIFO (First In, First Out) inventory costing. This differs from QuickBooks Desktop, which supports both Average Cost and FIFO.

• ServiceTitan matches inventory items to QBO using the pricebook item Code field. The item Code in ServiceTitan must match the item Name in QBO for the export to map correctly.

• If a ServiceTitan inventory item does not exist in QBO, QBO automatically creates it as a Service type item. To prevent this, create items in QBO before exporting.

• There is no functional difference between a Service type item and a Non-Inventory type item in QBO. Both can be set as purchasable.

• Returns and transfers do not export to QBO. You must create these transactions manually in QBO.

• Only certain special characters are supported for item names and codes that export to QBO. Supported characters include alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), commas, periods, question marks, ampersands, exclamation points, pound signs, single quotes, tildes, asterisks, spaces, underscores, hyphens, semicolons, and plus signs.

Best practices

• Set the item Code and Name to the same value in your ServiceTitan pricebook. This ensures that both invoices and bills map to the same QBO item regardless of which field the export uses.

• Create all inventory items in QBO as the correct item type (inventory or non-inventory) before your first export from ServiceTitan. This prevents QBO from auto-creating items as Service type items.

• If you do not need to track inventory quantities in QBO, turn off the inventory tracking feature in QBO and create your items as non-inventory type. This is the recommended approach for most shops.

Choose an inventory tracking option

Before you configure your pricebook items, decide whether you want to track inventory quantities in QBO. Each option has different setup requirements and export behavior.

Option 1: Do not track inventory in QBO (recommended)

This option is recommended for most shops. Inventory items from ServiceTitan still export on invoices and bills, but they do not trigger inventory quantity tracking in QBO. This simplifies your accounting workflow and avoids common item-matching issues.

With this option, create all your materials and equipment as non-inventory type items in QBO.

Option 2: Track inventory in QBO

This option enables full inventory quantity tracking in QBO. When invoices and bills export, QBO updates inventory counts for matching items. This requires more careful setup to ensure items match correctly between the two systems.

With this option, create all your materials and equipment as inventory type items in QBO.

Note: If you choose Option 2, the item Code in ServiceTitan and the item Name in QBO must match exactly.

Why we recommend Option 1

ServiceTitan is your primary system for managing inventory quantities, costs, and warehouse movements. Duplicating that tracking in QBO introduces extra maintenance without adding value. You must keep item types, codes, and quantities in sync across both systems, and mismatches lead to failed exports or duplicate items.

QBO inventory tracking is designed for businesses that manage purchasing and fulfillment entirely within QBO. Because ServiceTitan handles those workflows, most shops get the best results by exporting inventory items to QBO as non-inventory type items. This preserves accurate revenue and cost reporting on invoices and bills without triggering QBO's quantity tracking layer.

Set up inventory items in ServiceTitan

How you mark items as inventory in ServiceTitan depends on whether you have the Inventory Module enabled.

If your account does not have the Inventory Module

If you use the Purchasing Module only (or have no inventory module enabled), mark items as inventory directly in the pricebook:

1. Go to Pricebook > Materials or Pricebook > Equipment.

2. Click Edit next to the item you want to configure.

3. Select the Is inventory checkbox.

4. Click Save. 

   

To mark items in bulk, export your pricebook to a spreadsheet file, enter a value of 1 in the IsInventory column for each item, and import the updated file back into ServiceTitan.

If your account has the Inventory Module

If the Inventory Module is enabled for your account, use the Enable Inventory Tracking switch instead:

1. Make sure your inventory configuration is set up in Settings > Inventory > Configuration. For more, see Set up inventory configurations.

2. Go to Pricebook > Materials or Pricebook > Equipment.

3. Click Actions > View/Edit next to the item you want to configure.

4. Turn on the Enable Inventory Tracking switch.

5. Click Save.

If your account has the Inventory Module (inventory tracking activation)

If the Inventory Module is enabled for your account, use the inventory tracking activation workflow in the pricebook instead. This process requires you to navigate to the Inventory Settings tab on each item, acknowledge that activation is irreversible, and select an asset account.

For the full steps, see Enable inventory tracking for equipment and material.

Note: When you activate inventory tracking on an item, ServiceTitan creates a new item with an I- prefix on the code (for example, 11K49G becomes I-11K49G) and deactivates the old item. If you have already created a matching item in QBO, update the QBO item Name to match the new code with the I- prefix. Otherwise, the export creates a duplicate item in QBO.

Set up inventory items in QuickBooks Online

Create matching items in QBO before you export from ServiceTitan. The item type you create depends on which tracking option you chose.

If you chose Option 1 (do not track inventory)

1. In QBO, go to Products & Services.

2. Create each material and equipment item as a Non-inventory type item.

3. Set the item Name to match the item Code from ServiceTitan.

4. Assign the appropriate income and expense accounts to each item.

If you chose Option 2 (track inventory)

1. In QBO, turn on inventory tracking. For instructions, see the Intuit support article on inventory setup.

2. Go to Products & Services.

3. Create each material and equipment item as an Inventory type item.

4. Set the item Name to match the item Code from ServiceTitan.

5. Assign the appropriate income and expense accounts to each item.

Understand export behavior by transaction type

Each transaction type in ServiceTitan behaves differently when exported to QBO. The table below summarizes the behavior.

Want to learn more?

• See QuickBooks inventory integration

• See Export bills to QuickBooks Online

• See Inventory and Purchasing

• See QuickBooks Online Home