Open the bill in Cleo Pay and look at the QuickBooks card on the Details tab. If a sync failed, the card says so and shows the error in plain words, with a How to fix list under it. Most errors come from a vendor or bank account that isn't matched to QuickBooks yet. Fix the cause, then click Retry sync.
Read the QuickBooks card
The badge at the top of the card shows where the bill stands.
| Badge | What it means |
|---|---|
| Synced | The bill, and its payment if it's paid, are in QuickBooks |
| Ready to sync | Nothing is blocking it. Click Sync to QuickBooks to send it |
| Syncing | Cleo Pay is sending it now |
| Action needed | Something has to be matched first. The card says what |
| Sync failed | QuickBooks rejected it. The error is shown under the badge |
| Not synced | It hasn't been sent and can't be yet, for example because it's still waiting for approval |
Under the badge, Bill and Bill Payment each get their own row. A row marked Failed has its error right below it. Once a row is synced, click it to open that record in QuickBooks.
Errors you might see
When QuickBooks rejects a bill, Cleo Pay rewrites its error in plain words, so the exact text varies. These are the ones that come up most.
| The card says | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Contact must be mapped to a QuickBooks vendor" | Click Link or create vendor on the card, then pick the QuickBooks vendor or create it. To match many vendors at once, use Vendor Reconciliation on the Accounting page |
| "Bank account must be mapped to a QuickBooks account" | A paid bill needs the bank account it was paid from matched to an account in QuickBooks. Click Map bank account on the card |
| "QuickBooks already has an inactive vendor named [name]. Make it active in QuickBooks, then link it here." | QuickBooks won't reuse a name that belongs to an inactive vendor. Make that vendor active in QuickBooks, then link it |
| "Invalid vendor reference" or "Invalid expense category" | The vendor or account the bill points to was deleted or made inactive in QuickBooks. Pick a different one in Cleo Pay, or add it back in QuickBooks, then retry |
| "A payment on this invoice was returned after QuickBooks recorded it as bill payment..." | The bank sent a payment back after QuickBooks recorded it. Void or delete that bill payment in QuickBooks, then sync again |
| "Imported payables are historical records and cannot be synced to QuickBooks." | Bills brought over from Bill.com stay in Cleo Pay as history. There's nothing to fix |
Retry a failed sync
- Fix the cause the card describes.
- Click Retry sync on the QuickBooks card.
- Click Sync to QuickBooks to confirm.
To check many bills at once, go to the Accounting page, find Invoice Sync and click Review. Each bill shows Synced, Sync Failed, Vendor not mapped or Bank account not mapped.
If QuickBooks itself is disconnected
If the status at the top of the Accounting page says Connection Expired or Connection Error, every sync fails until it's fixed. Don't disconnect to fix it, because disconnecting deletes your vendor matches. See How to connect QuickBooks Online to Cleo Pay.
Still stuck?
Email support@cleo-pay.com with:
- The bill's invoice number and vendor name
- Whether it's the Bill or the Bill Payment that failed
- The error text from the card, or a screenshot of it
Learn more: Cleo Pay and QuickBooks Online
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