How to Use a Microsoft Access Database to Update QuickBooks Online Data in Real Time

CData ODBC drivers connect your data to any database management tool that supports Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). This includes many of the most popular productivity tools, adding new capabilities for document sharing and collaboration. Using the CData ODBC driver for QuickBooks Online, you can update live QuickBooks Online data in Microsoft Access; for example, you can make updates that can be immediately seen by other users.

Getting Started

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Connect to QuickBooks Online as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

QuickBooks Online uses the OAuth authentication standard. OAuth requires the authenticating user to log in through the browser. To authenticate using OAuth, you can use the embedded OAuthClientId, OAuthClientSecret, and CallbackURL or you can obtain your own by registering an app with Intuit. Additionally, if you want to connect to sandbox data, set UseSandbox to true.

See the Getting Started chapter of the help documentation for a guide to using OAuth.

Create a Linked Table to Customers Data

Follow the steps below to create a linked table, which enables you to access live Customers data.

1. On the External Data tab in Access, click ODBC Database.
2. Select the option to link to the data source. A linked table will enable you to read from and write data to the Customers table.

3. Select the CData QuickBooks Online data source from the Machine Data Source tab.

4. Select the Customers table. For more information on this table, see the "Data Model" chapter in the help documentation.

5. Double-click the linked table to make edits. The linked table will always have up-to-date data and any changes will be reflected back to the underlying table.