How to Access Live QuickBooks POS Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for QuickBooks POS enables you to access live QuickBooks POS data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate QuickBooks POS data into a simple workflow, moving QuickBooks POS data into a CSV file.

Through optimized data processing, CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live QuickBooks POS data in Microsoft Power Automate. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power Automate to QuickBooks POS, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to QuickBooks POS and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (e.g. SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connect to QuickBooks POS 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.

When you are connecting to a local QuickBooks instance, you do not need to set any connection properties.

Requests are made to QuickBooks POS through the Remote Connector. The Remote Connector runs on the same machine as QuickBooks POS and accepts connections through a lightweight, embedded Web server. The server supports SSL/TLS, enabling users to connect securely from remote machines.

The first time you connect, you will need to authorize the Remote Connector with QuickBooks POS. See the "Getting Started" chapter of the help documentation for a guide.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing workflows.

Integrate QuickBooks POS Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for QuickBooks POS, you are ready to integrate QuickBooks POS data into your Power Automate workflows. Open Microsoft Power Automate, add a new flow, and name the flow.

In the flow editor, you can add the actions to connect to QuickBooks POS, query QuickBooks POS using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.

Add an Open SQL Connection Action

Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Connection string: DSN=CData QuickBooks POS Source

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add an Execute SQL Statement Action

Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Get connection by: SQL connection variable
• SQL connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
• SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Customers

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add a Write to CSV File Action

Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Actions -> File) and configure the properties.

• Variable to write to: %QueryResult% (the variable from the "Execute SQL statement" action above)
• File path: set to a file on disk
• Configure Advanced settings as needed.

After configuring the action, click Save.

Add a Close SQL Connection Action

Add a "Close SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• SQL Connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)

After configuring the action, click Save.

Save & Run the Flow

Once you have configured all the actions for the flow, click the disk icon to save the flow. Click the play icon to run the flow.

Now you have a workflow to move QuickBooks POS data into a CSV file.

With the CData ODBC Driver for QuickBooks POS, you get live connectivity to QuickBooks POS data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using the CData ODBC Driver for QuickBooks POS with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

• QuickBooks POS Data in Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect
• QuickBooks POS Data in Power Automate (Online) using CData Connect