All Collections
Product Support and How to?
Fixing Broken Connections with QuickBooks Validation
Fixing Broken Connections with QuickBooks Validation

Have a disconnected client or matter? Here's how to troubleshoot your QuickBooks connections!

Doug Schmierer avatar
Written by Doug Schmierer
Updated over a week ago

You may run into a situation where a client or matter is disconnected from QuickBooks. A disconnect can happen when something interferes with the connection between the client or matter in LeanLaw and its customer or sub-customer in QuickBooks, such as the customer type being changed in QuickBooks or the customer being made inactive in QuickBooks.

This article will guide you how to scan your firm for disconnected clients matters and fix their broken connections.


How to find broken clients and matters with QuickBooks Validation


1. Validate your clients and matters

On the Matters page, click the Validate QuickBooks Connections button. This will cause a QuickBooks status icon to appear next to all clients and matters, regardless of whether you activated it on the Clients page or the Matters page.

A screenshot of the Matters page with the Validate QuickBooks Connection button indicated.

The QuickBooks icon will change color depending on the status of the QuickBooks connection. Icons will be green if the connection to QuickBooks is good, red if the connection is bad, or remain blank if the client or matter hasn’t yet been connected to QuickBooks.

A screenshot of the Matters page with a good and a bad QuickBooks status icon indicated.

2. Filter your matters

Once you've clicked the Validate QuickBooks Connections button, a dropdown will appear directly beneath it. Click this Filter Connections dropdown and select Bad connection to QuickBooks. This will cause LeanLaw to show only the clients or matters with broken connections to QuickBooks.

Note: it's important open the Clients page as well when looking for broken QuickBooks Connections.

  • If the client is set to client-accounting, their broken connection will appear next to the client's name on the Clients page.

  • If the client is set to matter-accounting, their broken connection(s) will appear next to their broken matter(s) on the Matters page.

A screenshot of the Matters page with Filter Connections set to Bad connection to QuickBooks

3. Click on the client or matter

Click on any client or matter you find with a red QuickBooks icon to open it.

If you open a client in this step, you'll still need to click on one of its matters, listed on the left side, in order to view the QuickBooks information linked to that client.

4. Click on the QuickBooks tab

Within the matter, click on the QuickBooks tab to access the matter’s QuickBooks settings.

A screenshot of a matter page with its QuickBooks button indicated.

5. Repair the QuickBooks connection

Depending on the cause of the broken connection, you'll want to repair a client or matter in different ways.


To repair the connection of an inactive matter or client


If this is a client or matter you've billed before in the past, the customer associated with it may have been made inactive in QuickBooks. This is how to reconnect an inactive QuickBooks account.

1. Open the customer in QuickBooks

Click the down-facing arrow next to the QuickBooks Customer's name. Choose the matter name, if the matter's set to matter-accounting, or the client's name, if the matter's set to client's accounting. Select Open in QuickBooks. This will take you directly to the customer's page in your firm's QuickBooks.

A gif showing how to find the Open in QuickBooks button

2. Click Make Active

In the customer's QuickBooks page, click Make Active.

A screenshot of a customer's QuickBooks page with Make Active indicated.

Once you make the customer active in QuickBooks, any disconnections in LeanLaw that were caused by the inactive customer will automatically be restored.


To repair a client or matter with an incorrect Customer Name


The name you see next to "QuickBooks Customer" represents the account which the client and/or matter is linked to in QuickBooks. If it doesn't look right, here's how to repair it.

1. Open the QuickBooks Connector

On the QuickBooks tab of your matter, click on the client's name next to "QuickBooks Customer," as indicated below. This will open the QuickBooks Connector.

A screenshot of a matter page with the QuickBooks Customer name indicated.

2. Click the incorrect customer's name

In the QuickBooks Connector, click the dropdown which you've identified as the incorrect customer name for this account.

3. Select the correct customer name

In the dropdown list, find the QuickBooks customer which is supposed to be linked to the client or matter in LeanLaw.

Watch for warning messages below the customer you select; if the QuickBooks Connector tells you the customer is already linked to another client or matter in LeanLaw, these changes will likely cause billing and accounting issues in the future, and should not be saved.


What's next?


Did this answer your question?