Authorizing the connector in QuickBooks

QuickBooks does not let an outside application read a company file until a human says so, once, in a dialog inside QuickBooks. This lesson is that dialog. It takes about a minute, and the answer you give it decides whether syncs work unattended or interrupt someone every time.

Before you trigger it

Three conditions, all of which have to be true at the same moment:

• QuickBooks is open on the company file you want to sync.
• You’re signed in as the QuickBooks Admin user. Nobody else can authorize an application.
• QuickBooks was started normally — not “Run as administrator.”

Steps

1. With QuickBooks open and the gateway running, make one connection. Anything that touches the company file will do it; the easiest is to go straight on to the next lesson and press Test Connection in the ODBC Data Source Administrator. The connection will appear to hang for a few seconds. That is the prompt waiting for you.

2. Switch to the QuickBooks window. This is the step people miss. The prompt opens on QuickBooks, not on top of whatever you were doing, and it happily sits behind other windows while the connection times out in front of you. If a connection seems to stall, alt-tab to QuickBooks before assuming anything is broken.

3. Choose “Yes, always; allow access even if QuickBooks is not running.”

   Not “Yes, this time.” Not “Yes, whenever this QuickBooks company file is open.” The “always” option is what lets a background service connect without a person clicking approve for every sync — and the connector runs as a background service.

4. Confirm on the dialog that follows. QuickBooks summarizes what you just granted and asks you to confirm. Read it, then accept.

5. Check it stuck. In QuickBooks, go to Edit → Preferences → Integrated Applications → Company Preferences. The application should be listed, with access allowed.

Good to know

• It only asks once. Having answered, QuickBooks remembers — which is what you want day to day, and mildly inconvenient if you answered wrong. The fix is the same screen as step 5: remove the application from Integrated Applications, then connect again and the prompt returns.
• Authorization is per company file. Point the connector at a different file later and you’ll answer the prompt again for that file.
• “Even if QuickBooks is not running” doesn’t mean you can close QuickBooks. It’s the permission level the background service needs, and it’s the right answer — but Nymble’s QuickBooks Desktop integration is designed to run while someone has QuickBooks open, and syncs pause when it’s closed. The two aren’t in conflict; the setting is about how the connector is allowed to ask, not about leaving the machine unattended.
• If you get “access has not been granted” later, this lesson is the one to repeat — see troubleshooting.