How to export MYOB data

Decide what the export is for, because MYOB handles each need differently. If your accountant or bookkeeper wants your books, inviting them into your MYOB business means you no longer have to send them anything. If they'd still rather have a file, the Data for your accountant export makes one. If you need a single report to share, analyse or keep, export it from the report itself.

For a file for your accountant, ask them two things first: which export file type they want, and how they'd like it sent. Each file type suits particular software, including MYOB AE and MYOB AO, so check with your accountant if you're unsure which to pick.

For reports in Excel, Microsoft Excel 2010 or later needs to be installed on your computer. Excel used through a web browser won't do the job.

1. Click the settings menu (the gear icon) and choose Import and export data.
2. Click the Export tab.
3. From the Data type dropdown list, choose Data for your accountant. More fields appear.
4. Set the date range for the transactions: choose a Period, or enter dates in the Date from and Date to fields.
5. Choose the Export file type your accountant asked for. Some file types ask for extra details before you export; your accountant can say what to enter.
6. Click Export. The file saves to your Downloads folder, and if you can't find it there, click Download again.
7. Send the file to your accountant in the way they've asked for, so they can import it into their software.

To export a report instead, produce the report and make any changes you want, such as filtering it or adding, removing or reordering columns. Choose Excel or PDF from the Export menu, then click Export. For a PDF you can pick a PDF style template, or Default.

The Data for your accountant export gives you a single file holding your business's transactions and account balances for the period you set. Your accountant imports it into compatible software at their end.

An exported report is what you saw on screen. Filters you applied and columns you added, removed or reordered all carry into the file. On a report with account levels, like the Profit and Loss, the level you chose is fixed in the export. A PDF opens on a new browser tab, where you can view, print or download it, and an Excel file lands in your Downloads folder. There's also View and print: click it while viewing a report to open the report as a PDF on a new browser tab, ready to save or print.

Whoever receives a file needs a program to open it: a PDF viewer such as Adobe Reader for a PDF, or something that opens Excel spreadsheets for an Excel file.

Totals missing from a report opened in Excel? Turn on editing in Excel, because the totals the report calculated don't display while editing is disabled. If AccountRight is used in a browser and you want its Excel report templates, MYOB says the desktop app is needed for them.

If you use AccountRight on the desktop, data such as lists is exported with the Import/Export Assistant on the File menu, which needs a role that allows importing and exporting. You pick one type of data per export, such as your accounts list or your customer list, choose tabs or commas as the separator, and choose the fields. The result is a text file for Excel or for importing into another company file. Reports there are exported from the File menu's Export option, as PDF, Excel, XPS, CSV or TSV files, although two reports, one of them Card List [Detail], are too complex in format to export.

If a desktop export to Excel shows an error about a .XLT file, the report's Excel template is missing. MYOB's fix is to uninstall and reinstall AccountRight, which brings back the default templates, so copy any templates you've edited first.