A GL batch (General Ledger batch) groups giving activity so your finance team can review it and move it into QuickBooks. It is one of two ways CoolFocus gets giving data into QuickBooks - and the one to use if your organization runs QuickBooks Desktop.
GL Batches → QuickBooks Desktop. You group contributions into a batch, review it, then download an extract file and import it into QuickBooks Desktop. This is a manual, batch-at-a-time process you control. (This article.)
QuickBooks Online integration → QuickBooks Online. A live connection that syncs giving and accounting data to QuickBooks Online. See QuickBooks Online.
Pick the one that matches the version of QuickBooks your organization uses. You don't use both for the same data.
Group the contributions you want to send to accounting into a batch.
Review the batch - check the contributions, funds, and totals.
Close the batch when it's ready.
Extract to QuickBooks - choose the account to extract to, and CoolFocus generates a download file named like GLExtract-<batch number>.xml.
Import that file into QuickBooks Desktop.
Opening a GL batch shows a compact header with the batch's key facts at a glance, instead of a sidebar. From the header you can see:
The batch name (or batch number, if no name was set) and its status (for example Open or Closed).
The deposit number, if one has been assigned.
The start and end dates of the batch.
To Credit and To Debit totals for the batch.
The number of transactions included in the batch.
These same details are also shown below the header on the Details tab, which opens by default when you view a batch.
Instead of creating each contribution one at a time, you can use Batch entry to add a stack of contributions to a batch quickly, one row per gift.
Batch entry splits the contribution's fields into two groups:
Shared defaults (sticky) - fields like Date Received, Tender Type, Fund, and Source carry forward from one row to the next. Set them once and they stay filled until you change them, which speeds up entry when a stack of gifts shares the same date, fund, or source. If the batch itself has a batch date set, new rows default their Date Received from it.
Per-row fields - fields that are expected to differ (or that must be re-entered) for every gift, such as Donor and Amount. Check Number is also shown on every row so you can record it for each check, but it does not carry forward from the previous row the way sticky fields do, since each check has its own number.
As you save each row, the batch's totals and transaction count update, and CoolFocus moves you on to the next blank row so you can keep entering gifts without leaving the screen.
Contributions that have been refunded are never swept into a GL batch, whether you're building the batch by date range or by deposit number, and whether you add contributions automatically or add them to an existing batch yourself. This keeps refunded gifts out of what gets extracted and exported to QuickBooks.
If a contribution is refunded after it's already in an open batch, remove it from the batch by hand if it shouldn't be included. See Refunding a Payment for how refunds are recorded on a contribution.
Your organization uses QuickBooks Desktop (not the online version).
Your finance team prefers to review and post giving in controlled batches rather than a continuous sync.
Name batches clearly and review totals before you extract. Once a batch is imported into QuickBooks Desktop, corrections are handled in QuickBooks, so it's worth getting the batch right first.
QuickBooks Online - the alternative for QuickBooks Online users.
