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Migrate from Zoho Books to SimpleERP

Zoho Books exports each list as a CSV or Excel file. SimpleERP reads those files with Zoho's own column names, so nothing has to be retyped into a template.

Updated · 6 min read

In short

To migrate from Zoho Books, export customers, vendors, items, the chart of accounts, unpaid invoices and open bills as CSV or XLSX, or take a Data Backup. Drop the files on SimpleERP's Settings → Import data and import each card in order.

Export six lists from Zoho Books (customers, vendors, items, chart of accounts, unpaid invoices and open bills) as CSV or XLSX, then drop them on Settings → Import data in SimpleERP. It matches Zoho's column names, maps GST treatment and tax names, and checks every row before writing.

What do you export from Zoho Books?

Export one file per list. Choose CSV or XLSX: the Import data page refuses the older .xls format. Each Zoho export holds up to 25,000 rows.

  1. Customers

    Sales → Customers → ⋯ → Export (CSV).

  2. Vendors

    Purchases → Vendors → Export.

  3. Items

    Items → Export.

  4. Chart of accounts

    Accountant → Chart of Accounts → Export.

  5. Open invoices

    Sales → Invoices → filter Unpaid / Overdue / Partially paid → Export.

  6. Open bills

    Purchases → Bills → filter Open → Export.

Or take everything at once: Settings → Data Backup gives a zip of all CSVs. Unzip it and drop the files you need; the page shows which card each file belongs to, and you can set a file to Ignore.

How do Zoho's GST treatment and tax names map?

Each contact's GST Treatment becomes its GST registration type in SimpleERP, and each item's tax name becomes a GST rate. The two-letter Place of Contact code, such as TN, becomes the state.

Zoho BooksSimpleERP
business_registered_regular, business_registered_composition, business_gstRegistered
business_sezExempt
business_unregistered, business_noneUnregistered
consumerConsumer
overseasOverseas
Intra State Tax Name GST18Sale GST rate 18%
HSN/SAC, Usage unit, Product TypeHSN, unit, goods or service
Opening Stock, Opening Stock Value, Warehouse NameOpening stock and cost per warehouse
Account Type, Opening Balance, Debit or CreditAccount type and its opening balance
Customers and vendors can sit in one file: the Contact Type column splits them.

Zoho's invoice export repeats the invoice header on every line. SimpleERP groups the lines by invoice number, leaves out paid, void and draft invoices, and takes the pending amount from the Balance column. If there is none, it uses the Total, else quantity times price, and the card says which it used.

Opening balance or open invoices: how do you avoid counting twice?

A customer's balance must come across once. Zoho's own guide warns that once a party's opening balance is entered, its open invoices must not be added again. SimpleERP lets you bring both and settles the overlap for you.

  • The customers card posts each contact's Opening Balance as of the day before your start date.
  • The open invoices card then posts each unpaid invoice with its own number, date and pending amount.
  • For every customer in that import, SimpleERP reduces the opening balance by the total of its open invoices. If the two are equal, the lump sum disappears. If they differ, only the difference stays.
  • Check shows this per customer before anything is written, for example: Opening ₹1,20,000, open bills ₹1,00,000; ₹20,000 stays as an opening balance.
  • Suppliers and open bills work the same way.

One Zoho detail matters here. The Opening Balance column holds the figure entered when you started Zoho Books, not what the customer owes today. Before importing, replace it with each customer's current balance from Zoho's customer balances report, or clear it if every rupee owed sits in an unpaid invoice.

How do you import the files?

  1. Choose Zoho Books

    On Settings → Import data, choose Zoho Books and set Books start in SimpleERP on.

  2. Drop the files

    The page lists each file, the card it fills and the row count. Change a card or set Ignore if it guessed wrong.

  3. Check, then import, top to bottom

    Chart of accounts, customers, suppliers, products, opening balances, open invoices, open bills. Each card imports in one go.

Worked example: Lakshmi Steel Furnitures on Zoho Books

Suppose Lakshmi Steel Furnitures, the fictional Coimbatore steel furniture maker on this site, kept its books in Zoho Books and starts in SimpleERP on 1 October 2026. It exports six files on 30 September.

FileRowsWhat Check showed
Customers1615 registered, 1 consumer; state from Place of Contact
Vendors11All registered; 1 phone number with 9 digits flagged
Items120GST18 and GST12 read as 18% and 12%; stock value ₹11,48,000
Chart of accounts38Receivables, payables and stock accounts skipped, SimpleERP owns them
Invoices (unpaid)14 lines, 6 invoices₹4,62,300 pending, taken from Balance
Bills (open)3₹2,08,600 pending
Six Zoho exports, checked before anything was written.

The accountant fixed the phone number in the file and checked again. Customer opening balances had been replaced with current balances, so for five customers the open invoices cleared the lump sum. Ravi Stores owed ₹1,20,000 against ₹1,00,000 of invoices, and ₹20,000 stayed as its opening balance.

What do you check after the import?

  • The trial balance as of 30 September equals Zoho's trial balance for the same day
  • Receivables per customer match Zoho's customer balances; the total here is ₹4,82,300
  • Payables per supplier match Zoho's vendor balances
  • Stock value equals ₹11,48,000 and the Inventory account balance
  • Opening Balance Equity is zero

If a figure is off, undo that card from Previous imports, fix the file and import it again. See how the two products differ on SimpleERP vs Zoho Books, and read the opening balances guide for the accounting behind the checks.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Will my GSTR-1 change?

No. Returns for months before your start date came from Zoho Books and stay as filed. Unpaid invoices come across with their Zoho numbers and original dates and carry no tax, so GST reports in SimpleERP from the start date show only invoices raised in SimpleERP.

Can I keep using Zoho Books?

Keep it for reading past entries while your subscription runs, and export the reports your CA needs before it ends. There is no live sync, so enter everything from the start date in SimpleERP only.

What if a GSTIN is wrong?

Check flags a GSTIN with a wrong check digit as a row error with its row number. Correct it in the file or clear it, then check again, or import the valid rows and fix that contact on screen.

How big a file can I upload?

Up to 20 MB per file. Zoho exports up to 25,000 rows per file, and SimpleERP imports up to 20,000 rows per card at a time, so a larger list is split into two files.

Do I need the chart of accounts if I only use Zoho's default accounts?

No. SimpleERP comes with its own chart of accounts. Import Zoho's only if you added accounts of your own, such as a second bank or a loan. Accounts whose names already exist are skipped.

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