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Error: Item Category or Bundle with name: 'Labor' exists in QuickBooks!
Error: Item Category or Bundle with name: 'Labor' exists in QuickBooks!

Please change the name of this Item Category/Bundle in QuickBooks.

Dan Fellman avatar
Written by Dan Fellman
Updated over a week ago

This error is happening because you have an "item category" or "bundle" named “Labor” (or whatever is displayed in the error message) in your Products and Services list in QuickBooks. 

An “item category” is a way to group items in the Products and Services list. For example, in this screenshot from the Products and Services list in QuickBooks, “Labor Category” is the item category that contains “Counters Labor”, “Installation”, and “Labor”...

An “item bundle” is similar to an item category, except that only the lowest level items in a category can have costs, but a bundle can consist of items is multiple levels, and each can have costs.

The error message is telling you that you have an item category or bundle named “Labor” (etc.), and this is a problem because ContractorTools needs to write an item to the Products and Services list with the same name, but QuickBooks won’t allow you to have an item with the same name as an item category. 

So to fix this problem, you need to change the name of the “Labor” (etc.) item category or bundle to something like “Labor Category”, or “Labor Bundle”. Here’s how to change the name of a Category:

  • Sign in to QuickBooks and click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

  • Select "All Lists".

  • Select "Product Categories". This will display a list of all of the product categories in QuickBooks.

  • Locate the category that has the name identified in the error message (i.e. "Labor"). 

  • Click "Edit" in the right column.

  • Change the name of the product; to "Labor Category", or “Labor Bundle” for example.

  • Click "Save".

Now that you have fixed the cause of the error, follow these steps to clear the error in ContractorTools and re-sync:

  • Go to ContractorTools and select "QuickBooks Sync" in the main menu.

  • Tap on "Sync Errors". This will take you to a list of the sync errors.

  • For each error, tap on it, then tap Clear.

Now go back to the QuickBooks Sync screen and tap "Sync Now".

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