SideQuest live in 20 minutes.

Seven steps. The slowest part is finding your QuickBooks Online admin password. Once you're connected, the first PO processes in under 30 seconds.

Step 1 · Connect QuickBooks Online (3 min)

From your dashboard at /onboard/, click Connect QuickBooks. You'll be redirected to Intuit's OAuth screen. Sign in with your QB Online admin account and approve the connection.

SideQuest asks for these QuickBooks permissions:

• Read on the item list, customer list, and price list
• Read/Write on Sales Orders and Estimates (so we can draft them)
• Read on transaction history (for the pricing-memory feature)

We do not request access to bank accounts, payroll, or tax filings. You can verify the granted scopes in QuickBooks at Settings → Apps → SideQuest → Permissions.

Step 2 · Connect Gmail (2 min)

Back at /onboard/, click Connect Gmail. You'll OAuth into Google. Approve the connection.

SideQuest asks for two Gmail scopes:

• gmail.readonly for emails labeled "purchase-orders" (or whatever label you choose)
• gmail.send so SideQuest can auto-reply to customers with the confirmation

SideQuest never reads emails that don't carry your chosen label.

Step 3 · Pick your PO label (1 min)

By default, SideQuest watches the Gmail label purchase-orders. If you already have a workflow that tags inbound POs with a different label (like PO or orders/incoming), tell SideQuest the label name during setup.

You can use a Gmail filter to auto-label POs from known customer domains. Example filter: from:(*@acmeplumbing.com OR *@distributor.com) subject:(PO OR purchase order) → apply label purchase-orders.

Step 4 · Upload your cross-reference list (optional, recommended)

This is the highest-leverage thing you'll do all week. SideQuest handles unknown part numbers, but if you tell it your aliases up front, the match rate jumps from ~85% to ~99% on Day 1.

Format: a CSV with two columns. First column is the customer's part number. Second column is your QB SKU.

customer_part,qb_sku
ACME-EL34,BR-ELB-075-NPT
LEGACY-12NPT,BR-ELB-050-NPT
COMPETITOR-X1,FS-BOLT-25-100
"3/4 inch brass elbow",BR-ELB-075-NPT

Upload at /onboard/ → Cross-references. There's no limit on how many you upload. Many distributors start with the top 200 from their best customers.

Step 5 · Run the test PO (5 min)

Forward a real PO email from a recent customer to the address shown at /onboard/ → Test runner. (Or drop the PDF directly.) Within 30 seconds you'll see the parsed result.

The test runner shows you exactly what SideQuest extracted, what it matched, what it flagged. Nothing gets committed to QuickBooks during a test run — it's a dry run.

Review the output. If everything looks right, you're done with testing. If something looks wrong, adjust your cross-references and try again.

Step 6 · Process your first live PO (1 min)

Take the next real PO that arrives in your inbox. Add the purchase-orders label.

Within 30 seconds you'll see a new draft Sales Order in QuickBooks Online with:

• Every line matched against the QB item list (look for ✓ or ⚠ next to each)
• Any pricing variances flagged in yellow
• The customer's PO number in the memo field

Review the draft. Approve in QuickBooks. SideQuest auto-replies to the customer with the confirmation number.

Step 7 · Decide on auto-mode (optional, do later)

By default SideQuest drafts and waits. Once you've approved 3–5 POs from the same customer without changes, flip on auto-mode for that customer. SideQuest commits the Sales Order without human approval and only flags edge cases (new SKUs, pricing way off, weird quantities).

Auto-mode is per-customer. Start conservatively.

You're done

That's the whole setup. SideQuest runs from here. The dashboard at /onboard/ shows you POs processed, time saved, and any flags that need attention.

Troubleshooting common Day-1 issues