Setup guide for rental companies

Connect email, Flex and QuickBooks and run your first sync — step by step.

This guide takes an AV, staging or event rental company from a new account to Elio working on its real Flex, QuickBooks and email data. Plan on about 10 minutes, plus a few minutes for the first sync to finish in the background.

Before you start

• A plan with a company workspace — Pro or Studio (both include a 14-day trial). See pricing.
• Flex — your Flex address (for example yourcompany.flexrentalsolutions.com) and someone who can create an API key in Flex.
• QuickBooks Online (optional) — a QuickBooks user who can see the company, such as an admin or your accountant.
• Email — the Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account you use for work.

1. Create your company workspace

After signing up, the welcome screen asks for your company name. Enter it and Elio creates the workspace and opens the guided setup. You can also open it any time from Settings → Setup or by going to /setup.

2. Connect your email and calendar

1. In step 1, click Connect Gmail / Google Workspace or Connect Outlook / Microsoft 365.
2. Pick your work account and accept the permissions for email, calendar and files.
3. You land back on the setup page with the step ticked.

Each person in your team connects their own mailbox. Elio drafts replies for you to approve; it does not send email on its own unless you allow it.

3. Add your Flex API key

1. In Flex address, paste the address you use to log in to Flex. The whole link works — Elio keeps only the subdomain.
2. Create an API key in Flex for a user. We recommend a dedicated user (for example “Elio”) with access to quotes, invoices, purchase orders and inventory, so you can revoke it at any time without affecting anyone.
3. Paste the key in API key and click Save & test.

If you can't find where to create the key, ask your Flex administrator or Flex support to “enable API access and issue an API key (X-Auth-Token)” for that user. The key is stored encrypted and is never shown again.

4. Pick your Flex lists

Elio needs to know which Flex lists hold your quotes, invoices, purchase orders and inventory. Only Quotes is required to start.

1. In Flex, open the list — for example the Quotes grid.
2. Copy the full address from the browser bar.
3. Paste it next to Quotes and click Check. Elio reads a few rows from Flex and shows what it found (for example “Found 26-0412, 26-0411…”) before saving.
4. Repeat for Invoices, Purchase orders and Inventory.

The link doesn't work?

1. Make sure the list itself is open, not a single quote.
2. In Chrome, press F12, open the Network tab and reload the list.
3. Click the request named row-data, copy its full URL (it contains definitionId=) and paste that instead.

5. Connect QuickBooks

1. Click Connect QuickBooks and sign in to Intuit.
2. Choose the company if you have more than one, and click Connect.
3. Back in Elio, the connection becomes your company books automatically and the first read starts in the background.

One QuickBooks company belongs to one workspace. If you run several companies, create a workspace for each and connect each one to its own QuickBooks company — Elio never mixes their books.

6. Run the first sync

In step 5, click Sync now. Elio brings in your quotes, invoices and purchase orders and shows a short summary per list. From then on it keeps everything in sync on its own every few minutes.

7. Invite your team

Go to Settings → Workspaces and invite your colleagues. Choose a role for each person — see Workspaces & roles. Invited people use the workspace's Flex and QuickBooks connections; each connects their own email.

Your first day with Elio

Open Pipeline → Today or ask Elio directly:

• “Which confirmed quotes this month have no invoice yet?”
• “What's missing on the quotes loading out this week?”
• “Which clients owe us money, and since when?”
• “Draft follow-ups for the quotes that went quiet.”

Troubleshooting

• “Flex rejected the API key.”The key was mistyped, revoked, or its user can't see that list. Create a new key in Flex and save it again in step 2.
• “Flex didn't recognise that as a … list.” The link was copied from a single document or another list. Open the right list and copy again, or use the row-data URL as described above.
• “Only workspace owners and admins can …” Ask an owner or admin to finish that step, or to change your role.
• Can't create a company workspace.Your plan doesn't include one. Start a Pro or Studio trial from pricing.
• QuickBooks shows a problem after connecting. The Intuit session expired or the user lost access. Click Reconnect QuickBooks.