Import a converted statement into QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online takes a bank statement as a file upload. The simplest file to upload is the QuickBooks (.qbo) file from Convert, which is part of the $5 a month subscription. The free tier gives you a CSV, which QuickBooks Online also accepts once it has the columns Intuit asks for (below).
1. Make the .qbo file
- On Convert, choose your statement (CSV or PDF). Check the preview and the line under each file: if money in shows as money out, click Flip signs. If the statement prints its opening and closing balances, the page also says whether the rows add up to them.
- Under Download as, pick QuickBooks (.qbo).
- Under Where should QuickBooks put it? choose New account in QuickBooks, say whether it is a bank account or a credit card statement, and pick the bank the statement came from. The converter asks for the bank on every .qbo file, because QuickBooks Desktop needs it; see the QuickBooks Desktop page for why.
- If you already import this account's transactions from your bank, choose An account I already import into from my bank instead, and pick one .qbo file you downloaded from that bank.
- Click Download QuickBooks (.qbo).
2. Upload it to QuickBooks Online
- Open Bank transactions. In the newer QuickBooks layout it's under All apps → Accounting → Bank transactions.
- Select the Link account dropdown, then Upload from file.
- Choose the .qbo file, pick the QuickBooks account it belongs to, and follow the prompts.
Intuit's limits: files up to 350 KB and 1,000 transactions per upload. If you hit either one, convert fewer months at a time. Source: Intuit — Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online.
Uploading the free CSV instead
Intuit says a CSV upload should have 3 columns (Date, Description, Amount) or 4 (Date, Description, Credit, Debit). The converter's CSV has 6: Date, Description, Amount, Debit, Credit, Source file. Delete the columns you don't need in a spreadsheet first, or use the .qbo file, which is the simpler route.
Questions
- Will importing the same statement twice create duplicates?
- Not from our file: each transaction carries a stable id (the same statement in gives the same ids out), so QuickBooks recognises a second copy of our file. It cannot tell our copy of a transaction from the one your bank sent, so only convert months you have not already downloaded from the bank.
- Which account does the upload go into?
- In QuickBooks Online you pick the account during the upload.
Something else? Email support@avyth.com. A person reads it.