To copy transactions between QuickBooks Desktop company files, export the lists to IIF and the transactions to Excel from the source file, import the lists into the target file so every account and name matches, then rebuild the transactions as IIF or Batch Enter rows and import them. Finish by comparing account balances in both files.
Why Desktop has no copy button between company files
QuickBooks Desktop can export lists but not transactions in a form it can re-import. Intuit's guide to exporting, importing and editing IIF files says you can import transactions with an IIF file, but you cannot export them from QuickBooks. The export side has to come from a report.
That one-way rule shapes the whole job. Lists such as the chart of accounts, vendors and customers travel neatly: export them to IIF from one file and import them into the other. Transactions do not. You pull them out as a report in Excel, reshape the rows, and import them as new transactions. The result is a copy, not a move. The source file keeps its transactions, and the target file gains new ones that look the same.
What does not survive the copy
The same Intuit page notes that IIF imports do not link transactions. A payment imported this way is not applied to its invoice, and a bill payment is not tied to its bill. Do not count on reconciliation status carrying across either; treat every copied bank line as uncleared until you check it. Plan for that work before you start, or choose a summary entry instead, as the section on what to leave out explains.
Common reasons to copy
People usually copy transactions for one of three reasons: a business was split into two companies and some activity was entered in the wrong one, a test file holds work that belongs in the live file, or a new company file was started and a few months of history need to follow. The method is the same for all three. The amount of history is what changes the effort.
Exporting the source company file's transactions to Excel
Use a report that lists every transaction with its date, type, number, name, account, memo and amount, such as Journal or Transaction Detail by Account. Then send it to Excel. Intuit's guide to importing and exporting Excel files in QuickBooks Desktop describes the Excel dropdown at the top of a report, with Create New Worksheet.
Pick the columns before you export
Open the report, choose Customize Report, and on the Display tab tick the columns the target file will need: Date, Transaction Type, Num, Name, Account, Memo, Debit and Credit, or a single Amount. Add Class if the business uses classes. Then filter the date range to exactly the months you are copying. A report with too few columns is the most common reason this job has to be done twice.
Why the Journal report helps
The Journal report shows every line of every transaction, including the bank side and each split. Each transaction appears as a block of rows that balances to zero, which mirrors the TRNS and SPL lines of an IIF file. Transaction Detail by Account groups lines by account instead, which suits a copy limited to one bank or credit card account.
Keep the export as your record
Save the exported workbook with a clear name, such as source-file-journal-2026-01-to-03.xlsx, and do not edit that copy. Work on a duplicate. When the target file is checked later, the untouched export is the reference.
Do the account and name lists match in both company files?
Every account, customer, vendor, item and class named in the copied transactions must already exist in the target company file, with exactly the same spelling. Intuit's Excel import guide puts it directly: you must use the same name, spelling and capitalisation as in the chart of accounts. Get the lists in place first, then the transactions.
Move the lists with IIF
In the source file, choose File > Utilities > Export > Lists to IIF Files and tick the chart of accounts, customers, vendors and any other list the transactions use. Import that IIF file into the target file with File > Utilities > Import > IIF Files. Check the lists in the target file afterwards to see what was added or changed.
Watch for near-matches
The dangerous case is a name that nearly exists. If the source file says "Rent Expense" and the target file has "Rent", the import will not fix that for you. Decide which name wins, rename one side to match, and only then import. A careful list comparison here saves hours of corrections later.
Account types matter too
An account with the same name but a different type, such as "Equipment" set as an expense in one file and as a fixed asset in the other, will post copied lines to the wrong side of the balance sheet. Compare types as well as names in both charts of accounts. If the target is a brand-new file, importing a trial balance into QuickBooks Desktop covers setting up accounts and starting balances in the right types before any transactions arrive.
Rebuilding the rows as IIF or Batch Enter lines for the target file
Turn the exported rows into a form the target file can import. An IIF file works in every Windows edition and carries splits. Batch Enter Transactions, which Intuit's page on batch entering transactions lists for Desktop Accountant and Enterprise only, lets you paste rows and see them before saving.
Mapping an exported row to IIF columns
The table maps one example Journal report row, a check for office supplies, to the IIF columns. The values are examples, and the IIF column names should be checked against Intuit's sample files before use.
| Exported report column | Example value | IIF column | Line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Check | TRNSTYPE (CHECK) | TRNS and SPL |
| Date | 01/14/2026 | DATE | TRNS and SPL |
| Num | 1042 | DOCNUM | TRNS and SPL |
| Name | Example Paper Supply | NAME | TRNS and SPL |
| Account (bank side) | Business Checking | ACCNT | TRNS |
| Credit (bank side) | 412.80 | AMOUNT (-412.80) | TRNS |
| Account (expense side) | Office Supplies | ACCNT | SPL |
| Debit (expense side) | 412.80 | AMOUNT (412.80) | SPL |
| Memo | Copier paper | MEMO | TRNS and SPL |
Debits become positive amounts and credits become negative ones, so each transaction's lines add to zero. Close every transaction with an ENDTRNS row.
Choosing between the two routes
- IIF suits a large copy, transactions with several splits, journal entries and transfers. Its weakness is that you do not see the lines until they are in the books.
- Batch Enter suits checks, deposits, card charges, invoices, credit memos, bills and bill credits, the types Intuit lists for it. You paste rows into a grid, fix anything highlighted and save. It is slower for big copies, but each row is visible first.
- Journal entries are a third option for adjustments rather than everyday activity. Importing journal entries into QuickBooks Desktop compares the Excel and IIF ways of doing it.
On a Mac, the menus and file options differ. Importing a QBO file into QuickBooks Desktop for Mac covers the Mac side of bank file imports.
Which transactions should stay out of a company file copy?
Some transactions lose too much in a copy to be worth it. Invoices with their payments, inventory movements, payroll and anything already reconciled are better carried into the target file as summary balances, usually one journal entry per account, dated the day the target file takes over.
The reasons, type by type
- Invoices and payments arrive unlinked, so every invoice looks unpaid until each payment is applied by hand.
- Inventory quantities and average costs are built from item transactions in order, and a copy rarely rebuilds them cleanly.
- Payroll depends on payroll items and tax tables in the source file, and copied paychecks do not carry that history properly.
- Reconciled bank lines should be treated as uncleared in the target file, which then needs its own reconciliation for every copied month.
When bank lines are the goal
If the main aim is getting bank history into the new file, there is a cleaner route than copying: re-import the bank's own downloads or statements into the new file and reconcile there. The bank data is the original source, and each line arrives through the normal Web Connect review. Re-downloading can bring up bank verification prompts. Unable to verify the financial institution information explains that error if it appears.
For months the bank no longer offers as a download, SimpleBankConvert is being built to turn PDF statements into QBO files Desktop can import, so history can be rebuilt from statements instead of copied. Early access sign-up is on the Get started page.
Proving the copy with balances in the target company file
A copy is complete when every affected account shows the same change over the copied period in both company files. Run the same Trial Balance or Balance Sheet report for the copied dates in the source and the target, side by side. Any account that differs points to missing, doubled or mis-posted lines.
A checklist for the comparison
- Note the transaction count from the Journal report in the source file for the copied range.
- Run the same report in the target file for the same range and compare the count.
- Run a Trial Balance in each file, comparing activity over the copied dates rather than total balances, since the target file may hold its own earlier history.
- For each account that differs, filter both Journal reports to that account and compare line by line.
- Check the chart of accounts in the target file for unfamiliar bank accounts, which can appear when an IIF line names an account that did not exist.
- Back up the target file once the figures agree.
What to do with the source file
Once the target file is proven, decide what happens to the copied transactions in the source file. If the copy was a correction, such as activity entered in the wrong company, delete or void them in the source so the money is not counted twice across the two businesses. Agree that step with whoever prepares the returns for both companies first, especially for a period already filed.