QuickBooks Error OL-222: Fix the Bank Download

QuickBooks error OL-222 means QuickBooks Desktop could not finish reading a bank download, usually a Web Connect (.qbo) file. Intuit traces it to two things: a .qbo file that is formatted wrongly, or an out-of-date list of financial institutions inside QuickBooks. Update QuickBooks, refresh that list, then download a fresh file from the bank.

The OL-222 message and the two causes Intuit names

OL-222 is a QuickBooks Desktop error that appears when you open a bank file or run a download and QuickBooks can't complete the request. The message tells you to contact your financial institution, which sends many people straight to their bank. Intuit's own explanation points first at the file and at QuickBooks' bank list.

The full wording, as Intuit gives it, is "QuickBooks was not able to complete your request. Please contact your financial institution. (OL-222)". Intuit's article on fixing error OL-222 in QuickBooks for Mac says the error means the .qbo file format is wrong or the list of financial institutions in QuickBooks needs an update. That article is written for the Mac edition. The bank-list fix also has a Windows version, covered below.

The two causes are worth keeping apart, because they have different owners:

• A badly formed .qbo file. The bank, or whatever tool made the file, wrote something QuickBooks can't parse.
• A stale financial institutions list. QuickBooks keeps a local directory of banks, known by its file name, fidir.txt. If your bank's entry in that directory is old or missing, QuickBooks may refuse a perfectly good file.

Is OL-222 a bank problem or a QuickBooks problem?

OL-222 can be either, and one test settles it: import the same file into a brand-new test company. If it imports there, the trouble is in your company file or its bank setup. If it fails there too, the file itself is the problem, and the bank, or the tool that made it, has to fix it.

Intuit describes this test in its guide to fixing Web Connect import errors in QuickBooks Desktop. When the file goes into the test company, it says to disconnect and set up the account again in your real company file. When it fails in both, it says to collect the bank log files and contact the bank, which can check that your account is set up for Web Connect.

A few signs point at the bank before you run any test:

• Every file from one bank fails, while files from your other banks import.
• The bank recently changed its website or its download options.
• The bank's site shows a notice about QuickBooks or Quicken downloads.

And a few point at QuickBooks:

• Files from several banks fail at once.
• You have not updated QuickBooks in months.
• The error started right after you moved the company file to a new computer.

OL-222 fixes in order, from update to fresh download

The OL-222 fixes run from cheapest to most involved, and you should stop as soon as an import works. Each step below ends with a checkpoint: import the file again, and only carry on if OL-222 comes back.

1. Back up the company file. Every later step touches either the file or QuickBooks itself. Checkpoint: the backup finishes and you know where it is saved.
2. Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release. Intuit lists this as a prerequisite in the OL-222 article. Checkpoint: import the file.
3. Confirm you are on a supported version. An unsupported year of QuickBooks loses bank services, and no file fix will help. Checkpoint: check the version under Help, About.
4. Refresh the financial institutions list. The next section has the steps for Windows and Mac. Checkpoint: import the file.
5. Download a new file from the bank's website. Download it directly from the bank, not through QuickBooks, as Intuit's Web Connect guide advises. Keep the date range short. Checkpoint: import the new file.
6. Switch Bank Feeds to Classic mode (Windows). Intuit's Web Connect guide suggests Classic, also called Register mode, for import errors. Checkpoint: import the file.
7. Run the test company check. As described above, it tells you whether to fix your company file or go back to the bank.

Write down which step you reached. If you end up on the phone with the bank or with Intuit, that list saves twenty minutes of being asked to repeat it.

Replacing the FIDIR file to clear OL-222

Replacing the FIDIR file gives QuickBooks a current copy of its financial institutions directory, the list it checks a bank file against. On Windows you can refresh it from the Bank Feeds Center or swap the file by hand. On a Mac you swap it by hand. Either way, back up and close QuickBooks first.

On Windows

Intuit's page on updating the Financial Institutions Directory in QuickBooks Desktop gives two routes. The automatic one is Banking, Bank Feeds, Bank Feeds Center, then Refresh account(s) or Sync all for the bank.

The manual one replaces fidir.txt itself:

1. Find the filist folder. For Pro and Premier it sits under C:\ProgramData\Intuit\QuickBooks followed by your version year, then Components\OLB\branding\filist. Enterprise uses a folder named for Enterprise Solutions in the same place.
2. Rename the existing fidir.txt so it ends in .old.
3. Download the current fidir.txt for your version from Intuit's page and save it to the desktop.
4. Copy it into the filist folder.
5. Close and reopen QuickBooks, then import the bank file.

Repeat this for each year of QuickBooks installed on the computer. Each version keeps its own copy.

On Mac

The OL-222 article for Mac has you save the new list to the desktop, delete the old fidir.txt from two places, the Downloads folder in the app's Application Support data and the Resources folder inside the QuickBooks application package, and then drop the new file into Resources. Empty the trash before you import, so the old copy can't be picked up again.

Reading the .qbo file behind an OL-222

A .qbo file is plain text, so you can open it in Notepad or TextEdit and look for what tripped OL-222. You are checking that the file is complete, that its tags open and close, and that no text in the payee or memo fields contains characters a strict reader would choke on.

Make a copy first and open the copy. Then look for:

• A truncated end. The file should finish with a closing OFX tag. If it stops halfway through a transaction, the download was cut off; get a new one.
• An HTML page instead of data. Some banks hand back a sign-in page or an error page with a .qbo name. The first lines will look like a web page.
• Ampersands and accented letters in names. Merchant names such as "Smith & Sons" or "Café" sometimes come through raw or encoded in ways QuickBooks rejects.
• Unusually long payee or memo text. A name that runs far past the others on the same statement is worth suspecting.
• The bank ID line. In a QBO file, the INTU.BID line names the bank in Intuit's list. The bank ID line that makes QBO files picky explains what it is and why QuickBooks cares.

None of this needs editing yet. Reading the file tells you whether to go back to the bank with something specific, such as "your file stops after 14 transactions", which gets a faster answer than the error code alone.

Edits that make an OL-222 file worse

Editing an OL-222 file by hand can clear the error, but it can also turn one problem into three. The safe rule is to edit only a copy, change only the text inside a field and never the tags around it, and import into a test company before your real books.

The edits that cause the most damage:

• Deleting a whole transaction block to remove one bad name. The transaction is then simply missing, and your balance is wrong with no warning.
• Changing transaction ID values. Each transaction carries an ID that QuickBooks uses to spot duplicates. Altering IDs on a file you have partly imported before can bring the same lines in twice.
• Saving from a word processor. Word and similar programs can add formatting or change quotation marks. Use a plain text editor and save as plain text.
• Swapping the bank ID for another bank's. It may get past the check, but QuickBooks then treats the file as coming from a different bank, which can tangle the account connection.
• Opening and saving in Excel. A spreadsheet does not understand the file and can rewrite it.

If a fix needs more than a couple of character changes, getting a clean file from the bank or making one fresh is quicker than repairing this one.

How does OL-222 differ from OL-393 and error 103?

OL-222 is about QuickBooks failing to process a bank file or download, while the neighbouring codes start elsewhere in the connection. Error 103 is a bank refusing the saved sign-in, and OL-393 has its own checklist. Matching the code to its cause stops you from spending an hour on the wrong fix.

A rough guide to telling them apart:

If you see two codes in the same week, fix the sign-in error first. A download that never authenticates can't produce a file worth reading.

Getting transactions in while OL-222 persists

While OL-222 persists, you can keep the books current from the bank's statements instead of its download. The aim is to bring in the missing dates once, through a different file, without overlapping what is already in QuickBooks, so you are not left with a backlog when the error clears.

Pick the bridge that fits:

• Enter a handful of lines by hand. For a week of activity, typing into the register is faster than any file work.
• Use a different download format. Many banks offer more than one. A file from another option on the same page sometimes reads cleanly when the QuickBooks one does not.
• Build a .qbo file from the PDF statement. This replaces the bank's broken download with a file made from the statement itself. SimpleBankConvert is being built to turn a PDF statement into a QBO file of this kind; accounts are not open yet, and you can get started to hear when they are.

Note the last date that came in cleanly and start the bridge file the day after. When the bank download works again, set its range to begin after the bridge ends.

If OL-222 is one more reason you are weighing a move off QuickBooks Desktop, the PDF statement route works elsewhere too. Importing a bank statement into Sage Accounting covers the same job in Sage.