To import transactions into QuickBooks, you have four routes: a bank feed that downloads them for you, an uploaded QBO or CSV file from your bank, a spreadsheet saved as CSV, or typing each one by hand. A feed costs the least effort each month. A file reaches further back. Typing suits only a handful of entries.
Four ways QuickBooks can take in transactions
QuickBooks takes in transactions through a bank feed, a file upload, a spreadsheet saved as a CSV, or manual entry. The first three bring in many rows at once and put them in a review queue. Manual entry posts one transaction at a time. Each route suits a different situation.
Bank feed
A bank feed is a live connection between your bank and QuickBooks. After you link the account once, QuickBooks pulls in new transactions on its own, and you review them as they arrive. Setting one up is covered in the guide to connecting a bank feed to QuickBooks Online. Feeds depend on your bank supporting the connection, and they can stop without warning, in which case you fall back on one of the other routes.
File upload
A file upload means you download a file from your bank's website and give it to QuickBooks. The best file is a QBO, which carries its own field labels. A CSV also works if it follows a layout QuickBooks accepts. You choose the account and the date range, so you control exactly what goes in. The screens are laid out in how to import bank transactions into QuickBooks Online.
Spreadsheet import
A spreadsheet import is the same upload, only the source is an Excel file you keep yourself, such as a log from a client, an export from a point-of-sale system or a statement you retyped. QuickBooks reads a CSV, so you save the sheet as one first. The sheet needs a clean layout, which the guide to importing Excel into QuickBooks describes. Because a spreadsheet can hold anything, it is the route most likely to fail on the first try.
Manual entry
Manual entry means typing a transaction into a form: a date, a payee, an amount and a category. It needs no file and no setup, and you decide every field yourself. The cost is time per transaction, so the method fades quickly as the volume grows.
The comparison table
This table sums up the four routes. The effort ratings are a judgment, not a measurement.
| Route | Setup effort | Monthly effort | History it can reach | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank feed | One-time link to the bank | Review only | Whatever the bank sends when you connect | Accounts you use every day |
| File upload (QBO or CSV) | None beyond the bank download | Download, upload, review | As far back as the bank lets you download | Catch-up work and banks without a feed |
| Spreadsheet import | Tidy the sheet, save as CSV | Clean-up each time | Whatever the sheet holds | Data that never touched a bank site |
| Manual entry | None | One form per transaction | Any date you like | A few cash items |
Bank feed or file upload: which transaction import suits you?
Choose a bank feed when your bank supports it and you want transactions to arrive without effort. Choose a file upload when the bank has no feed, the feed is broken, you need older months, or you want to check every line before it goes in. Many businesses use both, one for daily work and one for gaps.
When a feed is the better answer
A feed shines on an account with steady activity. You do not download anything, you cannot forget a month and you cannot import the same dates twice by hand. The main cost is dependence: when the bank changes its connection or asks you to sign in again, the transactions stop arriving until you fix the link.
When a file is the better answer
A file fits several cases. Some banks and credit unions are not on QuickBooks' list of connections. Some accounts, such as a closed account or a client's account you only see in statements, were never connected. And a file gives you a clean boundary, because you can see the first and last row before you import it.
A file also helps when you want a record. The downloaded file can be saved with your working papers, so you can show later exactly what was imported.
Using both without double counting
The risk of mixing routes is the same transaction arriving twice, once from the feed and once from the file. To avoid it, fill a gap with a file that starts on the first missing day and ends on the last. Do not upload a whole month on top of a feed that already covers most of it. If a duplicate does slip through, the steps for uploading the same bank transactions twice explain how to find and remove it.
Where a PDF statement fits
Many people reach this question holding a PDF statement from the bank, and a PDF is neither a feed nor an importable list. It has to become a CSV or QBO first. SimpleBankConvert is built for that step, turning a PDF statement into a file QuickBooks Online can upload, and you can ask for a place before it opens through the get started page.
How far back can each QuickBooks transaction import go?
A file upload reaches back as far as the bank lets you download, and a manual entry reaches any date. A bank feed reaches back only as far as the bank sends when you connect, and that varies by bank. For history beyond a feed, upload a file instead.
Feed history
When you first connect a feed, QuickBooks asks the bank for past transactions, and the bank decides how many it will send. The amount is not the same for every bank, and it is a bank decision, not a QuickBooks one. If you need a full prior year and the feed only returned a few weeks, treat the feed as covering the future and use files for the past.
File history
Your bank's download page sets the limit here. Some banks offer a year or more of transactions in a file, and others only the last few months. Statements, which are PDFs, usually go back further than the transaction download does. For that reason, older months often arrive as PDF statements, which brings you back to the conversion step above.
QuickBooks Online also limits how big a file can be. Intuit's help page says an upload must be 350 KB or less with up to 1,000 lines, and advises shorter date ranges for larger sets, in its guidance on manual uploads. A long history therefore comes in as a series of files.
Spreadsheet and manual history
A spreadsheet reaches whatever it contains, subject to the same file size limit once saved as a CSV. Manual entry has no limit at all, and the only constraint is your patience.
A simple rule for catching up
For a year of missing history, start with the oldest month and work forward in order. Import one month, compare the total with the bank statement, then move to the next. Going in order keeps each month's check simple, because each starts where the last ended. The CSV layout and its settings are explained in mapping CSV columns in QuickBooks.
Online versus Desktop transaction imports at a glance
QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop both take bank feeds, but their file imports differ. Online accepts QBO, QFX and CSV files through its upload screens. Desktop works with Web Connect, which uses QBO files, and its steps and menus are not the same as Online's.
What carries over between them
The idea of a QBO file is the same in both. It is a structured file with the transactions and account details inside. The SimpleBankConvert homepage says as much: QBO is the file type QuickBooks Desktop opens, though the Desktop steps are different. A CSV is the part that differs, because Online has a column-mapping screen for it and Desktop's bank import does not follow the same path.
What does not carry over
Menu names, the place you start the import and the way you link the file to an account all change between the two. Do not follow Online steps on Desktop. The Desktop route is laid out in the guide to linking the Web Connect file to a Desktop bank account.
Which one are you using?
If you log in through a web browser and the product name on screen says QuickBooks Online, use the Online routes. If you open a program installed on your computer, you are on Desktop. The two look alike in a screenshot, so check before you start.
When typing a transaction beats any QuickBooks import
Typing beats an import when you have only a few transactions, when the data has no bank source, or when the cost of building a clean file is higher than the cost of entering the rows. As a rule, if you can type the items in the time it takes to prepare a file, type them.
Cases where typing wins
- A cash expense with a paper receipt and nothing on any bank statement.
- One missed transaction after a feed outage, where a single row is cheaper than a file.
- A correction to a transaction that is already posted.
- A one-off item you want to split across several categories by hand.
Where the break-even sits
There is no exact number, because it depends on how fast you type and how messy the data is. A rough test is this: if preparing the file means more than a couple of minutes of clean-up and you have fewer than ten rows, enter them by hand. Past a few dozen rows, a file usually wins even with some clean-up.
Typing does not remove the need to check
A manual entry has the same risk as an import, which is a wrong amount or date. Compare your entries with the statement just as you would after an upload. The post on adding a transaction by hand in QuickBooks Online covers the form, and the other routes in this post cover everything bigger.