Learn how to manually upload transactions from your bank or credit card in QuickBooks Online.
When you connect your bank and credit card accounts, QuickBooks automatically downloads transactions up to a certain date. However, you can manually upload transactions if you want to enter old transactions, can’t find your bank, or connect it to QuickBooks.
Step 1: Pick a start date
To avoid entering duplicates, you need to know the date of the oldest existing transaction currently in the account:
. Then, select Chart of accounts (Take me there).
Note: Usually, the oldest transaction is the opening balance.
Step 2: Get transactions from your bank
To get transactions from your bank, you need to download CSV files of your transactions.
- Sign in to your bank or credit card's website.
- Follow the instructions on how to download CSV files of your transactions to your computer. Every financial institution has different steps.
- Make sure the date range for the download begins at least one day before your oldest transaction.
- Download your transactions.Save the file somewhere you can easily find it, like your computer's desktop.
Tip:Your bank may offer a few file formats. If possible, pick the QuickBooks Online data (QBO) format. These are formatted specifically for QuickBooks Online. You can also upload transactions from a CSV file.
Step 3: Review the file format and size
Review the file you download from your bank and make sure it's in the correct format before you upload it. Here are the things to check to prevent errors:
Note: The maximum file size is 350 KB. You can shorten the date range and download transactions in smaller batches if the file size is too big.
- Remove any zeroes (0) from the file and leave those cells blank.
- Fix any transactions that show numbers in the Description column.
- Remove the word “amount” from the Credit or Debit column header. They should only say “Credit” and “Debit”.
- Make sure that all dates follow the same format. We recommend you use dd/mm/yyyy format.
- If you’re a Mac user, make sure to save the file as Windows CSV file.
- Some banks add the day of the week in the Date column (for example, 20/11/2018 TUE). You need to remove the day of the week. To do this, split the date and the day of the week into separate columns.
CSV file formats
You can only upload CSV file in QuickBooks that has either 3-column or 4-column format.
| CSV format | Description |
| 3-column format | Has a Date, Description, and Amount column. |
| 4-column format | Has a Date, Description, Credit, and Debit column. |
Step 4: Manually upload the transactions
For accounts connected to online banking
- Go to Transactions, then select Bank transactions (Take me there).
- Select the blue tile for the account you want to upload the transactions into.
- Select the Link account▼ dropdown, then select Upload from file.
Note: If your account is not connected yet to online banking, select Upload from file. - Select Drag and drop or select files and select the file you downloaded from your bank. Then, select Continue.
- In the QuickBooks account▼ dropdown, select the account you want to upload the transactions into. Then, select Continue.
Note: If you're new to QuickBooks, you may not have an account to upload the transactions into. If you don't see one, select Add New ▼ from the dropdown to create a new bank account. - Follow the onscreen steps to match the columns on the file with the correct fields in QuickBooks. Then select Continue.
- Select the transactions you would like to import. Then select Continue.
- Select Yes.
- Select Done.
If you see an error message, don't worry. Here's how tofix errors while uploading your transactions.
For accounts not connected to online banking Follow these steps if you don't plan to connect your account, or your bank can't connect to QuickBooks: If you're new to QuickBooks, you may not have an account to upload the transactions into. If you don't see one, select Add New▼ from the dropdown to connect a new bank account. If you see an error message, don't worry. Here's how tofix errors while uploading your transactions.
Step 5: Categorise the transactions
Now that your transactions are in QuickBooks, it's time tomatch and categorise them. The transactions go into your accounts after you review them.
QuickBooks Online also enters certain details automatically if you set up any banking rules, or if it recognises transaction descriptions.
Step 6: Reconcile the transactions
Reconcile the transactions that you uploaded. This is to make sure that all transactions are recorded correctly in QuickBooks.
We're here to help
If you're confused about how to review, match or categorise transactions, or need help with manually uploading them, let us know. Sign in to QuickBooks and start a discussion with a qualified QuickBooks Online expert in the community.
