QuickBooks Online gets bank transactions from a connected bank, or from a file you upload. The file can be CSV, QBO, QFX or OFX, but not PDF. A statement you only have as a PDF has to become a CSV first, in the exact shape QuickBooks reads.
What QuickBooks needs in the file
QuickBooks is strict about the CSV it takes:
- Three or four columns. Either Date, Description and Amount, or Date, Description, Credit and Debit. A file with more columns is refused, so a statement's own layout, with its balance column, will not upload as it is.
- One header row, then one transaction per row.
- Every date in the same format, with its year.
- Up to 1,000 lines and 350 KB in one upload.
The three-column version looks like this, money in positive and money out negative:
| Date | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 03/06/2024 | FPI A CUSTOMER LTD | 1850.00 |
| 04/06/2024 | DD WATER COMPANY | -41.20 |
| 05/06/2024 | CARD PAYMENT STATIONERY SHOP | -23.49 |
The rows above are an example, not a real statement.
Turn the PDF into the file
BankPDFtoXLS writes the three-column file from the statement's own dates and amounts, with "Balance brought forward" and other lines that are not transactions left out.
- Upload the PDF on the home page. Page one converts free, with no email and no card, so you can check the columns first.
- Create an account and convert the whole statement.
- In your list of statements, select Xero / QuickBooks beside the Excel and CSV downloads. The dates are day first (dd/mm/yyyy). Select (US dates) instead for month first (mm/dd/yyyy).
Many statements print a date without its year. The converter takes the year from the statement itself. If a date cannot be settled, for example on a scan where a month did not read clearly, there is no file for that statement rather than one with a wrong date. The Excel download still has every row.
A statement that holds several accounts makes one file for each, since each upload goes into one QuickBooks account.
Upload it to QuickBooks Online
- Go to Bank transactions (under Accounting).
- Select Link account, then Upload from file.
- Select the file, then Continue.
- Choose the QuickBooks account the statement belongs to, then Continue.
- Match the file's Date, Description and Amount columns to the QuickBooks fields of the same names. If QuickBooks asks, the dates are in the format you downloaded, and the amounts are in one column, money in positive and money out negative.
- Select the transactions to bring in, then Continue, and confirm.
The transactions land in the For review list, where you categorise or match them as you would any others.
A statement over 1,000 transactions
QuickBooks takes at most 1,000 lines in one upload. For a longer statement, open the file in Excel, and save it as two or more CSV files of fewer than 1,000 rows each, each with the header row at the top. Upload them one after the other.
Check it before you categorise
- Compare the balance. Once the transactions are added, the account's balance in QuickBooks should have moved by the statement's closing balance less its opening balance.
- Do not upload a period twice. If the account is also connected to your bank, upload only the dates the connection does not cover.
- Check any flagged rows. BankPDFtoXLS checks every balance against the
row before it. If a row does not follow, the list of statements says so.
Open the Excel download, filter the Ledger column for
break, and compare those rows with the PDF before you upload. Why a balance breaks explains what to look for.