While a direct bank feed between your bank/credit card account and QuickBooks Online (QBO) is the most efficient, it might not be an option, or you might require more historical data. Unfortunately, not every bank/credit card is available for a direct bank feed to QuickBooks Online. It is up to the bank/credit card company to work directly with Intuit and devote resources to creating the direct connection. Thankfully, almost every bank/credit card allows you to down the activity as an Excel, CSV or QBO file.
Additionally, you might have just switched to QuickBooks Online. If this is the case, when you connect the bank feed for the first time, certain banks/credit cards only allow a small window of past transactions to be downloaded into QuickBooks Online. Typically, this is 60-90 days of transactions prior to the current date. Manually uploading bank data combined with bank rules can save you a lot of time by reducing the time of data entry. The purpose of the manually uploading bank data is to give you another tool when a direct bank feed is not an option, and there are too many transactions to manually key into the system.
Follow the steps below to manually upload bank data into your QuickBooks Online file:
1. Log onto your bank or credit card account
2. Export the data you desire into one of these formats
a. .QBO (QuickBooks Online data) Best file to import since there is no formatting required
b. .CSV (Comma Separated Values) Need to format data (see note below)
c. .XLSX and XLS. (Excel Files) Need to format data and convert to CSV (see note below)
3. Log onto QuickBooks Online then from the left menu, select “Banking”
4. On the right side of the bank feed screen, click the “V” next to “Link Account” button.
5. Click “Upload File” and then “Drag and Drop the File” or “Select the File” and click “Continue”
6. Select the appropriate bank/credit card account and click “Continue”
7. Fill out the corresponding information of how your data is formatted and click “Continue”
8. Select the transactions you would like to add and click “Continue” and then “Yes”
9. You will be prompted with any items that weren’t able to be uploaded
10. Review the bank feed for the account that was uploaded and accept any transactions as necessary. Any transactions that matching your current bank feed rules will be flagged and auto added based on your rule preferences.
Note: Formatting Data prior to import is required for Excel and CSV files. The Excel file must be saved as a CSV file prior to uploading to QuickBooks Online. Additionally, credit cards are set up as liability accounts and therefore amounts must be entered as negatives in order to properly be uploaded.
Example: Credit Card Payments are Positive Amounts & Credit Card Charges are Negative Amounts
Below is the standard import format from Intuit:
For more information, please contact Jorge Rinconeno, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor at Porte Brown, at (708) 429-1040 or via email at jrinconeno@portebrown.com.
Get in touch today and find out how we can help you meet your objectives.
