Set up bank rules to categorize online banking transactions in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to use bank rules to automatically categorize transactions from your bank.

When you download transactions from your bank, you need to categorize them so that they enter the right accounts. Bank rules can do this automatically.

The more ‌QuickBooks Online uses the bank rules you create, the better it gets at categorizing. After a while, the app learns how to read transactions, then automatically adds details.

Here's how to set up bank rules.

In this article, you'll learn:

• How to create a bank rule
• How to import existing bank rules
• How to review recognized transactions
• How to set up the auto-add feature
• What to do if your bank rules aren't getting applied to transactions
• What to do if you moved from QuickBooks Desktop

Step 1: Create a bank rule

1. Go to Settings and select Rules (Take me there).
2. Select New rule.
   Note: Select Go to rules if you are adding for the first time. 
3. Enter a name in the What do you want to call this rule? field.
4. From the Apply this to transactions that are ▼ dropdown, select Money in or Money out.
5. From the in ▼ dropdown, select a bank account, or select All bank accounts.
6. Set the rule conditions. You can set a single rule with up to 5 conditions. Set and include the following, then select + Add a condition.
7. In the Conditions fields, specify whether the rule applies to Description, Bank text, or Amount. Then select Contains, Doesn't contain, or Is exactly and enter the value or text to decide how QuickBooks applies the rules.
8. Select the settings for the rule. Select Transaction type, Category, Product/service, Payee, Tax, and Customer to apply.
   Note: You may see different options depending on the company settings you’ve turned on.  
9. Select Save.
10. (Optional) To reorder your bank rules priority, select reorder and drag the rule to your desired order. The rule with the highest priority will always be applied first.

QuickBooks automatically applies your rules to transactions in the Pending tab. These are the ones you need to review every day.

Tips: 

• Quickly add a rule for transactions in the Pending tab. Just select a transaction, then select the Create rule link to open the create rule window and start setting conditions for the rule.
• Copy, Disable/Enable, or Delete bank rules from the Actions column ▼ dropdown on the Rules page.

Import existing bank rules

If you set up banking rules on another QuickBooks Online company file, you can export them to another company file:

1. Sign in to the company file you want to export the bank rules from.
2. Go to Settings and select Rules (Take me there).
3. Select the New rule ▼ dropdown and then Export rules.
4. Save the export file in Excel.
5. Sign out of the company file and sign in to the one you want to import the rules into.
6. Go to Settings and select Rules (Take me there).
7. Select the New rule ▼ dropdown and then Import rules.
8. Select Select the file to upload and find the Excel file you exported and select Next.
9. Select the rules and details you want to import.
10. Follow the prompts to finish the import.

Step 2: Review recognized transactions

After a rule is applied, a RULE badge appears in the Match/Category column of the transaction.

To filter rules, follow these steps. 

1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product
2. Select the All transactions ▼ dropdown menu. 
3. Select Rules.

Next steps: Set up the auto-add feature

Create targeted rules so that specific transactions are automatically accepted into your books from the Bank transactions (Take me there) page.

Tip: We recommend starting with simple, consistent transactions like rent or fuel expenses. Then, use it to cover more transactions.

1. Follow the steps to create a new bank rule.
2. Turn on Auto-add under Automatically confirm transactions this rule applies to in the Create rule window.
3. Select Save.

After you create an auto-add rule, any transactions on the Pending tab that meet the conditions are automatically added. Auto-add rules run when you sign in, upload a file, or create or modify a new auto-add rule.

If your bank rules aren't getting applied to transactions

If your bank rules aren't getting applied, it might be because you’re using a rule based on bank text when you meant to make a rule based on description, or vice versa. To explain the difference:

• The Bank text is exactly the same information the app receives from the bank. The bank text is the transaction you'd see listed in your bank account or on your bank statement.
• The Description is a simplified version of the bank text to make it easier to understand. For example, the app might simplify bank text by just giving the supplier name.

By default, the app shows the description in your list of transactions. To show the bank text instead:

1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product
2. Select the Settings ⚙ within the Bank transactions section.
3. Select the Show full bank description checkbox.

If you moved from QuickBooks Desktop

Bank rules work similarly in QuickBooks Online as they do in QuickBooks Desktop. If your rules have been automatically migrated from QuickBooks Desktop, notice the following differences:

• QuickBooks Online supports up to 5 conditions per rule. The first 5 conditions for each rule from QuickBooks Desktop are migrated.
• QuickBooks Desktop bank rules containing Begins with and Ends with clauses are matched with the Contains clause once migrated to QuickBooks Online.
• If a migrated QuickBooks Desktop bank rule contains both Money in and Money out conditions, two bank rules are created in QuickBooks Online.

Find out more about how features and data move to QuickBooks Online.