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Set up and use online banking in QuickBooks

by Intuit•26• Updated 2 weeks ago

Online banking in QuickBooks Online helps you save time by automatically pulling in your transactions. You can then review, categorise, and reconcile them to keep your accounts accurate.

This article walks you through setting up and using online banking in QuickBooks, with links to more detailed help if you need it.


Before you start

  1. Check if your bank supports Open Banking. If it’s not on the list of participating banks, you can skip step 1 and upload transactions manually instead.
  2. Set up VAT so it’s included in your transactions.
  3. If you have a foreign currency account, set it up in QuickBooks.
  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Select Connect account if this is your first connection. If you’ve already added an account, select Link account.
  3. Follow the on-screen steps to connect your bank account.

If your bank doesn’t connect, or if you need older transactions, you can upload a CSV file instead.

  • Maximum file size: 350 KB.
  • If the file is too large, shorten the date range and upload in smaller batches.

Learn how to upload transactions manually.

Once your transactions are in QuickBooks:

  • Review them in the For review tab.
  • Categorise each transaction so your accounts stay accurate.
  • Match them against existing records where possible.

Tip: The more you categorise, the better QuickBooks gets at automatically recognising similar transactions in the future.

Learn more about categorising transactions.

In Bank transactions, you’ll see:

  • For review: New or uncategorised transactions.
  • Categorised: Transactions that are already sorted.
  • Excluded: Transactions you’ve removed, such as duplicates or personal expenses.

You can:

  • Add a transaction to a category.
  • Search using keywords.
  • Filter by date or transaction type.

To remove a duplicate or personal transaction:

  1. Go to the For review tab.
  2. Select the transaction.
  3. Select Exclude.

Excluded transactions don’t appear in your accounts or reports. Always check with your accountant before excluding.

Bank rules help QuickBooks categorise transactions automatically.

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Select Rules, then select New rule.
  3. Follow the steps to create your rule.

Learn more about bank rules.

Reconciliation compares QuickBooks records with your bank statements to make sure everything matches.

  • Reconcile your current, savings, and credit card accounts every month.
  • This helps catch errors and keeps your records accurate.

Useful articles:

After reconciling, review your reconciliation report:

  • Go to View Reconciliation Report.
  • See a summary of cleared and uncleared balances, cheques, payments, deposits, and credits.

You can view, print, or export this report.

Learn how to work with reconciliation reports.

If transactions aren’t showing:

  • Select Update on the banking dashboard to refresh the connection.

If you see an error message, check our article to fix common bank errors.

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