Learn how to review downloaded bank and credit card transactions.
After you connect your bank and credit card accounts QuickBooks automatically downloads the latest transactions and suggests categories for these transactions based on how you, and other customers, categorized similar transactions. This helps identify tax deductions and tells you where your business makes and spends money.
Note: QuickBooks Online won’t download pending transactions. It only downloads transactions when they’re no longer pending and are officially posted on the bank's site.
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Step 1: Download the latest bank and credit card transactions
For most banks, we try to refresh the latest available transactions every 24 hours. Some may take a little longer. You can also manually update your accounts anytime:
- Go to Transactions, then Bank transactions (Take me there).
- Select Update.
This updates all of your bank and credit card accounts.
Tip: If you see a message about additional authentication, follow the prompts to continue the update. Not all banks require this, but some do for added security.
Here's what to do if you have trouble downloading your transactions.
Note: QuickBooks recognizes common vendors from your bank transactions, and will automatically add new vendors into your account. You can turn this option off if you don’t want new vendors added. In Bank transactions, go to Settings ⚙ and turn off Add new vendors.
Step 2: Review and categorize downloaded transactions
- Go to Transactions, then Bank transactions (Take me there).
- Select the tile for the account you want to review.
- Select the For review tab to start your review.
QuickBooks sends downloaded transactions to the For review tab, and suggests categories for each transaction. Review them one by one:
- If the transaction says Confirm:
- Select Confirm if QuickBooks suggested the correct category for that transaction.
- Or, change that category by choosing another one from the dropdown or adding a new one.
- If the transaction says Review:
- Select Review, then choose a category, or add a new one.
- Then, select Confirm.
To streamline the process, you can create a bank rule that automatically categorizes transactions for you.
Or, if you want to manually categorize your transactions, you can turn the suggestions off. In Bank transactions, go to Settings ⚙ and uncheck Enable suggested categorization.
If the transaction already exists in QuickBooks, then instead of categorizing it, you may have the option to match, add, or view multiple matches.
Other categorization actions
There are a few other options to take to help you properly categorize your transactions. You can: