Categorize online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online
by Intuit•283• Updated 3 weeks ago
Learn how to categorize transactions uploaded to QuickBooks Online.
Review categories for automatically downloaded transactions when you connect your bank to QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks suggests categories based on how you categorize similar transactions.
Note: QuickBooks Online won’t download pending transactions.
For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view
To watch more how-to videos, visit our video section.
Download the latest bank and credit card transactions
For most banks, we try to refresh transactions every 24 hours. You can also manually update your accounts anytime:
- Go to Transactions, then Bank transactions (Take me there).
- Select Update.
This updates the transactions on all of your accounts.
Tip: If you see a message about additional authentication, follow the prompts to continue the update.
If you have trouble downloading your transactions, you can try other options.
Note: QuickBooks recognizes common vendors from your bank transactions, and will automatically add new vendors into your account. Turn this option off if you don’t want new vendors added. In Bank transactions, go to Settings ⚙ and turn off Add new vendors.
Review and categorize downloaded transactions
- Go to Transactions, then Bank transactions (Take me there).
- Select the account you want to review.
- Select the For review tab.
QuickBooks sends downloaded transactions to the For review tab, and suggests categories for each transaction. Review them one by one:
- If the transaction says Add:
- Select Add if the suggested category is correct.
- Change the category by choosing one from the dropdown or adding a new one.
- If the transaction says Review:
- Select Review, then select a category, or add a new one.
- Select Confirm.
- If the transaction already exists in QuickBooks, you may have the option to match or view multiple matches.
Note: You can create a bank rule that automatically categorizes transactions for you. You can also turn suggestions off if you want to manually categorize your transactions. In Bank transactions, go to Settings ⚙ and uncheck Enable suggested categorization.
Choose the right category
Categorize income
Money paid to you from:
- Sales
- Customer payments
- Refunds
- Fixed assets sold
- Bank loans received
- Money invested
Categorize expenses
Money paid to others. For example, money spent on:
- Office Supplies
- Meals
- Payroll
- Taxes
- Fixed assets
Note: If you pay yourself (called an Owner pay or Owner draw), this “equity transaction” is also considered an expense for the business.
Other categorization actions
There are a few other options to take to help you properly categorize your transactions.
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