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Connect bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online

by Intuit1103 Updated 2 weeks ago

Learn how to connect your bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online.

When you connect your online bank in QuickBooks, the transactions automatically download and categorize. This helps you save time updating your bank feeds. All you have to do is to review and approve them.

For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view Open this link in a new window

Note: Many banks are starting to switch to a new connection service called OAuth. We're also switching to OAuth to make online banking easier and faster to use. Find out which banks are using OAuth and how it affects you.

If you used bank feeds in QuickBooks Desktop, you'll need to connect your bank/credit card accounts again in QuickBooks Online for security reasons. If you plan to import your data from Desktop, follow these steps before you connect your bank:

  1. Find your most recently categorized transaction in QuickBooks Desktop.
  2. Make a note of the transaction date.
  3. Follow these steps to import your Desktop data. Note: It's important to do this before you connect your bank. Otherwise, your Desktop data will replace any downloaded bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.
  4. Your categorized transactions will copy from Desktop to Online. Uncategorized transactions won't copy over.
  5. To connect your bank to QuickBooks Online, continue reading this article. To avoid adding duplicate transactions, make sure to only pull transactions after the date in Step 2. You can do this by changing the transaction pull date while you're connecting your bank:

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If you miss that step and download duplicate transactions by mistake, don't worry. You can exclude them from your books during the review process.

To compare how bank feeds work in QuickBooks Online versus Desktop, open this onboarding guide. Then, go to Part 10: Online banking. You can also find out more about how features and data move to QuickBooks Online.

Get personalized help connecting your accounts with QuickBooks Live.

To watch more how-to videos, visit our video section.

Follow the steps below based on the product you are using.

Step 1: Connect a bank or credit card account

Connect your bank or credit card account so you don’t have to manually enter your transactions. You can also connect multiple businesses and personal bank accounts to keep your business information up to date in QuickBooks.

Note: If you have an American Express Business account, you can also connect it to your QuickBooks Online account. This requires a few different steps.

  1. Go to Transactions, then select Bank transactions (Take me there).
  2. Select Link Account.
  3. Enter the URL or name of your bank in the Search field, then select the bank.
    Note: If you can’t find your bank, you can manually upload transactions instead.
  4. Enter your Sign info in the Login and Password fields, then select Continue
  5. Select the account that you want to connect and date to pull transactions from the dropdown ▼. Then, select Next.
    Note: Some banks let you download the last 90 days of transactions. Others can go back as far as 24 months.
  6. Select your account type on the Account type ▼ dropdown, then select Next.
    Note: Choose the account type that matches your chart of accounts in QuickBooks. If you don’t see the correct account type, select +Add new.

For new bank accounts:

  • In the Account Type ▼ dropdown, select Bank
  • In Detail Type, select Savings or Checking
  • Give the account a name and then select Save and Close.

For new credit card accounts:

  • In the Account Type ▼ dropdown, select Credit Card.
  • Give the account a name and then select Save and Close.
  1. Map the bank account in the Existing accounts ▼ dropdown, then select Next.
  2. Select Connect, then select Done.
    Note: You can edit the account name in the New account name field or change it later.
  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon., then select Chart of accounts (Take me there).
  2. In the Action column, select the View register ▼ dropdown. Then select Connect bank.
  3. Enter the URL or name of your bank in the Search field, then select the bank.
    Note: If you can’t find your bank, you can manually upload transactions instead.
  4. Enter your Sign info in the Login and Password fields, then select Continue.
  5. Select the account that you want to connect and date to pull transactions from the dropdown ▼. Then, select Next.
    Note: Some banks let you download the last 90 days of transactions. Others can go back as far as 24 months.
  6. Select your account type on the Account type ▼ dropdown, then select Next.
    Note: Choose the account type that matches your chart of accounts in QuickBooks. If you don’t see the correct account type, select +Add new.

For new bank accounts:

  • In the Account Type ▼ dropdown, select Bank.
  • In Detail Type, select Savings or Checking.
  • Give the account a name and then select Save and Close.

For new credit card accounts:

  • In the Account Type ▼ dropdown, select Credit Card.
  • Give the account a name and then select Save and Close.
  1. Map the bank account in the Existing accounts ▼ dropdown, then select Next.
  2. Select Connect, then select Done.
    Note: You can edit the account name in the New account name field or change it later.

If you have already linked your bank account, you can easily add more bank or credit card accounts from the same institution.

  1. Go to Transactions, then select Bank transactions (Take me there).
  2. In the Link account ▼ dropdown, select Manage connections. Then toggle on Image of switch icon. the switch for any additional account you want to connect.
    Note:  Manage connections shows all connections ever made via bank feeds. They can't be removed.
  3. If you don't see the account there, go back to Transactions and select Link account.
  4. Then follow the steps to connect a new bank or credit card account.

For new bank accounts:

  • In the Account Type ▼ dropdown, select Bank
  • In Detail Type, select Savings or Checking
  • Give the account a name and then select Save and Close.

For new credit card accounts:

  • In the Account Type ▼ dropdown, select Credit Card.
  • Give the account a name and then select Save and Close.
  1. Map the bank account in the Existing accounts ▼ dropdown, then select Next.
  2. Select Connect, then select Done.
    Note: You can edit the account name in the New account name field or change it later.

Step 2: Download recent transactions

Refresh your bank feed to automatically download your recent bank transactions.

  1. Go to Transactions, then select Bank transactions (Take me there).
  2. Select Update.

Step 3: Categorize downloaded transactions

Review and categorize the downloaded bank transactions to make sure that it is categorized right. This helps you to organize your charts of accounts accurately.

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