Learn how to find, remove, and prevent duplicate transactions in QuickBooks Online.
When you connect your bank and credit card accounts, QuickBooks downloads your transactions automatically. Sometimes transactions may end up in your books multiple times. This can happen if you reconnect an account, import a file that overlaps with your bank feed, add a downloaded transaction instead of matching it, or record the same sale in two different ways.
Here's how to find and remove the duplicates and keep your books in order.
Step 1: Make sure the transaction is a duplicate
Sign in to your bank or credit card website and check your statement for the transaction.
If it appears twice on your statement, the charge really happened twice. Work with your bank or the payment processor instead of changing your books.
If it appears once on your statement but twice in QuickBooks, it's likely a duplicate. Go to Step 2.
Other common scenarios that may indicate duplicate transactions:
Income is doubled
If you received an invoice payment and the bank deposit was also added as new income, undo the added deposit and match it to the payment.
If you created an invoice and a sales receipt for the same sale, keep the one with the payment attached and delete the other.
If a payment went directly to your bank account while it was also in Undeposited Funds, open the payment, select Undeposited Funds in the Deposit to field, then select Save and close. Open the bank deposit that matches your statement, select the checkbox for the payment, then select Save and close. Delete the deposit that no longer matches your statement.
Note: QuickBooks Payments creates deposits automatically when invoices are paid. Match the downloaded deposit to it instead of adding a new one.
A bill and an expense cover the same purchase
You'll know this happened when the vendor shows a $0.00 open balance but still has an overdue amount. Open the expense, select the open bill in the panel on the right, then select Add. This turns the expense into a bill payment.
A connected app and your bank record the same sale
Match the bank download to the app's entry, or exclude the extra copy.
If you have Square and it deposits a daily lump-sum on top of itemized sales, keep the itemized entries and exclude the lump sum.
If you have Wix and more than one app syncs the same sale, turn off the extras in the connection's Retrieve settings.
A recurring template creates duplicate transactions
Select Reports, then run the Recurring Template List report.
Review the report for two templates with the same payee and amount.
If you find one, select Settings, then select Recurring transactions.
Delete the extra template. For more info, refer to: Duplicate transactions when using a recurring template.
Step 2: Check your bank connection
If the same account is connected twice, QuickBooks downloads every transaction twice.
Select All Apps, Accounting, then Bank transactions.
Review the connected accounts. Confirm the affected account appears only once.
If the account was accidentally connected as a new account, disconnect the extra connection and make its account inactive in the chart of accounts. Keep the original account and its history.
Note: To fix sign-in issues with your bank, select Edit sign-in info on the account tile. Disconnecting and reconnecting the account makes QuickBooks download past transactions again, which creates more duplicates.
Step 3: Find the duplicates
Compare the transactions side by side. Check the date, amount, payee, and whether each copy was downloaded or entered manually.
Select All Apps, Accounting, then Chart of accounts.
Select View register next to the account you want to review.
Set the date range with the Filter, then select the Amount column so identical amounts line up.
As you review, watch for two transactions that look like duplicates but aren't:
If the register filter shows All plus deposits, change it to All. That view may show some transactions twice.
A payment and the deposit it belongs to are one pair, not duplicates. Open one of them. If it links to the other, they're two parts of the same transaction. There's no need to review them.
Step 4: Remove the duplicate transactions
After you've located the transaction and determined that it's a true duplicate, you'll remove the extra one from QuickBooks.
If one of the transactions is reconciled, keep that one. The reconciled copy shows C or R in the checkmark column, and the bank feed copy usually carries the bank's memo text. If neither copy is reconciled, keep the copy that's matched to other records or has attachments.
Remove the other copy based on where it is in QuickBooks.
It's in the For Review tab
Select All Apps, Accounting, then Bank transactions.
Select the For review tab. It may be labeled as Pending instead.
Select the checkbox for each extra copy. If both copies are still in the For review tab, keep one to match or add.
Select Exclude.
Tip: If you exclude the wrong transaction, it's easy to fix. Select the Excluded tab, select the checkbox, then select Undo. The transaction goes back to the For review tab. For more details, refer to: Exclude a bank transaction you downloaded into QuickBooks Online.
Once a downloaded transaction is added or excluded, QuickBooks stops the bank from downloading it again. If you delete the transaction instead, QuickBooks will download it again from the bank. In rare cases, your bank may send a transaction again even after you exclude it. If that happens, delete the extra copy from the Excluded tab.
It was added from the bank feed
Select All Apps, Accounting, then Bank transactions.
Select the Categorized tab. It may be labeled as Posted instead.
Select the link in the Added or Matched column.
Select Undo. The transaction goes back to the For review tab.
Match it to the record you already have, or exclude it. Use Find match if QuickBooks doesn't suggest the right one. To learn when to match instead of add, refer to: Match transactions in QuickBooks Online.
Note: If you can't exclude a transaction because it's part of another transaction, undo its match first.
It was entered manually
Select All Apps, Accounting, then Chart of accounts.
Select View register on the account you want to review.
Find the duplicate transaction, select More then Delete. To keep a record of it, select Void instead.
Note: Voided transactions stay in your books at zero. Deleted transactions can't be restored, but the audit log keeps their details for about 2 years.
Note: If a reconciled transaction was already deleted, your beginning balance may be off. Follow the steps in Fix issues for accounts you've reconciled in the past, then check with your accountant before unreconciling anything.
Prevent duplicate transactions
Match downloaded transactions to existing records instead of adding them.
Turn off auto-add on bank rules so downloaded transactions go to the For review tab first.
Connect each bank or credit card account once.
Import files that start after the newest transaction that's already in QuickBooks.
Choose one way to record each sale, such as an invoice or a sales receipt, but not both.
Reconcile your accounts each month to catch any duplicates you may have missed.