How-to · QuickBooks Online
Import bank statements into QuickBooks® Online
QuickBooks Online can upload a bank or card account's transactions from a CSV file with three columns: Date, Description and Amount. Pennyrow makes that file from your statement PDFs, CSV downloads and OFX files, after it checks them for missing months, duplicates and transfers. The file is made on your device and never uploaded by Pennyrow; you upload it to QuickBooks yourself.
When this helps
QuickBooks Online pulls new transactions from a connected bank, but a bank connection often goes back only a few months, and some accounts can't connect at all. To bring in older months, or an account that isn't connected, you upload a file. Pennyrow turns the statements you already have into that file, one account at a time.
Steps
- Download the statements for the months you need from your bank: PDF statements, CSV or OFX downloads all work. The bank guides show where each bank keeps them.
- Open Pennyrow and drop in the files. Check the badge on the Statements tab, then the Catch-up tab for missing months, duplicates and transfers.
- On Export, find the account under Per account and choose QuickBooks Online CSV. Your browser saves the file to your device.
- In QuickBooks Online go to All apps, then Accounting, then Bank transactions. Open the Link account menu and choose Upload from file.
- Pick the file Pennyrow made, choose the QuickBooks account it belongs to, and match the columns: Date, Description and Amount, with dates as MM/DD/YYYY.
- Choose the transactions to bring in, then confirm. They land in the bank transactions list for you to review.
QuickBooks steps from Intuit's help page, checked October 27, 2026. Intuit moves menus around; its page has the current names.
Intuit's limits, and why the file can come in parts
Intuit's help page says one upload can hold up to 1,000 lines and must be 350 KB or less, in English. A busy checking account can pass 1,000 rows in a year. When it does, Pennyrow makes the account's QuickBooks Online CSV in parts, each under both limits, with one button per part and the dates each part covers. Upload the parts in order. A day's rows stay together in one part.
Keeping rows from coming in twice
- If the QuickBooks account already has transactions, start your statements after the last one there. Intuit's help says the same: set the date range to begin the day after the last transaction.
- Pennyrow drops a row that is in two of your files, for example a monthly statement and a longer download, before it makes the CSV.
- On the last QuickBooks step you pick which rows to bring in, so you can leave out any it already has.
What is in the file
- A header line, Date,Description,Amount, then one transaction per line, oldest first.
- Dates as MM/DD/YYYY. Amounts as plain numbers: money out is negative and money in is positive.
- Every row of that account for the year, transfers between your own accounts included, because QuickBooks needs them to match the bank balance. A row with an amount of zero has the amount left blank, as Intuit's help asks.
- The description as the bank wrote it, on one line. Intuit's help also asks for descriptions without numbers; Pennyrow keeps the bank's wording, store and card numbers included, so each row still matches your statement.
Worked example
The first rows of the QuickBooks Online CSV for Checking ••4821 in Pennyrow's made-up sample (the button "Try it with sample statements" in the app):
| Date | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 01/02/2025 | FERNMOOR COWORK RENT | -450.00 |
| 01/03/2025 | CLOUDBRAMBLE SOFTWARE 800-555-0199 | -29.99 |
| 01/06/2025 | ACH DEPOSIT BRIGHTLEAF MEDIA | 3658.57 |
The rent and the software are money out, so they are negative; the deposit is money in. In QuickBooks they show as spent and received.
QuickBooks Desktop
QuickBooks Desktop doesn't take this CSV. Pennyrow makes a QuickBooks Desktop .iif file on the same Export page instead. Back up your company file first, and type the account name exactly as it is in QuickBooks.
Questions
Does Pennyrow connect to my QuickBooks account?
No. Pennyrow makes the file on your device and your browser saves it. You upload it to QuickBooks yourself, so Pennyrow never sees your QuickBooks sign-in.
Why is my QuickBooks Online file in parts?
Intuit's help page says one upload can hold up to 1,000 lines and 350 KB. When an account has more rows than that, Pennyrow splits its file into parts that each fit. Upload them in order.
Can QuickBooks Online read a PDF statement by itself?
Intuit's help page says it can take a statement PDF or image as well as a transaction file. Pennyrow adds the checks first: whether each statement adds up, missing months, rows in two files and transfers between your own accounts.
Does Pennyrow make a QBO file?
No. It makes the QuickBooks Online CSV described here, a QuickBooks Desktop .iif file and an OFX file.
Does Pennyrow upload my statements?
No. The files are read inside your browser tab. The converter page is locked so it can't make network requests. How to check that yourself.
Related
- How to catch up on a year of bookkeeping yourself
- Convert an OFX or QFX file to CSV or Excel
- How to get a bank statement PDF into Google Sheets
Bank guides: Chase · Bank of America · Wells Fargo · all banks
Checked October 22, 2026 against Intuit: Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online. Pages move; if something has changed, the source has the current version.