How-to · QuickBooks Desktop

Import bank statements into QuickBooks® Desktop with an .iif file

QuickBooks Desktop imports transactions from IIF files, a plain text format with tabs between the fields. Pennyrow makes one .iif file per bank or card account 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 import it into QuickBooks yourself.

Before you start

• Back up your company file. Intuit's help page says to do this before you import any IIF file, so you can restore it if something goes wrong.
• Sign in to the company file as an admin. If you're in multi-user mode, switch to single-user mode first (File, then Switch to Single-user Mode).
• Note the exact name of the bank or card account in your chart of accounts. Pennyrow puts that name on every row.
• Intuit doesn't offer support for IIF imports and says to ask the app that made the file. For Pennyrow, write to support@getpennyrow.com.

Steps

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. On the Categorize tab, confirm the categories you want. Only categories you confirmed, or set with a rule, are written as categories.
4. On Export, find the account under Per account and open QuickBooks Desktop (.iif). Type the account name exactly as it is in QuickBooks, then choose QuickBooks Desktop (.iif). Your browser saves the file to your device.
5. In QuickBooks Desktop for Windows, go to File, then Utilities, then Import, then IIF Files, and choose Import IIF. Pick the file Pennyrow made and select OK.
6. QuickBooks shows how many lists and transactions came in. Open the account register and compare the balance with your statement.

QuickBooks steps from Intuit's help pages, checked October 28, 2026. Intuit moves menus around; its pages have the current names.

If some rows don't come in

In QuickBooks Desktop 2019 and later the import checks the file first. Intuit's help page says that when it finds errors, QuickBooks makes a new .iif file with the rows it couldn't bring in and a description of each error, and offers Review now, Open in folder and Close. Fix the rows marked ERROR, save the file, and import it again. Intuit doesn't recommend the option “Import it for me. I'll fix it later”, because it skips that check.

What is in the .iif file

• One bank or card account per file. Each transaction is a TRNS line for your bank or card account, an SPL line for the other side, and an ENDTRNS line.
• For a bank account, money out is a CHECK and money in is a DEPOSIT. For a card, charges are CREDIT CARD and payments or credits are CCARD REFUND.
• The other side is the category you confirmed. Anything you haven't confirmed, or haven't marked business or personal, goes to Uncategorized Expense or Uncategorized Income, so the import never turns a suggestion into a category. Rows marked Personal go to Owner draw / personal or Owner contribution. Check that your chart of accounts uses these names.
• A matched transfer or card payment goes to your other account by name, and it is written once, from the account the money left, so importing every account's file doesn't record it twice. Type each account's QuickBooks name on its own Export card, so the other side matches too.
• A check number at the start of a description, such as “CHECK 1234”, goes in the number field. Rows with an amount of zero are left out. Account names are kept to 31 characters, and accented letters become plain ones.

Worked example

The first transaction and the first transfer to savings in the .iif file for Checking ••4821 in Pennyrow's made-up sample (the button “Try it with sample statements” in the app), with the empty fields left out:

The rent isn't confirmed in the sample, so its other side is Uncategorized Expense. The transfer's other side is Savings 7731, and it appears only in the checking file; the savings file leaves it out.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online doesn't import .iif files. Use the QuickBooks Online CSV on the same Export page instead: Import bank statements into QuickBooks Online.

Questions

Can I import an .iif file into QuickBooks Desktop for Mac?

Intuit's help page gives Mac steps too: sign in as an admin, then File, Import, From IIF Files. Back up the company file first.

Will importing the .iif file categorize my transactions?

Only the ones you chose. Rows you confirmed, or set with a rule, go to accounts with those category names. Everything else goes to Uncategorized Expense or Uncategorized Income for you to sort in QuickBooks.

Why is a transfer in only one of my .iif files?

Pennyrow writes a matched transfer once, from the account the money left, so importing both accounts' files doesn't record it twice.

Can QuickBooks Online use the .iif file?

No. QuickBooks Online doesn't import IIF files. Pennyrow makes a QuickBooks Online CSV on the same Export page.

Does Pennyrow open my QuickBooks company file?

No. It never opens your company file or signs in to QuickBooks. It makes the .iif file on your device, and you import it yourself. How to check Pennyrow makes no connection.

Related

• Import bank statements into QuickBooks® Online
• Transfers between your own accounts, counted once
• How to catch up on a year of bookkeeping yourself

Bank guides: Chase · Bank of America · Wells Fargo · all banks

Checked October 28, 2026 against Intuit: Export, import, and edit IIF files, Intuit: Improved IIF import in QuickBooks 2019 and later. Pages move; if something has changed, the source has the current version.