Categorize online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to review downloaded bank and credit card transactions.

After you connect your bank and credit card accounts, QuickBooks automatically downloads the latest transactions. It looks for and tries to match them with transactions you've already entered into QuickBooks. If it can't find a match, it creates a new transaction record for you. All you have to do is approve the match or newly created transaction.

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• Download the latest bank and credit card transactions
• Review and categorize downloaded transactions
  • Choose the right category
  • View images for cheque transactions
  • Split transactions between multiple accounts
  • Exclude personal or duplicate transactions

Note: QuickBooks Online won’t download pending transactions. It only downloads transactions when they’re no longer pending and are officially posted on the bank site.

Step 1: Download the latest bank and credit card transactions

For most banks, we try to refresh the latest available transactions every 24 hours. Some may take a little longer. You can also manually update your accounts anytime:

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

This updates all of your bank and credit card accounts.

Tip: If you see a message about additional authentication, follow the prompts to continue the update. Not all banks require this, but some do for added security.

Here's what to do if you have trouble downloading your transactions.

Note: QuickBooks recognizes common suppliers from your bank transactions, and will automatically add new suppliers into your account. You can turn this option off if you don’t want new suppliers added. In Bank transactions, go to Settings ⚙ and turn off Add new suppliers.

Step 2: Review and categorize downloaded transactions

1. Go to Transactions and select Bank transactions (Take me there).
2. Select the tile for the account you want to review.
3. Select the For review tab to start your review.

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 QuickBooks suggested the correct category for that transaction.
  • Or, change that category by choosing another one from the dropdown or adding a new one.

To streamline the process, you can create a bank rule that automatically categorizes transactions for you.

Or, if you want to manually categorize your transactions, you can turn the suggestions off. In Bank transactions, go to Settings ⚙ and uncheck Enable suggested categorization.

If the transaction already exists in QuickBooks, then instead of categorizing it, you may have the option to match, add, or view multiple matches.

How to choose the right category

• Categorize income - money that was paid to you - to show where the money came from, like sales, customer payments, and refunds. The business might also receive money if you sold a fixed asset, received a bank loan, or you invested in the business.
• Categorize expenses - money paid to others - to explain how money was spent, for example, on office supplies, meals, payroll, taxes, and fixed assets. If you pay yourself (called an Owner pay or Owner draw), this “equity transaction” is also considered an expense for the business.

View images for cheque transactions

QuickBooks has partnered with a number of banks to automatically include front and back check images for any check transactions awaiting review. 

To view the cheque images:

1. In the For review tab, select a downloaded transaction that shows a number in the Add Attachment column. (In Business View, you’ll just see the icon.)
2. In the transaction details, select one of the Cheque Image attachments to view the image.
3. In the image panel that appears, you can view the front and back of the cheque, and expand the image to full screen.
4. Review the transaction as normal. If you match or add the transaction, you can later find the images in your Attachments list, under Settings ⚙. They will also be attached directly to the transaction form itself.

Note: If your connected bank transactions don’t have cheque images automatically attached, your bank is not supported. However, it may be supported at a later date as we work to partner with more financial institutions.

Split transactions between multiple accounts

You can split transactions between multiple categories for better tracking.

1. In the For review tab, select the downloaded transaction to expand the view.
   • If the option in the Action column is Match, change the Find match to Categorize.
2. Select Split (Accountant view) or Split transaction next to Category (Business view), which opens the Split transaction window. 
3. From Category▼, select the categories you want to split the transaction into.
4. Enter an Amount for each split so the Difference shows $0. 
5. Select a Supplier or Customer name for each split.
   Note: The fieldname may vary depending on the transaction.
6. When you're done, select Apply and accept.

Exclude personal or duplicate transactions

It’s rare, but you might find duplicate transactions in your bank feed. This generally happens if there is an issue with your bank connection so you upload the transactions yourself, and then a second (duplicate) copy is later downloaded from the bank. If this happens, you should exclude the duplicates. 

1. Go to the For review tab.
2. Select the checkbox for each transaction you want to exclude.
3. Select Exclude.

Excluded transactions move to the Excluded tab. They won’t be added to QuickBooks or downloaded again. If you excluded a transaction by mistake, from the Excluded tab, find the transaction and select Undo.