wanderbooks/docs/spec/sources/intuit-bank-csv.md

QuickBooks Online bank and credit-card CSV upload format

Governs ledger_import::bank_csv (the QBO-style bank/card CSV parser). Intuit's help articles are © Intuit Inc., not public domain, so per the vendoring rules (docs/spec/README.md) they are cited, with short quotes only; everything not inside a > blockquote is our description of the page, not Intuit's words. Intuit states two layouts: 3 columns (Date, Description, Amount) and 4 columns (Date, Description, Credit, Debit). The pages were read in a browser; the hashes are of the HTML the browser fetched at retrieval (a dynamic page, so a later fetch will differ).

Format CSV files in Excel to get bank transactions into QuickBooks (US, updated 8/24/2026)

Source: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/bank-transactions/format-csv-files-excel-bank-transactions-quickbooks/L4BjLWckq_US_en_US
Retrieved: 2026-10-13
SHA-256 of the retrieved file (L4BjLWckq_US_en_US.html, 533,442 bytes): cbdd8c42ddda944b639db450b0a5c7986c17516c7e699612bea24b950e115bd0

Layouts

You can upload CSVs with either the 3-column or 4-column format to QuickBooks.

Cited (not quoted): the 3-column layout's columns are Date, Description, Amount; the 4-column layout's columns are Date, Description, Credit, Debit, in that order.

Sign and column meaning (from Intuit's example tables, transcribed cell by cell)

3-column example (header row, then two rows):

Date	Description	Amount
1/1/2018	Example of a payment	-100.00
1/1/2018	Example of a deposit	200.00

4-column example:

Date	Description	Credit	Debit
1/1/2018	Example of a payment	100.00
1/1/2018	Example of a deposit		200.00

Cited (not quoted): in the 3-column layout a payment (money out) is negative and a deposit (money in) positive. In the 4-column layout Intuit's example puts the payment in the Credit column and the deposit in the Debit column, each amount positive, the other cell empty. The page has no sentence stating which of Credit/Debit means money in; the example is the only evidence.

Header rules

Cited (not quoted): remove the word "amount" from Credit/Debit headers, so they read only "Credit" and "Debit". The page does not say whether a header row is required or optional; both examples have one.

Zeros

Remove any zeros (0) from the file. Leave those cells blank.

Description column

Cited (not quoted): correct transactions whose Description cell shows numbers.

Dates

Cited (not quoted): keep every date in one format; Intuit recommends dd/mm/yyyy (its own examples are written 1/1/2018, which reads the same either way). A day-of-week suffix in the date cell (its example: 20/11/2018 TUE) must be split off and removed. No list of accepted date formats is given.

Credit card files

Cited (not quoted): card CSVs may show signs reversed relative to a bank account (payments to the card can appear as negative deposits); upload them into the credit card account, not a bank account.

Platform note

Cited (not quoted): Mac users must save as a Windows CSV file.

Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online (US, updated 8/24/2026)

Source: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/import-transactions/manually-upload-transactions-quickbooks-online/L0rE9OXBz_US_en_US
Retrieved: 2026-10-13
SHA-256 of the retrieved file (L0rE9OXBz_US_en_US.html): b32d52c6efe6e4e6dced48876cc93b351ac66168bf2f80e0bedef27b4b4337d7

File limits and columns

Your upload file must be in English and 350 KB or less.

Cited (not quoted): each file needs either 3 columns (Date, Description, Amount) or 4 (Date, Description, Credit, Debit); cells in Amount, Credit, or Debit holding only zero are left blank; dates in one format, dd/mm/yyyy recommended. During upload the user matches the file's columns to QuickBooks fields on screen (so QBO does not rely on header text or position alone).

Fix bank upload errors (US, updated 8/4/2026)

Source: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/bank-transactions/fix-bank-upload-errors-quickbooks-online/L6FBh3zDC_US_en_US
Retrieved: 2026-10-13
SHA-256 of the retrieved file (L6FBh3zDC_US_en_US.html): d730b312cd5b0583f9e6947b30e4bca0a9be8f5935363c6e3f96d264d19f784c

Amount size limit

Cited (not quoted): the error "The uploaded file contains invalid transaction amount information." occurs when a transaction has 12 or more digits; QuickBooks cannot upload amounts that large.

Not found in any Intuit source

Searched 2026-10-13 (the three US articles above; Intuit's other regional editions were not read); none states:

• whether thousands separators (1,234.56) are accepted in amount cells;
• whether currency symbols ($) are accepted;
• whether parentheses for negatives ((100.00)) are accepted;
• whether the 4-column order may be Debit before Credit, or other header names (Expense/Income, Withdrawal/Deposit) are accepted;
• an exhaustive list of accepted date formats, or how QBO disambiguates 1/2/2018;
• whether a header row is mandatory.

Rules wanderbooks applies on these points are CONVENTION or CHOICE, not Intuit's.