CSV or Excel to QBO
Convert CSV or Excel to QBO, without uploading it.
Drop the file your bank gave you. Plainsum finds the date, description and amount columns, shows how it read them, and writes a QBO file for QuickBooks Online's Upload from file. Nothing leaves this tab.
- Your file is never uploaded
- Columns, dates and signs detected, and fixable
- Stable transaction IDs on every export
- Free for 30 transactions per file
CSV and Excel converter
Drop your CSV or Excel file here
The file your bank or card issuer lets you download (.csv, .tsv, .txt, .xlsx, .xlsm and .xls). It is read inside this page and goes nowhere else.
Add another fileNo upload. This page's security policy forbids network connections, so your file cannot leave it. See how to check that yourself.
1Check how your file was read
2Preview and totals
3Account settings
4Download
Free: every format, the first 30 transactions of each file. Pro ($19, once, the same key as Plainsum Statements Pro): no limit, several files at once, saved column mappings.
How it works
Drop the file
A CSV, TSV or Excel export from your bank or card. Columns, header row, date format and signs are detected automatically.
Check the reading
Fix a column, the date order or the sign if needed. The preview shows totals, a balance check when the file has a balance column, and any duplicate or skipped rows.
Download QBO
Set the account type and, if you like, the last digits of the account number, then download. OFX, QFX, QIF and a clean CSV come from the same screen.
How to import the .qbo file into QuickBooks Online
- Sign in to QuickBooks Online and open Transactions, then Bank transactions.
- Open the Link account menu (the arrow next to it) and choose Upload from file. In some versions the same option sits under the Update button of an account you have already added.
- Drag the .qbo file into the window or choose Browse, then select Continue.
- Pick the QuickBooks account the transactions belong to (an existing bank or credit card account, or a new one) and select Continue.
- Choose which transactions to import (usually all of them) and finish with Import. They arrive on the For review tab, where you categorize and accept them.
Menu names change between QuickBooks versions and countries. If you do not see these, search the QuickBooks help for "upload bank transactions from a file".
Verify before you rely on it. Convert a small file first, or a few weeks of transactions, and import it into a test company or a spare account. Compare the number of transactions and the total money in and money out with your bank. Check that dates are right (a day and month swap is easy to miss), and that purchases are money out. Imported transactions wait on the For review tab and change nothing in your books until you accept them. This tool is not affiliated with or endorsed by Intuit or QuickBooks, and has not been certified by them.
If QuickBooks rejects the upload, the usual causes are a file that is too large (split it into smaller date ranges), a date in the future, or an account number or bank ID problem on QuickBooks Desktop. The message QuickBooks shows names the reason.
What it understands
- Files: CSV, TSV and semicolon-separated text (UTF-8, UTF-16 or the older Windows encoding), Excel .xlsx and .xls. The first sheet with data is used and you can pick another. Password-protected workbooks must be unlocked first.
- Columns: a date, a description or payee, and either one signed Amount column or separate Debit (money out) and Credit (money in) columns. A balance, check number, memo and a DR/CR marker column are picked up when present. Headings are recognised in English, German, French and Spanish, and a file with no heading row at all is read from the data.
- Extra lines: summary blocks above the table, a "beginning balance" line inside it, and totals at the bottom are skipped and listed so you can see what was left out.
- Dates: 2025-01-31, 01/31/2025, 31/01/2025, 31.01.25, 31-Jan-2025, 20250131, with or without a time. When every date could be read as month-first or day-first, Plainsum says so, shows you an example, and lets you choose.
- Amounts: -12.50, (12.50), 12.50-, +12.50, 12.50 CR, DR 12.50, $1,234.56, 1.234,56, 1 234,56 and 1'234.56. The decimal mark is decided for the whole column, not guessed per row.
- Signs: money out is written as negative in the output. Card exports that list purchases as positive are flipped when the account type is Credit card, and you can force or undo it.
The detection was built and tested on synthetic files laid out like the CSV exports of Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One and American Express, and a German savings-bank export, plus Excel versions of the same data. Bank and card names are trademarks of their owners and are not affiliated with this tool. Your bank's layout may differ, which is why every guess can be changed.
What is inside the QBO file
- One entry per transaction with a type (debit or credit), the posted date, the amount (money out negative), a transaction ID, the payee (first 32 characters of the description), the memo and the check number when you have one.
- A start and end date for the statement period, and a closing balance taken from your balance column when the file has one that follows from the amounts.
- The account type (checking, savings or credit card), the account number digits you typed, the currency, and the institution name and generic bank ID described above.
- Text is converted to plain ASCII, as the format requires, so accents are dropped and unusual symbols become a question mark.
Prefer another format? CSV to OFX covers Xero, GnuCash and other programs that read OFX, and CSV to QIF covers Quicken-style QIF files.
Upload converters versus Plainsum
| Upload-based online converter | Plainsum | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the file goes | Sent to a server | Stays in your browser tab |
| Can you verify that? | Only by trusting the policy | The page blocks all network access; your Network tab stays empty |
| Fix columns, dates, signs | Often fixed layouts | Detected, then editable |
| Balance and duplicate checks | Rarely | Shown before you download |
| Price | Varies, often per file or per month | Free to 30 transactions per file; $19 once for Pro |
Questions
How do I convert a CSV file to a QBO file?
Drop the CSV or Excel file on the box at the top of this page. Plainsum shows how it read the columns, dates and signs; fix anything that looks wrong, set the account type, then press Download QBO. The file is built in your browser and saved to your computer.
Can I not just import the CSV into QuickBooks Online directly?
QuickBooks Online can import a simple CSV with a date, a description and an amount (or separate money in and money out columns), and it expects you to match the columns and date format yourself. A QBO file carries more: a transaction ID per row so the same rows are not imported twice, the account type and number, check numbers and a closing balance. Many people prefer it for that reason, and it avoids fixing the CSV layout by hand each month.
Will uploading the same transactions twice create duplicates?
Each row gets an ID worked out from its date, amount, description and check number, plus a counter for identical rows on the same day. Export the same rows again, or an overlapping date range, and the IDs match, which is what QuickBooks uses to recognise transactions it has already seen. Changing which column is the description changes the IDs, so pick your mapping once and keep it. QuickBooks decides what it skips, so check the "For review" list after an overlapping upload.
Do I have to pick my bank?
Not for QuickBooks Online's Upload from file. The bank box only sets the institution name written into the file. Intuit gives each bank a numeric ID, and Plainsum does not ship those because they cannot be checked from here and a wrong one would label the file with the wrong bank. The file uses a generic ID. If QuickBooks Desktop or Quicken refuses a file with a generic ID, enter the ID for your bank in Advanced settings.
Is my bank file uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read by code running in your browser tab, and the page's security policy blocks every network connection, so it could not be sent even by mistake. Open your browser's Network tab while you convert: it stays empty.
What do I get for free?
Every format (QBO, OFX, QFX, QIF and clean CSV) for the first 30 transactions of each file, so you can confirm the import works with your own data. Pro is a one-time $19 payment, the same key as Plainsum Statements Pro: no limit, several files at once as a zip or merged, and saved column mappings.
Does this work with QuickBooks Desktop?
The QBO file follows the usual Web Connect layout, but QuickBooks Desktop is stricter than QuickBooks Online about the bank that issued a file. It may ask for a bank it knows, or refuse a generic one. Try a small file first. If it will not import, the OFX version of the same data is worth trying in other programs, and a support request to Intuit about the bank ID is the long-term fix.