QuickBooks export files, and what is in each one

QuickBooks accepts bank transactions in more than one shape, so LedgerBox writes three files: two CSV layouts and a Web Connect QBO. This page is about the files. Writing entries into a connected QuickBooks company is a separate thing, and it has its own page.

Try this export All export formats

QuickBooks 3-column CSV · columns

3 columns

Date: MM/DD/YYYY, the order QuickBooks reads.
Description: The description as printed, collapsed onto one line.
Amount: One signed amount, negative for money out.

Header row, as written

Date,Description,Amount

Merged across several documents

source_document,Date,Description,Amount

Approve a document, pick the file QuickBooks asked you for, and import it there. Downloading a QuickBooks file needs a paid subscription.

How to get the file

Upload the statement

Any bank or card statement, digital or scanned. Balances are reconciled before the document is marked clean, so the rows you import are rows that added up.
Pick the layout QuickBooks asked for

QuickBooks names the shape it wants during its own bank import: one amount column, or separate credit and debit columns. The 3-column and 4-column CSVs are those two shapes.
Import it in QuickBooks

Upload the file through QuickBooks' own bank transaction import. A QBO file goes through Web Connect instead, which needs no column mapping at all.

Want the rows written into your books instead of a file to import? How the QuickBooks integration works

The other files this export writes

Depending on the document type, more than one file is on offer: QuickBooks 3-column CSV, QuickBooks 4-column CSV, and QuickBooks QBO. The ones with a fixed header row publish it; the ones whose columns come from the document type say what decides them, instead of printing a row that would be wrong for half the types.

QuickBooks 4-column CSV · columns

4 columns

Date: MM/DD/YYYY, the order QuickBooks reads.
Description: The description as printed, collapsed onto one line.
Credit: Money in, blank on a row that is money out.
Debit: Money out, positive, blank on a row that is money in.

Header row, as written

Date,Description,Credit,Debit

Merged across several documents

source_document,Date,Description,Credit,Debit

QuickBooks QBO

A Web Connect bank file for one account and one period.

Not a table either. It is an OFX file, the shape QuickBooks Web Connect reads: the account and the statement period are declared once, then one entry per transaction, each with a date, an amount, a type, and an id derived from the row so a repeated import matches instead of duplicating.

Worth knowing before you import

The quirks of a file are the part nobody writes down, and the part that costs an afternoon when it turns out to matter.

The 4-column CSV puts credit before debit

That is deliberate and it is what QuickBooks expects: the header row reads Date, Description, Credit, Debit, which is the reverse of the LedgerBox CSV's own debit-then-credit order. The column names are what your import mapping keys on, so neither one gets tidied.

A QBO file holds one account and one period

Web Connect files declare their account and statement period once, so there is nowhere to put a second statement. Every other export merges across a selection; this one exports a document at a time.

These files are not the QuickBooks integration

A file is something you import yourself. The integration writes journal entries into a connected company for you. They need different plans and different setup, and sending works on a free trial while downloading a QuickBooks file does not.

QuickBooks Online export FAQ

Which QuickBooks file should I download?

Whichever shape QuickBooks asks for during its bank import: the 3-column CSV has Date, Description, Amount with one signed figure, and the 4-column CSV has Date, Description, Credit, Debit. A QBO file goes in through Web Connect and needs no mapping.

What is the difference between a QuickBooks file and the QuickBooks integration?

The file is one you import yourself. The integration is a connection to your QuickBooks company, where approved documents post as balanced journal entries to QuickBooks Online. Different plans, different setup, and the integration page covers it in full.

Can I import several statements in one QBO file?

No. A Web Connect file declares a single account and a single statement period, so it exports one document at a time. The two QuickBooks CSV layouts do merge across a selection, and gain a leading source_document column when they do.

See the columns on your own documents.

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Four formats produce a file today and nine do not. See all thirteen, grouped