How to convert QIF to QBO
- 1
Drop the QIF file
QIF files are read as they are: dates, payees, memos, amounts and IDs.
- 2
Review the transactions
Edit a date, a payee or an amount, flip a sign or delete a line before converting.
- 3
Download the QBO
Add the Intuit bank ID in Export settings if your QuickBooks or Quicken asks for one, then import it as a Web Connect file.
What carries over
Date, amount, payee (P), memo (M) and check number (N). Categories and split lines aren’t carried: QuickBooks assigns categories when you accept the downloaded transactions.
The Intuit bank ID (INTU.BID)
A .qbo file names the bank it came from with Intuit’s bank ID. QuickBooks Desktop checks that ID against Intuit’s list of banks and may refuse a file whose ID it doesn’t recognise. If you have any older .qbo or .qfx file from the same bank, open it in a text editor and copy the number after <INTU.BID> into the export settings. When the file you convert already has an ID, it’s kept. QuickBooks Online is less strict, and its CSV upload needs no ID at all.
The formats
- QIF
- Quicken Interchange Format, an older plain-text format with one field per line (D date, T amount, P payee, M memo). GnuCash, Moneydance and many smaller apps still import it; current Quicken for Windows only takes QIF into some account types.
- QBO
- QuickBooks Web Connect. A .qbo file is an OFX bank download that also carries Intuit’s ID for the bank (INTU.BID). QuickBooks Desktop imports it under File › Utilities › Import › Web Connect Files; QuickBooks Online takes it in its Upload transactions screen.