Welcome to the Fit Small Business QuickBooks Online training course! In this lesson, we’re going to cover how to manage downloaded banking transactions (QuickBooks bank feeds) in QuickBooks Online.

You can follow along on your own QuickBooks Online account. If you don’t have one already, click here to sign up for a free 30-day trial and follow along below.

To complete this lesson, you can either watch the video below, read through the step-by-step instructions, or do both. Let’s begin!

Why Is It Important to Manage Downloaded Banking Transactions (Bank Feeds) in QuickBooks Online?

When you import the transactions into QuickBooks, they are un-posted.  This simply means that you need to review them and provide some additional information before they can be added to the register in QuickBooks. In this lesson, we will show you how to review and categorize your transactions so that they can be added to the register and your financial statements.

Understanding the Banking Center Layout

At the top of the Banking Center, you will see all of the bank and credit card accounts that you have set up as indicated below.

1. If the account is linked to your bank account, the top blue portion of the account box will show the bank balance as of the date of the last sync.
2. The bottom portion of the account box displays the current balance in the QuickBooks register and the number of transactions in the For Review tab below.
3. If the account is not linked, it will show $0.00 in the top portion of the box.
4. Similar to the linked account, the bottom portion of the account box displays the current balance in the QuickBooks register and the number of transactions in the For Review tab below.
5. Bank feed transactions are organized into the following three tabs:
   • For Review – this tab will show all of the un-posted transactions.  For example, when you import transactions into QuickBooks, this is where they will appear until you review them and take action.
   • In QuickBooks – this tab will show all of the transactions that have been matched or added to the register in QuickBooks.  
   • Excluded – this tab will show the transactions that have been removed from the For Review tab by you.

How Do I Manage Downloaded Transactions in the Banking Center?

Step 1 – Navigate to the Banking Center

From the Home page, click on Transactions located on the left-hand menu bar and select Banking as indicated below.

Step 2 – Review Transactions Tab

You should begin with the transactions that are located on the For Review transactions tab.  Within this tab, transactions are categorized into two additional tabs:

1. All – this tab will list all transactions (including those on the recognized tab)
2. Recognized – If QuickBooks recognizes a transaction that is already recorded in your register, it will display a green MATCH tag next to the transaction and add it to the Recognized tab as indicated below.  

To add the transaction to the register, just click the Match link located in the Action column indicated below. QuickBooks will add the transaction to the QuickBooks register and include it in your financial statements.

TIP: QuickBooks can also recognize common vendor names and will make suggestions as to which account it should be coded to.  If you accept the suggested account, QuickBooks will change the account for all transactions of that same name.

For example, if you have previously coded Bluehost.com transactions to Advertising (as indicated below) then the next time a Bluehost.com transaction is downloaded QuickBooks will suggest coding it to the Advertising account.   If you accept the suggestion then QuickBooks will categorize all transactions with the Bluehost.com description to the Advertising account.

Step 3 – Add a New Transaction

Click on the transaction that you want to add in the Banking Center.Complete the following fields as indicated below.

1. Select the vendor from the drop down.  If you have not set up the vendor yet, you can do so by clicking Add New from the drop down.  Be sure to watch our video tutorial on Setting up Vendors.
2. Select the account that you want to code the transaction to.
3. Put a brief description in this field of what the expense is for.
4. Click Add to add this transaction to QuickBooks.

Troubleshooting QuickBooks Bank Feeds

When managing downloaded transactions in the Banking Center, a couple issues that you may encounter are:

• Transactions that have already been matched
• Sign-In Error

Transactions Already Matched

Sometimes a transaction has been matched to the wrong transaction in the register.  This can happen for a number of reasons, but usually because the register transactions are for the same amount and fall within the same date range.  To fix this issue, click the In QuickBooks tab in the Banking Center and click Undo next to the transaction as indicated below.

This will return the transaction to the For Review tab where you can match it to the correct transaction.

Sign In Information Error

If you see a red error message in the Banking Center similar to the one below, more than likely your user id or password has changed and you need to update QuickBooks with this information.  Click on the Fix It link as indicated below, and follow the on-screen instructions to update your user id and password.

How to Create Bank Rules

You can reduce the amount of time it takes to code and record transactions in the Banking Center by setting up bank rules.  QuickBooks will use the bank rules that you set up to automatically code transactions to the right account for you. To create bank rules, just follow these steps:

Step 1 – Manage Rules

Click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the Update button & select Manage rules as indicated below.

Step 2 – Click New Rule

Click the New rule button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen as indicated below.

Step 3 – Set Up Conditions for New Rule

Complete the following fields to set up a bank rule.

1. 1. Rule name – Give each rule a name.
   2. For – Select whether the rule applies to Money in (deposits) or Money out (withdrawals).
   3. In – From the drop down, you can select which bank accounts this rule applies to. The default is All bank accounts.
   4. Conditions – You have the option to set the conditions that the transaction must meet for this rule to apply:
      • From the drop down, select all or any
      • From the drop down, you can select bank text, description or amount.
      • From the drop down, you can select contains, is exactly, or doesn’t contain.
      • In this field, you can enter the bank text, description or amount.
   5. Transaction type – Select whether the transaction is an expense, transfer, or check.
   6. Payee – Select the payee (if applicable).
   7. Category – Select the account the transaction should be categorized to.

Wrap Up

That wraps up the section on how to manage downloaded banking transactions (QuickBooks bank feeds) in QuickBooks Online. The next lesson in our QuickBooks Online Training Course will be how to make deposits. In this lesson, we will walk you through how & when to enter bank deposits in QuickBooks Online.

To access this lesson or any of the others in the series, click here.  For a free 30-day trial of QuickBooks Online, click the link below.

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