Import a bank statement into QuickBooks Online South Africa

QuickBooks Online in South Africa takes a bank file of a limited size, and CSV is among the file types its help lists. ExtractPro can write one from a PDF statement. What follows covers the limits on size and lines, the two column shapes, the rule on descriptions, the date order QuickBooks recommends, the upload step, and the ExtractPro options that give a file of three columns.

The file QuickBooks Online asks for

The help article on uploading transactions manually begins “Your upload file must be in English and 350 KB or less. We suggest a QuickBooks Online data (QBO) file. You can also upload Comma-separated values (CSV) files.” On the columns it says “Each file needs either 3 (Date, Description, Amount) or 4 (Date, Description, Credit, and Debit) columns.” Source: QuickBooks Online South Africa help, manually upload transactions, quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-za/help-article/import-transactions/manually-upload-transactions-quickbooks-online/L0rE9OXBz_ZA_en_ZA, accessed 11 October 2026.

Descriptions, dates and the number of lines

Three more rules in the same article touch a bank statement. For descriptions, “Remove numbers from cells in the Description column.” For dates, “Enter all Dates in the same format. We recommend dd/mm/yyyy format.” And on lines, “Follow these steps if you'd like to upload your bank statement from these file types: .csv, .txt, .qbo, or .ofx. You can include up to 1,000 lines per upload.” Whatever a statement’s descriptions contain, read the Description column of the CSV against the first rule, and count its lines against the last, before you upload. Source: QuickBooks Online South Africa help, manually upload transactions, quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-za/help-article/import-transactions/manually-upload-transactions-quickbooks-online/L0rE9OXBz_ZA_en_ZA, accessed 11 October 2026.

The banks QuickBooks lists for feeds

A bank feed is a different route from a file. QuickBooks Online South Africa’s page on bank feeds says “List of banks available include ABSA Bank, First National Bank, Investec, Nedbank, Standard Bank, and more to come.” The file route in this guide is for a statement that you hold as a PDF. Source: QuickBooks Online South Africa, bank feeds, quickbooks.intuit.com/za/bank-feeds/, accessed 11 October 2026.

Setting the ExtractPro options

These options write every line with a date, a description and a single amount, the three fields QuickBooks names for its 3-column shape. In ExtractPro:

1. 1Open Output format, pick See more formats or customise, then select Custom.
2. 2Under File type, select CSV.
3. 3For Date format, select DD/MM/YYYY (15/01/2026), the dd/mm/yyyy order that QuickBooks recommends.
4. 4Under Amounts, select Single column (signed), so that all amounts sit in the one column.
5. 5Under Include balance, leave Add Balance column unticked, and leave Categories unticked too; a line is then a date, a description and an amount.
6. 6Choose Comma (,) for CSV separator and Decimal point, no separator (1234.56) for Number format.
7. 7Select Apply format and download the CSV.

Uploading the file

The final step in the article reads “Select the Link account ▼ dropdown, then select Upload from file.” Stay inside the size and line limits quoted earlier, and lay the CSV beside the original statement beforehand so the transactions can be matched one for one. When QuickBooks has the lines, check them against the statement again. Source: QuickBooks Online South Africa help, manually upload transactions, quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-za/help-article/import-transactions/manually-upload-transactions-quickbooks-online/L0rE9OXBz_ZA_en_ZA, accessed 11 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

The questions that come up most: