QBO vs QFX vs OFX vs QIF: which bank import file do you need?

A QBO is a transaction file, not a QuickBooks company backup. Its base structure is OFX plus identifiers used by Intuit. Desktop's Web Connect import is the relevant route; Online also accepts transaction lists and now has a native PDF/image statement route. For an ordinary eligible statement in Online, try that built-in option or the bank's CSV before paying for another conversion.

A converted PDF has no original Web Connect institution identifier. Sonomir's QBO uses Wells Fargo's code, 3000, following that bank's sample file. Your importer may therefore display Wells Fargo even when the statement came from another bank. That label does not connect an account to Wells Fargo or establish that your installed QuickBooks will accept the file. Real QuickBooks imports of Sonomir's files remain untested.

See PDF to QBO for the institution-verification errors and QuickBooks statement import for the Online/Desktop distinction. Intuit's CSV instructions were checked on 7 October 2026; their four-column example puts payments in Credit and deposits in Debit. Choose a preset rather than relying on a familiar column name alone.

QFX is the name used for Quicken Web Connect downloads. Like QBO, it carries institution information in an OFX-based structure. Sonomir writes QBO and QFX using the same underlying Intuit-flavoured writer, with different file extensions and download types. That does not make renaming a generic OFX file a reliable conversion: the extra institution fields still have to exist.

Quicken's Web Connect help says third-party converted QFX files are not supported. A file that looks like a bank download can still be rejected by an importer, and acceptance here has not been tested in Quicken. Inspect the free fictional QFX sample and the import options for your exact platform and version before relying on this route for a long statement.

The PDF to QFX page explains that boundary. QFX is also distinct from QXF, Quicken's separate transfer format: changing one letter in a filename does not turn transactions into an account backup or a migration package. Keep your existing data backed up and review the target account before adding historical records.

OFX describes dated, signed transactions and account information in a structured file. Sonomir's export is the older OFX 1.02 SGML form, rather than an OFX 2 XML document. The writer includes transaction IDs, descriptions and the closing balance when one was read. That structure is different from a CSV's position-based columns and from a whole accounting database.

GnuCash's import manual documents OFX/QFX, QIF and CSV routes. That confirms format support in GnuCash, not an actual import pass for every file Sonomir can generate. Use PDF to OFX and the GnuCash import guide when that is your destination.

Stable IDs help an importer recognise repeated downloads of the same result when it honours those IDs. They do not guarantee a match to an earlier bank-feed entry, another conversion or a renamed source. Use non-overlapping statement periods where possible and inspect duplicate candidates. A converter should preserve two genuinely identical transactions rather than decide that one must be accidental; the matching step belongs in your reviewed import workflow.

QIF is a plain-text transaction list. Sonomir writes a date, signed amount and payee description for each row, with a bank or card account-type header. It does not reconstruct expense categories, attachments or the rest of an accounting file. It also lacks the stable per-transaction IDs used by OFX.

The QIF writer here uses month/day/year with a four-digit year. If an importer asks whether 03/04/2026 is month-first or day-first, choose month-first: it means March 4. Your local spreadsheet display convention is not proof of the format inside the downloaded text. Ambiguous source dates are refused before an accounting export charge; the full CSV and Excel retain printed date wording for review.

Use PDF to QIF when your destination explicitly supports that path. Quicken's current product help and its general support page give different accounts of QIF account restrictions, so confirm what your installed version offers. Do not assume an old walkthrough applies to a newer edition or another platform.

CSV is useful when you want to inspect the fields yourself or your app prefers column mapping. The full transaction CSV is a review table. The QuickBooks Online, Xero and YNAB presets have narrower import columns and their own date conventions. They share one CSV purchase for a converted result; choosing a second layout does not buy the same transactions again.

Xero CSV uses DD/MM/YYYY and a signed Amount, retaining narration in Description without inventing a contact name. YNAB's current help recommends CSV and a preview with field mapping. The YNAB preset writes MM/DD/YYYY with separate Outflow and Inflow, preserving the source description as Payee. Categories remain your review task; the converter does not infer them.

QuickBooks presets are split into files with at most 999 transactions plus a header and no more than 350,000 encoded bytes. Every statement remains a separate accounting CSV, even when several PDFs share one conversion job. Multiple files arrive in a ZIP: unzip them, identify the matching account and import them individually. For spreadsheet review rather than an accounting import, choose bank statement to CSV or Google Sheets.

Before adding records, compare the extracted row count with the statement and inspect dates, descriptions, signs and important amounts. Finish all pages of a partial preview when you need a complete period. A running-balance break is useful evidence of an inconsistency, but matching totals cannot rule out two omitted entries that cancel out or a misread reference number.

That limitation appeared in the 6 October fictional-model evaluation: two photographed payroll descriptions lost a digit while their dates, amounts and all balance checks matched. File-format tests and extraction tests answer different questions, and neither replaces an actual trial-account import. Sonomir's current import test record does not claim a pass inside QuickBooks, Quicken, Xero, YNAB or GnuCash.

If your PDF is locked, use your own password through the password-protected statement workflow; opening the file does not guarantee readable scans. For many months of missing history, follow old statements to Excel. Keep both the reviewed source and the imported-file copy so that a future discrepancy can be traced to the right period and account.