Convert CSV to QBO Free.
In your browser, nothing uploaded.

1. 1Open the free CSV to QBO tool and drop the CSV your bank exported. The delimiter (comma, semicolon or tab) and the header row are detected in your browser; the file is not uploaded.
2. 2Check the column line under the file name: date, description, amount or money out and money in, and balance. Click Change if a column was picked wrongly.
3. 3If every date could be read day-first or month-first, choose one; the table shows what the choice means for the first date. Files with ISO dates or month names skip this.
4. 4Read the balance check when the CSV has a running balance column. Green means each row follows from the previous balance; a red row number says where to look. Statements exported newest-first are put back into date order.
5. 5Set the account type and the last four digits of the account so QuickBooks can match it, then download the .qbo. Xero CSV and Excel are offered on the same page.

A CSV is a flat text table: one line per transaction, fields separated by commas, semicolons or tabs, usually with a header row. Which column holds the date, the description, the amount (or money out and money in) and whether a running balance is present varies by bank, and nothing in the file says which date order it uses. Every spreadsheet and most accounting packages read CSV; QuickBooks Desktop does not.

A .qbo is an OFX 1.x file written for QuickBooks. It carries an INTU.BID header, a sign-on block, one STMTTRN per transaction with DTPOSTED, TRNAMT, FITID, NAME and MEMO, and a LEDGERBAL closing balance. QuickBooks Desktop imports it through Web Connect and checks FID, ORG and INTU.BID against Intuit’s directory; QuickBooks Online uploads it on a bank account and validates the structure without that directory check.