What a QBO file is

A .qbo file is a Web Connect file: the OFX bank download format with an extra Intuit tag identifying the bank. It's what banks offer when you choose "QuickBooks" as the download format. It carries the account number, each transaction's date, amount, payee and a unique ID, and the closing balance. Intuit's help suggests a QBO file as the first choice for uploading transactions to QuickBooks Online, and describes .qbo as the only file type QuickBooks Desktop's Web Connect reads.

When your bank only gives you a PDF statement (older months, a closed account, a bank without a QuickBooks feed), converting it to QBO is the way to bring those transactions in without retyping them.

1. Convert the statement

Drop the PDF statement above. Text PDFs are read in your browser; scans go to the AI reader.
Check the verdict above the rows: every printed running balance and the opening-to-closing total are compared with the transactions read. Fix any highlighted row before going on.
Choose QuickBooks (QBO) to download the .qbo file.

2. Upload it to QuickBooks Online

These are the steps in Intuit's help article on manually uploading transactions:

Go to Bank transactions (under Accounting) and select the tile for the account, if there is one.
Open the Link account ▼ dropdown and choose Upload from file. If the account isn't connected to online banking, you'll see an option to upload transactions manually instead.
Select Drag and drop or select files, choose the .qbo file and select Continue.
Choose the QuickBooks account the statement belongs to and select Continue.
Select the transactions to import, select Continue, then Yes and Done.

The transactions then appear for review in Bank transactions, where you categorise or match them as usual. Intuit's article recommends checking the account's history first so the upload starts at least a day before the oldest transaction already in QuickBooks, which avoids entering transactions twice, and reconciling afterwards. It also limits each upload to 1,000 lines and 350 KB; a single month's statement is far below that.

3. Or import it into QuickBooks Desktop

Go to File → Utilities → Import → Web Connect Files.
Choose the .qbo file.
When asked, pick the existing QuickBooks account to import into, or create a new one, and continue.
Review and add the transactions in Bank Feeds.

Intuit notes that importing Web Connect files requires you to be signed in to your Intuit Account within QuickBooks Desktop, and a supported Desktop version.

Which account the file lands in

Every Web Connect file names the account it belongs to. Tallyrows writes the account number printed on your statement (or the visible digits of a masked one), so each month of the same account carries the same number and two different accounts never share one. When the statement shows no number at all, the file gets a fixed number based on the bank's name. You still choose the QuickBooks account during the import.

Credit card statements are written as credit card files, so import them into a credit card account; purchases arrive as charges and payments as credits.

Limitations

A QBO file names a bank by an Intuit bank ID. Tallyrows uses a general one because your bank's ID isn't printed on its statements. Intuit lists "unable to verify the Financial Institution information" among Web Connect errors in QuickBooks Desktop; if you see it, email us the message and the QuickBooks version, and use the CSV download with QuickBooks Online in the meantime.
QBO files contain dates, payees, amounts and the closing balance. Categories and VAT codes are added in QuickBooks, using bank rules or by hand.
QuickBooks Online can also take a PDF statement directly (Intuit's article covers that too). Converting here first gives you the balance check before anything reaches your books, and the same statement as Excel, OFX or CSV for anything else.

Your first statement is free (every format, up to 30 pages, no sign-up). After that a credit pack is 10 statements for £9 or 50 for £29, with no subscription.

Import a bank statement into QuickBooks