Set up bank rules to categorize online banking transactions in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to use bank rules to automatically categorize transactions from your bank.

When you download transactions from your bank, you need to categorize them so they go into the right accounts. Bank rules speed up this review process.

You can create rules that automatically categorize transactions for you. The more QuickBooks uses your bank rules, the better it gets at categorizing. After a while, it can even scan transactions and add details like payees.

Step 1: Create a bank rule #

1. Go to the Banking menu or Transactions menu. Then select the Rules tab.
2. Select New rule.
3. Enter a name in the What do you want to call this rule? field.
4. From the Apply this to transactions that are ▼ dropdown, select Money in or Money out.
5. From the In ▼ dropdown, select the bank or credit card account.
6. Set the rule conditions. You can set a single rule with up to 5 conditionals. Set and include the following, then select + Add a condition.
7. In the Conditions fields, specify whether the rule applies to Description, Bank text, or Amount. Then select Contains, Doesn’t contain, or Is exactly to decide how Quickbooks applies the rules.
8. Select the settings for the rule. Select the Transaction type, Category, Tags, and the Payee to apply.
9. Select Save.

QuickBooks automatically applies your rules to transactions in the For Review tab. These are the ones you need to review every day.

Step 2: Review recognized transactions #

You can view which downloaded transactions were recognized by a bank rule. While inside your For Review tab, select Recognized From the All transactions ▼ dropdown menu. This will list all transactions that were recognized by any bank rule. You’ll also see a “Rule” label added to the transaction.

If everything looks good, select Add to move the transactions directly into an account in QuickBooks. You can also select and review it before you move it.

Next steps: Set up the auto-add feature #

You can create targeted rules so specific transactions are automatically accepted into your books from the Banking page.
Tip: We recommend starting with easy, consistent transactions like rent or gas expenses first. Once you get the hang of the feature, you can use it to cover more transactions.

1. Follow the steps to create a new bank rule.
2. Select Automatically confirm transactions this rule applies to on the Rules window.
3. Select Save.

After you create an auto-add rule, any transactions on the For Review tab that meet the conditions are automatically added. Auto-add rules run when you log in, upload a file, or create or modify a new auto-add rule.