CSV to IIF Converter for QuickBooks Desktop: Free Download

Edit an IIF template in Excel, or convert the bank CSV

By hand

Paste rows into a sample IIF file

Open an exported or sample .iif, paste the statement below its three ! lines, and save over it.

Excel has no Save As .iif, only saving over a renamed file
Excel rewrites dates and amounts its own way on save
Each transaction needs its TRNS, SPL and ENDTRNS lines typed in

Converted

Load the CSV and get the .iif

Convert CSV to QuickBooks IIF from the file your bank gave you.

Excel never touches the file, so its dates and amounts stay as exported.
Nothing to retype when next month's export arrives

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How to import CSV into QuickBooks Desktop as an IIF file

Download and add your CSV files

Download the CSV to IIF Converter tool, install it on a Windows PC that keeps your bank exports, then click Add files or Add folder. The queue takes .csv, .tsv and .txt tables.

Pick IIF and type the account names

On the Convert to step, click the IIF (QuickBooks Desktop) tile. On the Output step, type the bank account name. The other two names are prefilled for deposits and payments.

Check how the table is read

The Options step holds the settings for reading the file. Leave them on Detect automatically unless the preview puts an amount under Payee or a date in the wrong place. Set the delimiter or date order by hand when it does.

Convert, back up, import

Press the Convert button. It counts the files in the queue and writes the .iif files. Back up the company file, then in QuickBooks Desktop open File > Utilities > Import > IIF Files and choose the result.

Books that still balance after the import

One free IIF converter shared on a forum even ships a separate tool for the moment when, after the import, the account doesn't balance. The IIF format stores each entry in two halves that have to cancel out. If they don't, the register drifts away from what the bank shows. CSV to IIF Converter builds the second half from the same figure, flipped. A 120.00 supplier payment lands as -120.00 on checking and +120.00 on the offset line.

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Account names QuickBooks already knows

A common import error says an account on a distribution line does not exist. QuickBooks matches letter by letter and opens a new account for anything it can't match, which is how one checking account ends up in the chart twice. The program asks for three account names. That is all. One is your bank. The other two take deposits and payments and come prefilled as Uncategorized Income and Uncategorized Expenses, so first import works before you sort out a single category.

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What goes from your CSV into the IIF file

Read from the CSV4
Written to the .iif4

Date

A date column under any of the usual bank labels, from Transaction date to Value date.

Amount

One signed amount column, or a pair of columns for outgoing and incoming sums, under common names like Debit and Credit or Withdrawal and Deposit.

Description and memo

The payee or description column becomes the memo text. A separate memo or reference column is added after a dash.

Check number and category

Check no or Doc num fills DOCNUM. A Category column, if the bank has one, overrides the standard offset for that row.

Left out of the .iif

Currency, running balances and class are left out. Import each file once because repeating the import adds the same transactions again.

!ACCNT

Types the accounts first: BANK for yours, income and expense for the two defaults. Skip it and the defaults open as extra bank registers. CSV categories get no type here.

TRNS

First line of the pair: the statement amount as is, plus check number and memo.

SPL

The offsetting account of the same transaction.

ENDTRNS

Closes the pair. TRNSID is left empty.

Left out of the .iif

Currency, running balances and class are left out. Import each file once because repeating the import adds the same transactions again.

What happens when you convert CSV to QuickBooks IIF

Finds the columns itself

Many banks put account details above the table. CSV to IIF Converter skips that preamble, finds the header row and keeps the account number there. Column headers are recognised in four languages. Without a header, the program judges each column by its contents.

Signs QuickBooks reads right

Card exports often show charges without a minus. When a Type column, or one headed Debit or Credit, gives the direction, the program restores the sign. A Debit column counts as spent, and (1,234.56) reads as negative. Rows become CHECK, DEPOSIT or TRANSFER, and CREDIT CARD or CCARD REFUND when the header marks the account as a credit card.

Dates in your Windows order

QuickBooks reads the IIF DATE field in the short date format of its Windows PC. The program takes the month-first or day-first order from the regional settings of the PC it runs on, usually the one with QuickBooks. It applies one order to the whole CSV date column, so 03/04/2026 cannot mean March in one row and April in the next.

Name list left alone

By default NAME stays blank and the bank's wording goes to MEMO, so 3,000 statement lines do not become 3,000 names in QuickBooks. One switch copies it into NAME as well, cuts it to 41 characters and swaps colons for dashes. A colon would make QuickBooks create a job under a customer.

A year of statements in one run

Add a folder of monthly exports and each CSV comes out as an .iif of the same name. Turn on Merge to join them into one file. Exports from two banks or two cards keep their own registers. Total lines and repeated headers are dropped, empty files are skipped and counted in report.

PDF and QBO in the same program

IIF is one of three outputs. The same download prints a statement as a paged PDF table with the header repeated on each page, the job that gave CSV to PDF Converter its name. It also writes .qbo Web Connect files.

Who needs CSV to IIF Converter Tool

For owners on an old QuickBooks Desktop

Your copy of QuickBooks Desktop is too old for the bank's Web Connect download, so the .qbo is refused and you type the statement in. The plain CSV export is still there next to it, and that is what you feed the converter.

For bookkeepers with Desktop clients

Clients send exports from different banks, columns and date orders. You keep a short list of names from each client's chart and import into that client's company file. When a client mails you an IIF to look over, IIF to CSV Converter opens it as a spreadsheet.

For accountants clearing a backlog

A client who stopped bookkeeping in March may bring eight months of bank downloads on a USB stick. Run them through the queue and import them. Lines without a category wait in the two default accounts, making sorting easier later in QuickBooks while you reclassify the whole register.

What the trial does and what a license adds

The trial is a CSV to IIF converter free to try on a test file from your own bank.

On your bank CSV	Trial	With a license
Transactions written per output file	20	All of them
IIF, QBO and PDF outputs	✓	✓
Folders in the queue and Merge	✓	✓
Reminder window after each conversion	✓	✗
A trial .iif carries no watermark. It stops after 20 transactions, and with Merge on the limit counts across the joined file.	Download	Buy now From $ 29.99

Buy now

From $ 29.99

Download

A trial .iif carries no watermark. It stops after 20 transactions, and with Merge on the limit counts across the joined file.

CSV to PDF Converter

Price

from $ 29.99

Version

1.5

File Size

9 Mb

Last updated on

13/09/26

Trial: the first 20 transactions of each file, all three formats

System Requirements

Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 (32/64 bit)
Intel i3, AMD Ryzen 5 or above
4 GB of RAM or above
NVIDIA® GeForce® series 8 and 8M, Intel® HD Graphics 2000, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX 5600, AMD Radeon™ R600, Mobility Radeon™ HD 4330, Mobility FirePro™ series, Radeon™ R5 M230 or higher graphics card with up-to-date drivers
1280 × 768 screen resolution, 32-bit color
1 GB of free hard disk space or above

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I convert a CSV file to IIF?

Add the CSV to the program, choose IIF (QuickBooks Desktop) as the output, type your bank account name the way QuickBooks spells it and press Convert. The trial converts the first 20 transactions, enough to test one import on your own data.

What is an IIF file?

IIF stands for Intuit Interchange Format: tab-delimited text that QuickBooks Desktop imports and exports. Lines that start with an exclamation mark, such as !TRNS and !SPL, name the columns of the rows below them. Each field is explained on the page about the IIF format in QuickBooks.

How do I open an IIF file?

An IIF file is plain text, so Notepad shows its raw tab-separated lines. QuickBooks Desktop imports an .iif into the company file. To read it as rows and columns, convert it from IIF to CSV.

How do I import an IIF file into QuickBooks Desktop?

Back up the company file first. Then go to File > Utilities > Import > IIF Files, select the .iif and confirm. Intuit rebuilt this import in Desktop 2019, so the screens after that step depend on your version.

How do I turn an Excel file into an IIF file?

Save the sheet as CSV and convert that file. The program does not open Excel workbooks. In Excel use Save As, pick CSV (Comma delimited) and keep one header row above the transactions. Do not save over an .iif from Excel because it reformats dates and numbers as it writes.

How do I import a bank CSV into QuickBooks Desktop?

The bank import in QuickBooks Desktop takes Web Connect .qbo files, not CSV. If your version accepts .qbo, convert to that. If it is too old for Web Connect, convert the CSV to IIF and bring it in through the IIF import menu instead.

Why does QuickBooks say the account does not exist during an IIF import?

The name in the file is not identical to the one in your chart of accounts: a space, a capital letter or a missing parent account is enough. Copy the name straight from the chart. For a sub-account, give the full path with a colon, the way QuickBooks lists it, for example Checking:Payroll.

Why are the dates wrong after the import?

QuickBooks takes IIF dates in whatever order its own PC uses, so 03/04 can turn into April 3 on a machine set to day first. Set Date order in the IIF file to match the computer QuickBooks runs on, which may not be the one you convert on.

Can QuickBooks Online import an IIF file?

No, QuickBooks Online will not import it, because the IIF format belongs to QuickBooks Desktop. For QuickBooks Online the same program writes .qbo instead. The page on how to make a QBO file from a bank CSV covers that route.

Download CSV to IIF Converter for QuickBooks Desktop Import

Edit an IIF template in Excel, or convert the bank CSV

Paste rows into a sample IIF file

Load the CSV and get the .iif

How to import CSV into QuickBooks Desktop as an IIF file

Download and add your CSV files

Pick IIF and type the account names

Check how the table is read

Convert, back up, import

Books that still balance after the import

Account names QuickBooks already knows

What goes from your CSV into the IIF file

Date

Amount

Description and memo

Check number and category

Left out of the .iif

!ACCNT

TRNS

SPL

ENDTRNS

Left out of the .iif

What happens when you convert CSV to QuickBooks IIF

Finds the columns itself

Signs QuickBooks reads right

Dates in your Windows order

Name list left alone

A year of statements in one run

PDF and QBO in the same program

Who needs CSV to IIF Converter Tool

For owners on an old QuickBooks Desktop

For bookkeepers with Desktop clients

For accountants clearing a backlog

What the trial does and what a license adds

Frequently Asked Questions

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