GUIDE · BANK FILE FORMATS
What is a QFX file?
The QFX file format, line by line.
A QFX file is a bank or credit card download made for Quicken, which calls it Web Connect. It is plain OFX text: a header, a sign-on block with Intuit’s INTU.BID bank code, and one STMTTRN record per transaction with its date, amount, payee and FITID. ZeraBooks doesn’t read or make QFX files; it converts PDF statements to CSV.
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What does a QFX file look like inside?
Open a QFX file in Notepad or TextEdit and this is roughly what you see. The bank, account and payees here are invented. The file uses the older OFX 1.x style, where a single value has no closing tag. For the XML style and the history of the standard, see what is an OFX file.
| Line in the file | What it tells Quicken |
|---|---|
| OFXHEADER:100 | The header starts. 100 is the old header style, one setting per line, before any tags. |
| DATA:OFXSGML · VERSION:102 | The body is SGML, written to OFX version 1.0.2. |
| SECURITY:NONE · ENCODING:USASCII · CHARSET:1252 · COMPRESSION:NONE · OLDFILEUID:NONE · NEWFILEUID:NONE | The rest of the header: encryption, text encoding, character set, compression and file IDs. |
| <SONRS> … <DTSERVER>20261001083015.000[-4:EDT] | Sign-on response. The time the bank built the file, here 8:30 am Eastern on October 1, 2026. |
| <FI><ORG>Harborview Bank<FID>3101</FI> | The bank’s name and its ID as an OFX institution. |
| <INTU.BID>3101 | Intuit’s ID for the bank. This tag is what turns an OFX file into a QFX. Quicken checks it against its list of participating banks. |
| <CURDEF>USD | Every amount below is in U.S. dollars. |
| <BANKID>123456789 · <ACCTID>4410029981 · <ACCTTYPE>CHECKING | Routing number, account number and account type. Quicken uses the account number to send the file to the right account. |
| <BANKTRANLIST><DTSTART>20260901<DTEND>20260930 | The date range the download covers. |
| <STMTTRN><TRNTYPE>DEBIT | A transaction starts. DEBIT is a label; the sign of the amount decides whether money left or arrived. |
| <DTPOSTED>20260903120000.000[-4:EDT] | Posted September 3, 2026, at noon Eastern. |
| <TRNAMT>-48.20 | Money out is negative. |
| <FITID>20260903-000187 | The bank’s own ID for this transaction on this account. See the next section. |
| <NAME>CITY WATER UTILITY | Payee, cut to 32 characters at most. |
| <MEMO>WEB PMT CONF 88412</STMTTRN> | Extra detail from the bank. The transaction ends. |
| <STMTTRN><TRNTYPE>CREDIT<DTPOSTED>20260905120000.000[-4:EDT]<TRNAMT>2150.00<FITID>20260905-000044<NAME>ACH DEPOSIT HALLORAN CO</STMTTRN> | A second transaction: a $2,150 deposit, positive because money came in. |
| <LEDGERBAL><BALAMT>6312.45<DTASOF>20260930 | The ledger balance at the end of the range. This is the number Quicken compares with its own register. |
| <AVAILBAL><BALAMT>6012.45<DTASOF>20260930 | Available balance: what the bank says can be spent on that date. |
There is no opening balance anywhere in the file. A QFX download carries the transactions and the balance at the end, so it can’t prove on its own that nothing is missing between two downloads. A PDF statement prints both the opening and the closing balance.
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DUPLICATES
How does the FITID stop duplicate transactions?
Every transaction in a QFX file has a FITID, a code the bank assigns that must be unique within that account. Quicken keeps the FITIDs it has already imported. When you download September 1 to 30 and later download September 15 to October 15, the overlapping two weeks come in again, and Quicken skips every transaction whose FITID it has seen.
The OFX standard lets a FITID run to 255 characters and doesn’t require it to be in order, so a bank can use whatever scheme it likes. It only has to stay the same for the same transaction. When a bank changes its systems and starts issuing new FITIDs for old transactions, the next overlapping download can bring them in twice, and the duplicates have to be deleted by hand.
A CSV download has no FITID or anything like it. Software that imports a CSV can only guess at duplicates from the date, amount and description, which is why two identical $4.50 coffees on the same day can trip it up.
HISTORY LIMITS
Why can you only download about 90 days as QFX?
The limit comes from the bank, not the format. The OFX standard lets software ask for all available history, and the bank decides how much it serves. Many banks offer only the last 90 days or so through Web Connect, and some offer less. Quicken’s own community moderators give the same answer when users ask why older months won’t download.
Older months usually still exist as PDF statements. Most U.S. banks keep 2 to 7 years of statements online; our guide to downloading statements from any bank shows where to find them. If what you need is those older months as rows in a spreadsheet, convert the bank statement to CSV from the PDF instead. ZeraBooks Convert reads the PDF and checks every account against the opening and closing balances the bank printed.
OPENING ONE
How do you open a QFX file?
A QFX file is meant to be imported, not opened like a document. These programs take one as it is.
Quicken
File › File Import › Web Connect (.QFX) File. Quicken matches the file to an account by its account number and asks which account to use the first time.
QuickBooks Online
The upload-from-file option in bank transactions accepts QFX, QBO, OFX and CSV files. For the QuickBooks flavour of the same file, see PDF to QuickBooks.
YNAB and GnuCash
Both import QFX directly. GnuCash lists it under its OFX/QFX import and remembers which account a file belongs to after the first time.
A text editor
Notepad or TextEdit shows the raw tags, which is the quickest way to check the date range, account number or balance in a file. Close it without saving; an edited file may no longer import.
Excel
Excel has no QFX import. Opened as text, each tag lands on its own line rather than in columns, so it isn’t a practical way to get a transaction list.
SIDE BY SIDE
QFX vs OFX vs QBO vs CSV: what’s the difference?
QFX and QBO are both OFX files with Intuit’s tags added; the difference is which Intuit program they are made for.
| QFX | OFX | QBO | CSV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made for | Quicken (Web Connect) | Any money or accounting program | QuickBooks (Web Connect) | Spreadsheets and most accounting imports |
| Inside the file | OFX plus INTU.BID | Tagged text, SGML or XML | OFX plus INTU.BID | Rows and columns separated by commas |
| Who sets the layout | Intuit, on top of the OFX standard | The OFX standard | Intuit, on top of the OFX standard | Each bank, differently |
| Unique ID per transaction | Yes, FITID | Yes, FITID | Yes, FITID | No |
| Balance included | Ledger and available balance at the end | Ledger and available balance at the end | Ledger and available balance at the end | Rarely; at most a running balance column |
| Readable in Excel | No | No (2.x XML only with effort) | No | Yes |
| ZeraBooks Convert makes it | No | No | No | Yes, from a PDF statement |
ZeraBooks Convert reads PDF statements and downloads CSV or Excel in fixed layouts, including a QuickBooks-ready CSV; the download formats list every column.
Is a QFX file the same as an OFX file?
Almost. A QFX file is an OFX file with Intuit’s tags added, mainly INTU.BID. Most programs that read OFX also read QFX, but Quicken looks for the Intuit tags and expects the bank to be one it supports.
Why does Quicken say my QFX file is from an unsupported bank?
Quicken checks the INTU.BID in the file against the banks that take part in Web Connect. If the bank isn’t on that list, or the file has no INTU.BID, Quicken can refuse it even when the transactions inside are fine. Ask the bank whether it still supports Quicken downloads.
Does a QFX file include the opening balance?
No. It carries the transactions for the date range and the ledger and available balances at the end. To prove a month is complete you need both ends, which a PDF statement prints.
Can I convert a QFX file to Excel or CSV?
Not with ZeraBooks: Convert reads PDFs only. If you can get the PDF statement for the same months, ZeraBooks Convert turns it into CSV or Excel and checks it against the printed balances, which also gets around the 90-day download limit.
Can ZeraBooks make a QFX file from a PDF statement?
No. ZeraBooks makes CSV and Excel only, never QFX, OFX or QBO files, and it doesn’t connect to Quicken. If Quicken needs a real QFX file, ProperSoft and DocuClipper make them; our ProperSoft alternative page compares the two honestly.
Can I keep the books from my statements instead of using Quicken?
Yes. ZeraBooks AI bookkeeping reads PDF or CSV statements in the General Ledger and reconciles each month to the printed balances. It doesn’t import QFX files and has no bank feed.
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Have the PDF statements?
Get the transactions as CSV.
ZeraBooks Convert reads the PDF, checks every account against the printed balances and downloads CSV or Excel. 7-day trial, then $79 a month billed annually; see ZeraBooks pricing.
Last updated October 14, 2026 · Written by Damin Mutti, founder of ZeraBooks