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What is a QFX file?

The file your bank gives you when you choose “Quicken Web Connect”. What it holds, why Quicken is picky about it, and how to read one without Quicken.

By Zishan Khan · Last checked · Sources

Short answer

A QFX file is a bank download made for Quicken. Your bank creates it when you choose “Quicken” or “Web Connect” as the download format. Inside is a list of transactions with dates, amounts, payees and the bank’s ID for each one, plus an ID for the bank itself, which Quicken checks before it accepts the file. You import it in Quicken with File › File Import › Web Connect File, or convert it to Excel to read it.

Extension
.qfx
Official name
Quicken Web Connect
Made for
Quicken, Windows and Mac
Inside
Plain text (OFX)

What’s inside a QFX file

QFX is the open OFX format with one addition from Intuit, the company that made Quicken: a bank ID. Everything else is standard OFX. Open a QFX in a text editor and you will see tags like these:

sample-transactions.qfxOpened as plain text

  1. OFXHEADER:100
  2. DATA:OFXSGML
  3. VERSION:102
  4. … six more header lines …
  5. <OFX>
  6. <SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
  7. <SONRS>
  8. … a status code and the time the file was made …
  9. <FI>
  10. 1<ORG>Sample Bank
  11. <FID>3000
  12. </FI>
  13. 2<INTU.BID>3000
  14. </SONRS>
  15. </SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
  16. … the account number and the date range …
  17. <STMTTRN>
  18. 3<TRNTYPE>CREDIT
  19. <DTPOSTED>20260901120000
  20. <TRNAMT>4200.00
  21. 4<FITID>202609013453df0ac8211582
  22. <NAME>ACME LTD PAYROLL SEP REF 88213
  23. </STMTTRN>
  24. … seven more transactions, then the closing balance …
  25. </OFX>
  1. The sign-on block: who sent the file. A real download names your bank here.
  2. Intuit’s bank ID. This is what makes the file a QFX, and it is the line Quicken checks first: the ID has to be on Quicken’s list of financial institutions. Ours carries 3000, the ID most converters use, which is Wells Fargo’s.
  3. Money in. Each transaction says whether it is a credit or a debit, and the amount carries the sign as well.
  4. The FITID, the bank’s own ID for this transaction. Quicken uses it to match each download to transactions already in your register, so importing the same file again adds nothing.
Made by our converter from the demo statement on our home page. A bank’s file names the bank and uses its own IDs.

A QFX covers one account and one date range. It doesn’t carry categories, tags or notes; you add those in Quicken after the transactions arrive.

Why Quicken refuses some QFX files

Plain OFX is free for anyone to use. QFX is Intuit’s version of it, and banks pay a licensing fee to have their QFX files accepted by Quicken. That is what the bank ID inside the file is for. When you import, Quicken looks the ID up, and if the bank isn’t on its list you get a message that Quicken is “unable to verify the financial institution information for this download”.

Quicken also needs two things on your side before a QFX will go in:

  • An active Quicken subscription. An expired one stops Web Connect imports.
  • An internet connection. Quicken’s help says Web Connect files need its online services to validate the file and its transactions.

If an import fails for one of these reasons, the file itself is usually fine. Check the subscription and the connection first, then try the import again.

Where QFX files come from

In online banking, open the account’s transactions, choose Download or Export, and look for “Quicken”, “Quicken Web Connect” or “.qfx” in the list of formats. Many banks list the QuickBooks version (.qbo) right next to it.

No QFX option? Make one from what your bank does give you:

How to open a QFX file

Quicken for Windows

File › File Import › Web Connect File, pick the file, then link it to your existing account (or name a new one) and review the downloaded transactions.

Quicken for Mac

File › Import › Bank or Brokerage File. The Mac version also takes plain OFX files here.

QuickBooks Online

It accepts QFX as well as QBO: Bank transactions › Link account › Upload from file. Step by step.

Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets

None of them read QFX as a table. Convert it below and open the spreadsheet you get.

Read a QFX file here, in your browser

Drop the .qfx file in the box to get an Excel file with every transaction: date, payee, memo and amount in their own columns. The file is read on your computer and never uploaded.

No file to hand?

QFX or QIF: which should you import into Quicken?

Quicken reads two kinds of transaction file. QIF is the older one, and Quicken for Windows takes it into any kind of account again in current versions. QFX is still the better choice for a bank or card account, for two reasons:

  • No doubles. Every transaction in a QFX has the bank’s ID, so Quicken skips what it already has. A QIF has no IDs: import the same months twice and you get every transaction twice.
  • A review step. QFX transactions arrive as downloads you accept or match. QIF transactions go straight into the register.

QIF is still handy for moving old history between programs. Quicken suggests backing up your data before any QIF import.

QFX compared with the other formats

The five bank-download formats
FormatMade forInsideBank’s ID per transactionWhere it lands
QBOQuickBooks Online and DesktopOFX plus Intuit’s bank IDYesBank feed, to review
QFXQuickenOFX plus Intuit’s bank IDYesQuicken’s downloads, to review
OFXXero, Sage, MYOB, GnuCash and most othersTagged text, an open standardYesThe app’s import screen
QIFQuicken, GnuCash, Banktivity, older appsOne field per lineNoStraight into the register
IIFQuickBooks Desktop onlyTab-separated rowsNoStraight into the books

The bank’s ID on each transaction is what lets software skip transactions it already has. Without it, importing the same file twice means doubles.

If you use QuickBooks rather than Quicken, the same data comes as a QBO file. Our QFX to QBO converter swaps one for the other and keeps every transaction ID.

Questions

Is a QFX file the same as a QBO file?

Underneath, yes. Both are OFX files with Intuit’s bank ID added. QuickBooks looks for the .qbo name and Quicken for .qfx. In the files our converter writes, the two are identical line for line; only the extension differs.

Why does Quicken say it can’t verify the financial institution?

Quicken checks the bank ID inside every QFX file against its own list, and it also needs an active subscription and an internet connection to validate the file. If the bank isn’t on the list, the subscription has lapsed, or Quicken can’t reach its servers, the import stops.

Can I open a QFX file without Quicken?

Yes. It is plain text, so Notepad or TextEdit will show the raw tags. To read it as a table, convert it to Excel or CSV. QuickBooks Online also takes QFX files through Upload from file.

Can Quicken import a plain OFX file?

Quicken for Windows says it can’t: its help lists OFX among the file types it won’t import. Quicken for Mac imports both OFX and QFX through File, Import, Bank or Brokerage File. For Windows, convert the OFX to QFX first.

My bank only gives me a PDF statement. Can I make a QFX from it?

Yes. A bank statement to QFX converter reads the PDF and writes the transactions as a QFX. Ours checks every row against the statement’s balances before you download, and the PDF stays on your computer.

How do I get QFX into QuickBooks Desktop?

QuickBooks Desktop imports Web Connect files named .qbo. Converting QFX to QBO keeps every transaction and its bank ID, so QuickBooks still skips the ones it already has.

Sources

Read on 6 October 2026. Software changes its menus often; if a step here no longer matches what you see, please tell us at hello@safebankstatementconverter.com and we will fix it.

  1. Quicken: How do I import data into Quicken for Windows?
  2. Quicken: Web Connect troubleshooting
  3. Quicken: Importing data from a QIF file (current versions)
  4. Wikipedia: QFX (file format)
  5. Intuit: Manually upload transactions into QuickBooks Online
  6. Financial Data Exchange: OFX Work Group

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