# Import IIF File into QuickBooks Desktop Safely - Author: SimpleBankConvert (https://simplebankconvert.com) - Published: 2026-10-17 - Category: QuickBooks Desktop imports - Canonical: https://simplebankconvert.com/blog/import-iif-file-into-quickbooks-desktop > How to import an IIF file into QuickBooks Desktop: back up first, run the import, read the results and undo the damage if the IIF file was laid out wrong. To import an IIF file into QuickBooks Desktop, back up the company file, then choose File > Utilities > Import > IIF Files, pick the file and let QuickBooks scan it. Read the results window, which counts what came in and what failed. If the file was wrong, restore the backup, because an import cannot be reversed. ## Backing up the company file before an IIF import A backup is the only undo an IIF import has. QuickBooks Desktop posts every line in the file straight into the books, and Intuit's guide to [importing and exporting data in QuickBooks Desktop](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/import-export-data-files/import-export-data-quickbooks-desktop/L9KS42UxP_US_en_US) says plainly that you cannot undo an import. Make the backup minutes before you import, not the night before. A backup made the previous evening is better than none, but it forces a choice later. If the import goes wrong at 3 p.m., restoring last night's file also throws away every invoice, payment and bill entered during the day. A fresh backup taken just before the import means a restore costs you nothing but the import itself. ### Which backup to make Use the local backup that Desktop offers from the File menu (File > Back Up Company > Create Local Backup). It writes a single .QBB file that you can restore later. Save it somewhere you will find again, and put the date and the word "pre-IIF" in the file name, for example `ExampleBakery-2026-03-14-pre-IIF.QBB`. A cloud backup service that runs on a schedule is not a substitute, because you cannot be sure which moment it captured. ### Who else is in the file? If several people use the company file, ask them to stop entering work while you back up and import. Anything they save between your backup and a restore will be lost. On a busy file, an early-morning or end-of-day import avoids that problem. ## Running the IIF import from the Desktop File menu The import lives under File > Utilities > Import > IIF Files in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows. Choose the file, then pick the option that reviews the data first. The company file must already hold the accounts and names the file refers to. ### What an IIF file looks like An IIF file is plain text with tab-separated columns. Intuit's [IIF overview and Import Kit page](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/list-management/iif-overview-import-kit-sample-files-headers/L5CZIpJne_US_en_US) explains that a transaction file normally has three header rows starting with `!TRNS`, `!SPL` and `!ENDTRNS`, and that their spelling and placement must be exact. Below the headers, each transaction is a `TRNS` line, one or more `SPL` lines and a closing `ENDTRNS`. Here is an illustrative check for one supply purchase. The account names, payee and amount are examples, and the columns should be compared with Intuit's own sample check file before you use this layout: ``` !TRNS TRNSTYPE DATE ACCNT NAME AMOUNT DOCNUM MEMO !SPL TRNSTYPE DATE ACCNT NAME AMOUNT DOCNUM MEMO !ENDTRNS TRNS CHECK 03/14/2026 Business Checking Example Paper Supply -412.80 1042 Copier paper SPL CHECK 03/14/2026 Office Supplies Example Paper Supply 412.80 1042 Copier paper ENDTRNS ``` The `TRNS` line hits the bank account and the `SPL` line hits the expense account. Their amounts are equal and opposite, so the transaction balances. A file where the two sides do not add to zero is a file that should not be imported. ### A pre-import checklist Run through these points with the file open in a spreadsheet before you go to the File menu: 1. The three header rows are present, spelled exactly, and sit above the data. 2. Every name in the account column already exists in the chart of accounts, spelled the same way. 3. Every payee in the name column exists as a vendor, customer or other name. 4. Each transaction's lines add up to zero. 5. Dates are in the format your copy of QuickBooks uses, with four-digit years. 6. The file is saved as tab-delimited text with the .iif extension, not as .xlsx or .csv. 7. A fresh backup exists, as described in the previous section. ### Choosing the reviewed import Intuit's page on the [improved IIF import in QuickBooks Desktop 2019 and later](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/import-export-data-files/improved-iif-import-quickbooks-2019-later/L1K3ZQDX9_US_en_US) describes a scan that checks the file for errors before anything is posted. It also offers an "Import it for me. I'll fix it later" choice, which skips that review and needs single-user mode. Intuit does not recommend it, and neither do we. Take the reviewed route every time. ## What does the IIF import results window tell you? The results window in QuickBooks Desktop reports how many transactions came in and how many failed. In Desktop 2019 and later, failed lines are written to a new IIF file along with a description of each error, so you can fix and re-import only the rejects. You then choose to review now, open the folder or close. ### Reading the two counts Compare both numbers with the file. If your file held 40 transactions and the window says 38 imported and 2 failed, you have 2 to fix and nothing to restore. If it says 40 imported but you expected 20, something in the file repeated, and the books now hold the extras. The counts are only useful if you knew the expected total before you started, so write it down during the checklist. ### Working from the error file Open the error file in a spreadsheet. Each failed transaction appears with a note on why it was refused, such as a missing account or a bad date. Fix the cause, save the file as tab-delimited text again and import just that file. Do not re-import the original, because the transactions that already succeeded would come in a second time. ### When the window says everything worked A clean result proves the file was readable. It does not prove the file was right. The overview page warns that IIF import does only limited error checking, and that a badly formatted file can import data incorrectly with no error message. Open the bank register and one or two expense accounts and look at the new lines before you call the job done. ## Why did the IIF file create new bank accounts? An IIF line that names an account the company file does not have will not be refused. According to Intuit's IIF overview, QuickBooks creates that account as a new bank account. A typo such as "Office Suplies" therefore becomes a bank account holding expenses, and the real Office Supplies account stays short. This is the most common way a "successful" import goes wrong, and it is easy to spot once you know to look. Open the chart of accounts straight after the import and sort by type. Any bank account you do not recognise, usually with a name close to a real expense or income account, came from the file. ### Fixing the stray accounts If only a handful of lines went to a stray account, you can edit those transactions to point at the right account and then delete the empty stray. If many lines went astray, restore the backup, correct the names in the file and import again. Editing dozens of transactions by hand takes longer than a restore and leaves more room for a new slip. ### Preventing it next time Export the chart of accounts from the target company file (File > Utilities > Export > Lists to IIF Files) and copy account names from that export into your file. The names then match character for character, including colons in sub-account names such as `Utilities:Electric`. Do the same for vendor and customer names, which live in their own lists and should match just as exactly. ## Restoring the backup after a bad IIF import Restoring the pre-import backup in QuickBooks Desktop puts the company file back exactly as it was before the IIF file touched it. Choose File > Open or Restore Company, pick "Restore a backup copy", select the .QBB file and save it over the current company file. Then fix the IIF file and import again. ### Decide quickly The longer you wait, the more a restore costs. Each sale or payment entered after the import has to be re-entered once the backup is restored. When the results window or a glance at the register shows a real problem, stop work in the file and restore before anyone adds more. ### When a restore is not possible Sometimes there is no recent backup, or other people have done a day's work since. Then the fix is manual. Run a report filtered to the import date (the Transaction List by Date report works well) to list what came in, and delete or edit those lines one by one. Keep a printed copy of that report so you can tick off each line as you correct it. ### Check before you import again Before the second attempt, run the corrected file through the pre-import checklist again, point by point. Then take another backup, because the restored file is now your new starting point and deserves its own safety copy. ## When is an IIF file the wrong tool for bank statement lines? An IIF file is the wrong tool when the goal is to get bank statement lines into a bank register so they can be matched and reconciled. IIF posts finished transactions with no review screen for matching. For bank lines, a Web Connect (QBO) file or Desktop's batch entry suits the job better. An IIF import cannot tell that a check you typed last week is the same check the file is bringing in. It simply adds a second copy. A Web Connect file goes through the Bank Feeds review, where QuickBooks offers to match downloaded lines to what is already in the register. For statements that only exist as PDFs, [importing PDF bank statements into QuickBooks Desktop](/blog/how-to-import-pdf-bank-statements-into-quickbooks-desktop) walks through turning each PDF into a QBO file and checking the balance month by month. [SimpleBankConvert](/) is being built to make that PDF-to-QBO step a single upload, and the [Get started](/get-started) page lists you for early access. ### Where IIF still earns its place IIF remains useful for things Web Connect cannot carry: transactions with splits across several accounts, transfers between accounts, and lists such as vendors or the chart of accounts. A run of checks with check numbers and payees is another reasonable use, covered in [importing checks into QuickBooks Desktop with their numbers](/blog/import-checks-into-quickbooks-desktop). ### Batch entry as a middle path Desktop Accountant and Enterprise can paste rows from a spreadsheet into a grid and save them as checks, deposits or card charges. You see every line before it posts, which IIF does not offer. [Batch entering transactions in QuickBooks Desktop](/blog/batch-enter-transactions-in-quickbooks-desktop) shows the grid and which editions include it. ### If you are moving to Online IIF files do not work in QuickBooks Online at all. If the reason you are reshaping files is a move to a new bank or a new product, [switching banks in QuickBooks Online without a gap](/blog/switch-banks-in-quickbooks-online) covers the bank side of that change.