Converting a Bank of America checking statement

PaperRows reads Bank of America statements for personal and small business checking. This page explains how to download the right file, how Bank of America's layout turns into rows, and what to do if a file is refused.

PaperRows is independent and is not connected with Bank of America. Menu names on bankofamerica.com change now and then, so look for the closest match if something below reads differently.

1. Get the right PDF

1. Sign in at bankofamerica.com on a computer.
2. Click the checking account you want.
3. Open the Statements & Documents tab for that account.
4. Choose the statement month from the list, then click Download (or open it and use the download icon in the PDF viewer).
5. Keep the file as it arrived. Do not print it to a new PDF and do not scan a paper copy.

Got paper statements? You can usually still download the PDF of past statements online. A scan of the paper copy will not work with PaperRows.

Combined statements. If you set up Bank of America to put several accounts on one statement, the PDF can contain checking and savings together. PaperRows does not read combined statements yet. It refuses the file instead of guessing which rows belong to which account. Where you can, download the checking statement on its own.

2. Which Bank of America statements we read

Statement	Supported
Personal checking	Yes
Small business checking	Yes
Savings and money market	Not yet
Credit cards	Not yet
Combined statements with several accounts	Not yet
Investment statements	No

How a Bank of America statement turns into rows

Bank of America does not print one long list. It splits the month into sections, usually:

• Deposits and other additions
• Withdrawals and other subtractions (card purchases, transfers, bill pay)
• Checks
• Service fees

PaperRows reads each section and turns every line into one row. Deposits become positive amounts and everything in the withdrawal, check and fee sections becomes a negative amount. The checks panel shows how many rows we found in each section and compares the section totals with the totals Bank of America prints at the bottom of each one. A section that does not add up blocks the export. Matching totals are a strong sign, not proof, so the page and line on every row are there for a spot check.

Two things to know:

• The balance column will mostly be blank. Bank of America does not print a running balance next to each transaction. It prints a separate daily balance table instead. PaperRows does not invent a running balance, so the balance column stays empty. The overall check (opening balance plus deposits minus withdrawals equals closing balance) still runs on every file.
• Rows come out in section order, not strict date order. That matches the statement, so you can find each row on the page by its page and line number. Sort by date in your spreadsheet if you prefer.

Dates on these statements include the year, so there is no guessing at year boundaries.

3. What you get

Plain CSV:

page,line,date,description,amount,balance
1,22,2026-09-02,Mobile Deposit,850.00,
2,4,2026-09-05,Online Transfer to Savings,-200.00,
2,31,2026-09-14,Check #2210,-1325.00,
3,2,2026-09-30,Monthly Maintenance Fee,-12.00,

QuickBooks Online CSV:

Date,Description,Amount
09/02/2026,Mobile Deposit,850.00
09/05/2026,Online Transfer to Savings,-200.00
09/14/2026,Check #2210,-1325.00
09/30/2026,Monthly Maintenance Fee,-12.00

(Made-up example rows.)

4. Import into QuickBooks Online

Menu labels vary by QuickBooks version, so treat these as the usual path rather than exact wording.

1. Open Bank transactions (under Transactions or Banking, depending on your version).
2. If this account is already in QuickBooks, open the menu next to Link account and choose Upload from file. If it is not connected to a bank feed, use Upload transactions instead.
3. Drop in the QuickBooks CSV and click Continue.
4. Pick the QuickBooks account for this Bank of America checking account, then Continue.
5. Map Date, Description and Amount. Choose the single amount column option and the date format MM/dd/yyyy.
6. Select the rows, click Continue, and confirm.
7. Categorise the new rows in the bank transactions review list.

Because Bank of America rows come out in section order, the review list may look shuffled at first. Sorting it by date puts it back in day order.

Tip for a year of statements: convert one month, import it, and check the balance in QuickBooks against the statement's closing balance before doing the rest. If the first month lines up, you know your mapping is right for the others. Intuit's instructions currently limit one upload to 1,000 transactions, so upload month by month rather than merging a year into one file.

Bank feed already on? If QuickBooks already downloads this account automatically, uploading the same period again creates duplicates. Only upload months the feed does not have.

5. Why a Bank of America file gets refused

What the message says	What is going on	What to do
Scanned or image-only page	The file is a picture, often a scanned paper statement.	Download the PDF from Statements & Documents instead.
Not a statement we recognise	Often a saved copy of the account activity page, a combined statement, or a savings statement.	Download the checking statement itself, on its own if you can.
Section totals do not match	The rows we read in one section do not add up to the total Bank of America prints for it.	That is on us. Tell us the statement month and which section failed. Do not send the PDF.
Opening plus activity does not equal closing	The overall balance check failed.	Same as above.
A page is missing	Page numbers skip.	Download the full statement again.
Password-protected PDF	The PDF asks for a password.	Save an unprotected copy from your PDF viewer, or download it fresh.
Credit card statement	Not supported yet.	Let us know if you need it.

Need a hand? Write to us with the statement month and the message you saw. We never need the statement itself, so please do not attach it.