How to Export Check Register from QuickBooks

A check register is a spreadsheet containing details of all transactions you identify as checks. So, it’s an essential report that you can use for the bank reconciliation process. In this article, we’ll talk about where you can find it and how you can export the check register from QuickBooks.

Export check register from QuickBooks

Users of QB Desktop can find a Check Register shortcut in the banking section. 

• Click on it, then select the needed bank account.

• You’ll get a checkbook register of transactions with running balances. Anything that affects your checking account, like paying a bill or writing a check, will be recorded here in the check register.

• Then, you can export the check register from QuickBooks as CSV. For this, click Print… and select the data range.

• In the Settings window, select Print to File and choose the Comma delimited file from the drop-down menu. Click Print.

• Choose where to export and how to name your CSV file with check register and click Save. Here is what it looks like if you open it in Excel.

Everything looks clear and simple if you use QuickBooks Desktop. However, many users are looking for ways to export check register from QuickBooks Online, and this is the trickiest part.

Where is a check register in QuickBooks Online?

In QuickBooks Online, there is no such report as a check register. As an equivalent or alternative to it, you can use two types of reports: Chart of Accounts or Transactions List.

Export Chart of Accounts from QBO instead of check register

The Chart of Accounts is a spreadsheet with information about the company’s accounts and balances. You will find it in the Accounting menu on the left panel.

The Chart of Accounts is a report, although separated from the standard QuickBooks Online reports, so you need to run it by pressing the Run Report button.

You’ll get an account list that you can easily export to Excel or PDF, whichever you prefer. 

We’ve covered the flow in our dedicated blog post, How to Export Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks.

Transactions List

Another alternative that you can use instead of the check register in QuickBooks Online is a Transaction List report. Actually, there are a few reports of this kind:

• Recent Transactions
• Transaction Details by Account
• Transaction List by Customer
• Transaction List by Date
• Transaction List by Supplier
• Transaction List by Splits

You can find them in the Reports menu. 

For example, let’s export the Transaction List by Date. When you open the report, you need to specify the date range of transactions and run the report.

Eventually, you’ll be able to export it to Excel or PDF just like we did with the Charts of Account.

Apparently, in QuickBooks Online, you can’t get a check register in the form it is available in Quicken (QuickBooks Desktop). Nevertheless, QBO provides you with the flexibility of working with your accounting data, hence you can use different reports to get the details you need. 

The only drawback is that you’ll have to repeat this flow every time you want to get updated check register data: 

Go to the Report => Run the report => Export the report

On the other hand, you can automate the export of different reports and data from QuickBooks with no coding! 

Export check register data from QuickBooks Online on a schedule

Coupler.io is a powerful solution that will help you export check register from QuickBooks Online on the desired schedule from every month to every 15 minutes! All you need to do is:

• Specify what report or information you want to get. 
• Specify where to load the needed report or information.
• Configure the schedule, so that your exported report or information can refresh automatically.

This is what it looks like:

Sign up to Coupler.io, click Add new importer, and select the source and destination apps. Currently, you can export your data directly from QuickBooks to Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, or Google BigQuery.

Note: Coupler.io provides two QuickBooks integrations: 

• QuickBooks to load different raw data, including the Chart of Accounts.
• QuickBooks Reports to load standard reports, including Transaction List.

Then, configure your importer. Let’s do this in the example of exporting the Chart of Accounts as an alternative to check register in QuickBooks.

Source

• Connect your QuickBooks Online account.
• Select Account as a data entity – this is the name for the Chart of Accounts here.

Optionally, you can filter your exported results, sort them, or split multiple line values if needed.

Destination

• Connect the account of the chosen destination application. In this example, we’re exporting the Chart of Accounts to Excel.
• Select a workbook and a worksheet to load your records. You can create a new worksheet by typing its name as we did.

Optional parameters allow you to select the export data’s first cell, change the import mode and add the last update column. Learn more about them in the Coupler.io documentation.

Schedule

To automate exports of the check register data from QuickBooks Online, toggle on the Automatic data refresh, and set the schedule you want.

Learn more about how to automate QuickBooks tasks.

The last action in this flow is to click Save and Run. After the successful run, you can check out the exported data by clicking the View Results button.

There you go!

This is only one example of how you can export check register from QuickBooks Online in the form of the Chart of Accounts on a schedule. If you’d like to get the information in the form of the Transaction List report, there is a slight change in the setup flow.

Export check register from QuickBooks Online in the form of Transaction List

• Sign up to Coupler.io, click Add new importer, select QuickBooks Reports as the source application and choose the desired destination application as well. 
• Connect your QuickBooks Online account.
• Select one of the Transaction List reports.

• Optionally, you can specify the report period and the parameter to group data.

The rest of the flow is the same as we described above. As a result, your exported check register data will look like this:

With Coupler.io, you can automate exports of multiple data, as well as schedule QuickBooks backup.

Check register in QuickBooks recap

Although QuickBooks Desktop, aka Quicken, provides you with an exportable checkbook register, QuickBooks Online does not have this exact report. Nevertheless, this does not mean you can’t get the data about your accounts and transactions out of QBO.

Use alternative reports, such as Chart, Accounts, or Transaction List to export check register from QuickBooks Online. Moreover, if you use Coupler.io to load your data and reports from QuickBooks, you can easily combine multiple reports into a custom one that will give you much more than QuickBooks can offer. Good luck with your data!