UrBudget Download

How to download Wells Fargo transactions

Wells Fargo Online downloads your account activity as a comma-delimited spreadsheet file or as a Quicken Web Connect (QFX) file, 90 days at a time unless you ask for more. For a budget, take the Quicken file. Here's where the download is, how far back it reaches, and how to import it into UrBudget.

What Wells Fargo offers

  • Two formats. Comma Delimited (ASCII, Spreadsheet) for spreadsheet programs, and Quicken Web Connect for Quicken.
  • 90 days by default. A download covers the last 90 days unless you choose another time frame. For some account types, up to 18 months is available.
  • How much history is online. Checking, savings and money market accounts keep up to 18 months. Lines of credit and installment loans keep up to 24 months. Credit cards keep up to 90 days or 300 transactions.
  • One account per file. Wells Fargo's steps have you repeat the download for each account and give each file its own name.

Download your activity from Wells Fargo Online

Wells Fargo's help describes the download in Wells Fargo Online, so use a browser on a computer.

  1. Sign on to Wells Fargo Online and choose an account. Each download covers one account.
  2. Open Download Account Activity. Wells Fargo puts it under the Accounts tab.
  3. Check the From and To dates. Start from the day of your last download. Choose a longer time frame if you need more than 90 days.
  4. Choose Quicken Web Connect. Pick Comma Delimited (ASCII, Spreadsheet) only if you want the spreadsheet; the next section explains why.
  5. Select Download and save the file. Note which folder it goes to. Then do the same for your other accounts, naming each file after its account.

Quicken Web Connect or comma-delimited?

Take Quicken Web Connect. It saves a .qfx file, which is OFX underneath, and that suits a budget for two reasons:

  • Amounts carry the standard signs, money out negative and money in positive, so a card purchase and a debit card purchase both arrive as spending.
  • Each transaction has Wells Fargo's own ID. When this week's file overlaps last week's, UrBudget knows which rows it already has.

The comma-delimited file is made for spreadsheets. UrBudget reads a CSV only when its first line holds column names: a date, a description, and Amount (or Debit and Credit). If the preview says the file is missing those headers, or purchases come in as money in, use the Quicken file instead.

Import it into UrBudget

  1. Select the account in UrBudget. Open the account the file belongs to and choose Import file above its transactions. Each Wells Fargo file goes into its own account.
  2. Choose the file. Pick the .qfx, or drag it onto the box. UrBudget sets the format from the file name.
  3. Preview. Choose Preview transactions. There's no date order to set for a QFX file; for a CSV, set Dates in the file to Month/day/year first.
  4. Check duplicates and matches. Rows already in your budget from an earlier file are skipped. Rows that look like transactions you entered (same amount, dated within 10 days) are offered as matches, which keeps your category and memo.
  5. Import. Choose the import button. The rows appear in the register, waiting for your approval.

If something looks wrong

  • You downloaded a statement. Monthly statements are PDFs, made for your records, and no budgeting app can import them. For a budget you need the transaction file from Download Account Activity, in the Quicken or comma-delimited format.
  • Your credit card file only covers a few weeks. Wells Fargo keeps card activity online for up to 90 days or 300 transactions. Download your card at least once a month and nothing falls off the end.
  • Only 90 days came down. That's the default. Choose a longer time frame before you download; some accounts go back 18 months.
  • A pending amount changed. Wells Fargo notes that a pending amount can differ from the final one. UrBudget offers a match only for the same amount, so if you typed the pending amount, the posted row arrives as new. Skip it and correct your own entry, or add it and delete yours.
  • You can't tell the files apart. Wells Fargo suggests a different file name for each account. Rename them before importing so your checking file doesn't end up in your card.
  • Purchases show up as money coming in. You imported the comma-delimited file. Cancel and import the Quicken Web Connect file.

Budget from your Wells Fargo file

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