QuickBooks error OL-249 when importing a Web Connect file

How OL-249 differs from OL-301

OL-301 is generally about the file: its bank ID, its structure, its provenance. OL-249 is generally about the pairing — the file is readable and the ID is recognised, but QuickBooks cannot match it to the account you are importing into.

That distinction matters because the fixes are different. Chasing the INTU.BID for an OL-249 usually wastes an afternoon, since the BID is often perfectly correct.

The account number is the usual culprit

A Web Connect file names the account it belongs to, and QuickBooks compares that against the account number stored on the account you are importing into. If they differ, the import stops.

They differ more often than you would expect. Banks mask account numbers in statements and not in Web Connect files. Some prefix a branch or sort code in one place and not the other. And an account set up in QuickBooks years ago may hold a number that has since changed.

1. 1Open the .qbo in a text editor and find the ACCTID tag. That is the number the file claims.
2. 2In QuickBooks, open the account and read the account number recorded on it.
3. 3Make them match. Changing the number on the QuickBooks account is usually easier and safer than editing the file.

Account type has to agree too

A Web Connect file declares whether it is for a checking account, a savings account or a credit card. Importing a credit-card file into an account QuickBooks holds as a bank account — or the reverse — produces OL-249 rather than a message about types.

This catches people whose credit card was set up as a bank account in the chart of accounts years ago and has worked fine ever since, because nothing before now cared.

When it is genuinely the connection

Occasionally OL-249 means what it says. If the same file imported yesterday and fails today with nothing changed, check the ordinary causes before the exotic ones.

• QuickBooks is not on the current release. Intuit ships fixes for Web Connect handling regularly and older builds fail against files newer banks produce.
• The company file is in multi-user mode. Switch to single-user before importing.
• The file is being read from a network path or a synced folder. Copy it to the local disk first — a file that moves under QuickBooks while it reads produces connection errors.

The last resort that usually works

Deactivating bank feeds on the account and re-importing forces QuickBooks to ask which account the file belongs to instead of deciding for itself, which sidesteps every mismatch above at once.