QuickBooks Online Requests Column Appears on the Bank Transactions Screen
A Requests column with chat icons has appeared on QuickBooks Online's bank transactions screen; here is what it does and how consent works.
Users of QuickBooks Online have been asking about a new chat-style column in their bank feeds, one that arrives without any action on their part. It is not a glitch. The column belongs to a feature Intuit calls Requests for more information, and the vendor’s help pages now spell out how it works. We went through the details.
The Requests column lives on the bank transactions screen
The column appears on the Bank transactions screen, reached from the Transactions menu in the left navigation. It sits in the table of downloaded items waiting in the For review list, alongside the payee and amount details you already know. Each row carries a plus icon in that column. A second marker, flagged as a suggestion from the software’s built-in assistant, appears when the program judges that a transaction needs more detail before it can be categorized correctly.
A question thread attached to each transaction
The feature lets an accountant or bookkeeper ask a client or teammate about a specific transaction. You can request a receipt, an invoice, or a plain explanation of what a charge was for, all without leaving your books. Clients can open their own questions too, and the accounting side receives an email whenever they do. Intuit’s assistant layer reviews each reply and, within seconds, asks follow-up questions if an answer looks thin. The reply then feeds the work of categorizing and completing the transaction.
Built for firms and their clients
Intuit positions Requests as a bridge between accounting practices and the businesses they serve. It is aimed at accountants, bookkeepers, and the owners on the other side of the ledger. Both parties can start a conversation, which is why the icons show up for client users as well as practitioners.
Why did the column appear on its own?
Because the feature switches itself on. Requests activates automatically once a first bank account is connected to the bank feed, according to the vendor’s documentation. There is no separate setting to turn it on or off. Users hunting through preferences for a toggle will not find one. The missing switch is deliberate, not a bug, and that single design choice explains most of the confusion we have seen reported.
The one-time admin consent
First use requires a one-time consent from your company’s QuickBooks administrator. The prompt appears the first time anyone at the firm touches the feature, and it never appears again. Non-admin users hit a wall here. They see a message directing them to their admin, which reads like an error until you know the cause. If the plus icon refuses to cooperate, permissions are the likely reason.
Which plans include the feature?
Requests is available in every QuickBooks Online plan, including the entry-level Simple Start tier. QuickBooks Ledger and Intuit Accountant Suite users have it as well. QuickBooks Solopreneur does not. If you run Solopreneur and never see the column, that is why.
How do you start a request?
Two routes exist. For a single transaction, select the plus icon in the Requests column on that row. For several transactions that raise the same question, tick the checkboxes beside them, then choose Request more info from the banner that appears across the list. The banner route matters for cleanup work, where a dozen identical card charges often need the same explanation.
How do you track replies?
The column icon doubles as a status indicator. An open chat bubble means a question is live. A chat bubble with a red dot means the client has replied and the answer awaits review. A chat bubble with a tick means the exchange is complete. A dedicated Requests page sorts every question into Open, Ready for review, and Completed tabs. Accountants see two main views there, Transaction questions and Questions from client. Client users see Transaction questions and Questions from us instead.
Our read on the change
Taken together, this is a workflow change rather than a defect. The feature moves the back-and-forth about odd transactions into the books themselves, right beside the item that prompted the question. The friction is real, though. Auto-enablement with no off switch will irritate firms that never asked for the tool. The consent prompt will confuse non-admin users who click the icon out of curiosity. Treat the chat bubbles as a built-in query thread. The status markers tell you where each conversation stands, and the replies land where the categorization work happens.