Guides

Turning a bank statement PDF into a CSV, or into a file your accounting software imports, raises the same few questions every time. The guides are in four groups: getting the file into the shape QuickBooks, Xero or a spreadsheet wants; what to do when an import is refused or the result looks wrong; what happens to your statement and how the converter reads it; and comparisons between file types and tools. Each line below is the guide's own summary.

To convert a statement now, open the converter; the PDF is read in your browser and never uploaded. The supported layouts lists the statements it is tested on by country, free and Pro compares the two versions, and the test pack is fictional statements with answer files for people building their own reader.

38 guides in 4 groups, by what you are trying to do. Each line says what the guide covers and about how long it takes to read.

Preparing a bank statement CSV for QuickBooks, Xero and Wave

• How to import a bank statement CSV into QuickBooks, Xero or Excel

  The columns, date formats, signs and size limits QuickBooks Online and Xero document, and how Excel opens the file. (about 9 min read)

• Wave bank statement CSV format: columns, dates and signs that import cleanly

  What Wave asks for: three or four columns, year-first dates, no future dates, and one currency per file. (about 7 min read)

• freee bank statement CSV upload: the columns, dates and amounts it accepts

  What freee's statement upload takes: dates with the year, whole-number amounts in one or two columns, and headings you map. (about 9 min read)

• Should debits be negative in a bank CSV? Sign conventions explained

  Two conventions, one signed Amount column or Debit and Credit side by side, and why a file uses one. (about 6 min read)

• Bank statement PDF to QBO without uploading

  Make a Web Connect (QBO), OFX or QIF file in your browser, and where QuickBooks may refuse it. (about 6 min read)

• How far back can you download bank transactions as CSV?

  What five banks' help pages say about how far a download reaches, and how to get an older month. (about 7 min read)

• Getting statements from a closed bank account (and converting them)

  What to download before closing an account, what to ask the bank afterwards, and turning the PDFs into a CSV. (about 8 min read)

• Merge 12 months of bank statements into one CSV (without duplicates)

  Convert each statement, check each closes where the next opens, flag duplicates, and check the year's total. (about 7 min read)

• Reconcile a bank statement before you import it

  Eight checks before a CSV goes into QuickBooks or Xero, from the statement period and balances to the row count. (about 8 min read)

• Reconcile a bank statement CSV with your accounting software, step by step

  After import: check the count and overlaps, reconcile in QuickBooks Online, Xero or Wave, find the difference. (about 8 min read)

• Handing bank statement CSVs to your accountant: a checklist

  What to give your accountant: the whole period, one file per account, balances checked, clear names, PDFs. (about 7 min read)

• A monthly bookkeeping routine with a bank statement CSV

  Once a month: import from where you left off, categorise with rules, reconcile, attach receipts and file it away. (about 7 min read)

• Splitting personal and business transactions in a bank statement CSV

  Personal and business lines in one account: mark each row, keep them all, and record the personal ones as drawings. (about 10 min read)

• Business and personal bank account statements: how the PDF and CSV differ

  How business account statements differ from personal ones, and what to align before importing them. (about 9 min read)

• Matching invoices and receipts to bank statement CSV rows

  Invoices and receipts against bank rows: fees taken off, late deposits, one payment for several invoices, what is unpaid. (about 9 min read)

• Your bank statement ends on Dec 29, not Dec 31: how to reconcile the year-end gap

  When December's statement closes before the 31st, how to get the year-end balance from it and January's statement. (about 8 min read)

• Bank statements for a Japanese tax return (kakutei shinkoku): using them, keeping them, and the CSV

  Japanese tax return, white or blue: posting bank statements into your books and how long to keep them. (about 7 min read)

• Using a bank statement CSV to prepare sales tax, VAT and consumption tax returns

  Sales tax, VAT and Japanese consumption tax: what a bank CSV can do for the return, and what needs invoices. (about 10 min read)

Fixing bank CSV import errors and wrong dates

• Bank statement CSV import errors in QuickBooks and Xero, and how to fix them

  Ten errors QuickBooks Online and Xero give when a bank CSV will not import, and the fix for each. (about 9 min read)

• Undo a bank statement CSV upload in QuickBooks Online

  Took in the wrong bank CSV? Exclude the rows, delete them from the Excluded tab, and undo any already added. (about 7 min read)

• Delete an imported bank statement in Xero, and import it again

  Delete a wrongly imported statement in one step, decide about its reconciled transactions, then import a fixed file. (about 7 min read)

• How to check a converted bank statement CSV for errors

  Add the opening balance to every amount and see whether you reach the closing balance, and what that misses. (about 9 min read)

• Clean up a bank statement CSV before you import it: dates, amounts, encoding and duplicates

  Five spreadsheet fixes before import: one date format, plain numbers, one signed column, UTF-8 and duplicate rows. (about 9 min read)

• Why Excel changes the dates in your bank CSV (and how to stop it)

  A CSV holds no formatting, so the spreadsheet decides what each column means as it opens. Three fixes. (about 7 min read)

• Why your converted bank CSV shows the wrong year (December–January statements)

  Statements printing 12/29 and 01/02 without a year: where a converter gets the year, and how to check. (about 7 min read)

Converting a bank statement PDF without uploading it

• Is it safe to upload bank statements to a converter?

  Most PDF-to-CSV converters upload your statement. What to check in a privacy policy, and how to avoid uploading. (about 10 min read)

• How to convert a bank statement to CSV without uploading it

  Turning a statement PDF into a CSV without the file leaving your computer: how it works, in three steps. (about 9 min read)

• Bank statement PDF privacy: what a statement reveals, and why converting without uploading matters

  What a statement reveals about you and others, where copies end up, and how to watch a converter's network log. (about 10 min read)

• Is your bank statement PDF scanned or text? Three ways to check

  Three ways to tell whether a statement PDF holds real text or a picture of it, and what each means. (about 7 min read)

• Why your bank statement PDF won't let you copy, merge or convert (and what to do)

  A statement PDF that opens but won't copy or merge usually has a permissions password. What to do about it. (about 8 min read)

• Bank statement PDF asks for a password to open: what you can do

  A statement that asks for a password: where banks say it comes from, and other ways to the data. (about 7 min read)

QBO vs OFX vs QIF, and PDF to Excel

• QBO vs OFX vs QIF: which file your accounting software actually wants

  Which formats carry transaction IDs and a closing balance, why QIF can import a payment twice, and which to choose. (about 6 min read)

• Why “PDF to Excel” makes bank statements messy

  A statement PDF may hold no table, only characters and positions, so four ordinary things can move a column. (about 7 min read)

• Multi-page bank statement PDFs: where table extraction breaks, and how to check it

  Where long statements break: page-split rows, forward balances, repeated headings, year changes and swapped columns. (about 8 min read)

• Credit card statement PDF to CSV: what is different from a bank statement

  Two dates per line, reversed signs, separate fee and interest blocks, foreign charges and plans on card statements. (about 11 min read)

• PayPal, Stripe and Wise statements to CSV: fees, currencies and payouts

  PayPal, Stripe and Wise: why their CSV beats the PDF, and how fees, currencies and payouts appear. (about 8 min read)

• Foreign currency transactions and fees in a bank statement CSV

  Purchases abroad and their fees: keep the amount the bank charged, record fee lines, one file per currency. (about 9 min read)

• Japanese bank statements from MUFG, SMBC, Mizuho and Japan Post: layouts, as far as the banks publish them

  What MUFG, SMBC, Mizuho and Japan Post publish about statement downloads and columns, and what LedgerDrop reads. (about 8 min read)

Reading times count each article's words at 200 a minute, rounded up.