Importing Bank Statements

Overview

Import transactions directly from your bank or payment platform to keep your books in sync. NP Ledger reads standard bank files (OFX, QFX, QBO), bank CSV, Excel (.xlsx) and PDF statements, and PayPal and Venmo exports. Mercury and Stripe pull in over a live connection rather than a file -- see Bank Feeds.

Why This Matters

Typing in every transaction from your bank statement is tedious and error-prone. Importing the statement file brings in all the transactions at once with the correct dates, amounts, and descriptions -- and NP Ledger automatically flags duplicates so you don't double-count anything.

Before You Start

• Set up the bank account in NP Ledger first. See Adding Your Bank Accounts. The import needs to know which account to record against.
• Download your statement from your bank's website. Most banks offer OFX, QFX, or QBO downloads. If yours doesn't, a CSV, Excel (.xlsx), or PDF statement works too.

Steps

Step 1: Open the import page

1. Go to Bank & Cash from the sidebar.
2. Find the account the file came from and click Import file.

You don't need a statement balance, a statement date, or a reconciliation to do this. Loading your history is data entry; reconciling is checking the books against a balance you already know. They're separate jobs, and this is the first one.

Tip: The same page is linked from the top of the Reconciliations screen, and you can pick the account there instead.

Step 2: Upload the file

1. Drag your download onto the page, or click to choose it.
2. NP Ledger reads the file and works out what it is on its own -- an OFX/QFX/QBO download, a PayPal activity export, a Venmo export, a bank CSV, an Excel (.xlsx) file, or a PDF statement. There's no format to pick.

If it's a PayPal export, there's nothing to choose either. We bring it in gross, with the fees as their own entries, which is what your Form 990 wants.

Step 3: Check the summary and import

The preview leads with the numbers you'd actually check: how many transactions, how much came in, how much went out, the net change, and the date range covered. The Import button sits right there with them, so you don't have to scroll past hundreds of rows to act on a decision you made at the top.

Below that is a spot-check of the first rows. Every row in the file is imported, not just the ones shown.

If some of the file has already been brought in, NP Ledger says so before you commit -- those rows are skipped rather than duplicated.

Step 4: Categorize in batches

Importing lands the activity; it doesn't guess at your books. When the import finishes, you land on To record, where NP Ledger has already done what it can:

• Routine activity is confirmed for you. You don't confirm each line one at a time.
• Look-alike rows are grouped, so you can approve six identical monthly charges in one click instead of six.
• Transfers between your own accounts are paired, so a move from checking to savings is recorded once, on both sides, from a single button.
• Anything questionable is held out -- a possible duplicate, a pending charge, something the bank later changed. Those wait for you under Bank Activity for that account, and the message after import tells you how many there are.

Step 5: Reconcile when you're ready

Once your activity is in and recorded, Bank Reconciliation is where you assert the statement's ending balance and prove the books agree. That's a separate step you can do whenever the statement arrives.

Supported File Formats

What to Check

• Transaction count should match your statement. If you downloaded a March statement with 45 transactions, you should see close to 45 imported (some may be filtered as duplicates).
• Duplicate flags deserve attention -- review each one to make sure you're not skipping a genuine new transaction that happens to have the same amount and date as an existing one.
• New transactions should be assigned to the correct accounts. Imported transactions may need account assignment during or after import.

Common Mistakes

• Importing a statement for the wrong bank account. If you have multiple accounts (checking, savings, PayPal), make sure you selected the right one before importing. Transactions imported to the wrong account require manual correction.
• Not checking for duplicates. If you enter some transactions manually and then import the same month's statement, you'll have double entries. Always review the duplicate flags.
• Importing a partial statement and then the full statement. This creates duplicates for the overlapping period. Import each date range only once.
• A PDF that reads a little off. A PDF is read from the page layout, so it's the least exact of the formats, and a scanned or photographed statement is read by AI. Check the preview's transaction count and totals against your statement before you import. A file over 15 MB is refused. If your bank offers OFX, QFX, QBO, or CSV, those are the safest choices.
• Forgetting to reconcile after importing. Importing is step one. Bank Reconciliation is where you verify everything matches your statement balance.
• Using Spreadsheet Import for a bank file. Spreadsheet Import is for a list of ledger entries from your old system. A bank or PayPal export belongs here instead -- pushed through the spreadsheet path it posts entries straight to the books with nothing left to reconcile against, and transfers between your own accounts get counted twice.

Tip: For the best workflow, import your bank statement monthly right after the statement period closes, then immediately reconcile. This keeps your books current and catches errors while the transactions are fresh in your mind.

Ask AI About This Section

Open the AI Help panel and try:

• "How do I download my bank statement in OFX format?"
• "Why are some transactions flagged as duplicates?"
• "How do I import from PayPal?"