Upload and headers
First, upload your file — a CSV or Excel export from your bank — and let the app know where the column headers are. Getting the header row right matters; everything else depends on which columns the wizard can see.
If columns look shifted or unnamed, re-export from your bank with headers enabled, or open the file once in a spreadsheet to confirm the header row number before you map fields. Garbage headers produce garbage reviews.
Dates and amounts
Next, tell it how dates are written — which calendar and format your bank uses — so nothing gets misread. Then explain how amounts appear: either as one column with a plus or minus sign, or as two separate columns for money in and money out.
Take a moment here. A wrong date format or amount mapping is the most common reason a review screen looks “off,” even when the file itself is fine.
Banks disagree wildly on date order and on whether fees appear as separate rows. After mapping, skim a few known transactions you remember — a salary deposit or a rent payment — to validate the mapping before you trust the whole file.
Account, opening balance, and extras
After that, pick the account these transactions belong to, and optionally let AI suggest categories for you. If the account you are importing into has never had a single transaction before, you get a chance to set its opening balance to match your bank statement exactly.
A few more optional details — status, notes, cheque numbers — can be mapped on the next screen if your file has them. Skip anything you do not need; you can always edit transactions later.
Opening balance alignment matters most on a brand-new account. If the account already has history, skip forced balance rewrites and instead import only the missing date range so you do not fight existing totals.
Review before commit
Finally, you land on a review screen where every row is laid out to check, fix, or exclude before anything is actually created. Watch the valid and invalid counts — every checked row needs to pass before you can finish.
When the list looks right, confirm the import. Until that moment, your ledger is unchanged. If an import does not go through, see What to do if an import does not go through.
Use exclude for transfers that already exist, fees you track differently, or opening-balance rows your bank included that would double-count. A careful review is faster than cleaning duplicates afterward.