Step 1: Upload
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. When you continue, Rasa Money reads the file and works out a first guess for the next step.
Step 2: Map columns
Everything about reading the file is on one screen, filled in with what Rasa Money detected (look for the Detected chip). A box titled How we read your first row shows how your first row will be understood — date, amount, type and note — so a wrong setting is obvious before you go further.
Check the dates (calendar and format), then the amounts: one column with a plus or minus sign, or two columns for money in and money out. The same screen holds the category choice — one fixed category, or AI detection from a description column — and an optional column mapping section for status, notes, tags, commission, cheque and tracking numbers.
A wrong date format or amount mapping is the most common reason a review screen looks “off,” even when the file itself is fine. After checking, skim a known transaction — a salary deposit or a rent payment — to confirm it reads correctly.
Step 3: Choose the account
Pick the account these transactions belong to. If you started from an account's menu, it is already selected. If the account has never had a single transaction, you also get a chance to set its opening balance to match your bank statement.
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.
Step 4: 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. Suggested categories, tags and recurring series appear right in the table.
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.