CSV / PDF Importing

Getting Started

Lunch Money lets you import transactions in bulk using either CSV or PDF bank statements.

What is a CSV file?

Most financial institutions will allow you to download a CSV export of your transactions. This is a plain-text file of your transactions details, such as date, amount and description, separated by a delimiter, typically a comma, hence, comma-separated values.

With this file, you can import your transactions into Lunch Money quickly and easily.

How do I download my transactions?

If your bank allows it, there will typically be a way to download your statements or transactions in CSV or PDF format directly from the bank's web portal, either for a specific period, or for a custom date range. Try searching in the area where you can download statements. If you need help locating this, you may need to contact your bank.

Where is the CSV/PDF Import Tool?

To import a CSV or PDF file with transactions, head over to the Transactions page and hit the "Import" button located next to the "Add to Cash" button:

What format should my CSV be in?

For a fast and successful CSV import, we recommend that your file includes the following columns with the associated header name:

• Date of transaction (required)

  • Header name: date

  • Format preferred: YYYY/MM/DD or YYYY-MM-DD

  • All other formats are possible, but we may have a hard time parsing them. (It should still work, as there is an opportunity to teach our system which date format you're using. It just might take an extra step!)

• Name of transaction (required)

  • Header name: payee or description

• Transaction amounts

  • See below

• Transaction notes (optional)

  • Header name: notes

• Transaction categories (optional)

  • Header name: categories

  • You will be asked to match the imported category with a new or an existing Lunch Money category

• Transaction tags (optional)

  • Header name: tags

  • Comma-separated list of tag names

  • You will be asked to match each imported tag with a new or an existing Lunch Money tag

Formats supported for transaction amounts

We support three notations for indicating the amount for a transaction.

• Use single column: Using one single amount column, with positive/negative notation denoting credit or debit. Recommended headers include

  • debit/credit

  • amount

• Use double column: Using two columns, with values in one representing debits and values in the other representing credits. Recommended headers include:

  • debit and credit

  • inflow and outflow

• Use by type column: Using one single amount column with an associated column denoting the type. The string in the type column must be one of: outflow, inflow, debit, credit. Recommended headers include:

  • debit/credit and amount

The first two use three columns in the CSV while the last two uses a single column. The double column formats interpret all numbers in absolute format which means a negative will not flip the amount.

As of now, these 4 columns are the only ones that you're able to import using CSVs. However, you can always use Rules to help you assign categories or update payee names according to your preferences and habits.

Recommended course of action

If this is your first time using the CSV/PDF import tool, we recommend that you only import one month's worth of transactions to start. Then, go to the Transactions page and categorize and organize your transactions as you please. As you do this, Rules will be created to remember your changes and apply them to future similar transactions. You can always go to the Rules page to audit these and make sure they are accurate.

When you go back to the CSV/PDF import tool and upload a second month's worth of transactions, you'll notice in Step 4: Review Transactions that many of them will already be edited because you had rules set up from your first month! By uploading transactions in small batches, the less work you end up doing in the long run because your rules will get continuously refined. If you upload a year's worth in one go, you might get overwhelmed quickly.

Step 1: Upload the CSV or PDF file

The first step is to select the relevant account or asset that you'll be importing your transactions into. If you haven't set up any account yet, you can do so by going to the Accounts page and clicking on "Add Account".

After you select which asset the transactions are associated with, you can click on 'Additional settings' to define which currency the transactions are in, and finally, upload the file by clicking on "Process [number] rows":

Note that there is a file size restriction of 3Mb and the CSV/PDF import tool will only upload 10,000 rows at a time.

Step 2: Match the columns

We need to match the column data from your uploaded file to the columns used by Lunch Money. To do so, click the header for each column to open the drop-down and select the corresponding field in Lunch Money. We already try to match some columns for you based on the header name—this works best when the file follows the recommended guidelines (see What format should my CSV be in?).

Step 3: Review settings

Checking dates and amounts

At the 'Review Notations' stage, your file has been parsed by our system based on your settings. Double-check to make sure our interpretation of the dates and amounts are correct. Specifically, make sure that the amounts are correct in what they represent:

Should a Starbucks expense be a credit? Nope! That's wrong– better flip the switch!

This is very important to ensure that your transactions are imported correctly! To correct the date or amount type, click on 'Fix dates' or 'Flip types' buttons at the bottom of the table.

Checking the categories

At the 'Review Categories' stage, you will match the category names from the file to the categories that you have set up in Lunch Money. If there is an exact match for the category name between the file and Lunch Money, it will be automatically matched. Otherwise, you can click the field next to the category name to select the relevant category (or create a new one).

Checking the tags

At the 'Review Tags' stage, you will match the tag names from the file to the tags that you have set up in Lunch Money. If there is an exact match for the tag name between the file and Lunch Money, it will be automatically matched. Otherwise, you can click the field next to the tag name to select the relevant tag (or create a new one).

Malformed lines

At the 'Final Settings' stage, you'll see a list a notice listings all malformed lines from your file. These represent lines in your file that we determined to be missing required data, such as a date, payee name, or amount. If you believe any of these were done in error, you can always go back to Step 2 and fix your column matches. You can also check your file to see if it's corrupted in any way. If you need assistance, we'd be more than happy to help troubleshoot!

Other settings

You can choose to Apply Rules and Skip Duplicates. Both of these settings are recommended, so they are on by default.

Apply Rules will run your Rules against the transactions you import. Skip Duplicates will ensure that the same transaction will not be imported twice. We determine two transactions to be the same if the date, payee name, and amount all match exact.

Finally, you can choose to save your configuration. We will then remember your settings whenever you upload files for the same asset, letting you skip steps 2 and 3 of the import process!

Step 4: Review Transactions

On this page, you will be presented with a list of transactions ready to be imported into your Lunch Money account exactly as they appear. This list of transactions has run through your rules and been de-duplicated per your settings. Duplicated transactions are shown at the bottom for your personal debugging.

This is your chance to review the transactions you're about to import. If the dates look funny or something else looks off, you can always go back to fix any settings. To prevent some transactions from being imported, de-select them.

Step 5: Import Transactions

Hurrah! Your transactions have been imported. We did a best guess as to what your updated balance should be, but if we were off, you can enter the correct balance on this page.

Troubleshooting

I'm having issues with my CSV file

Because there isn't a standard format for transactions in a CSV file, every bank exports transactions differently and we may sometimes encounter a CSV that we're unable to parse. However, we're working towards being able to support all variations and flavours of these CSV files. Please contact us at [email protected] with a snippet of your file and we'll work on getting it supported.

I'm having issues with my PDF file

PDF files tend to be content heavy and the layouts can differ significantly from bank to bank. If your PDF isn't parsing the data correctly, please contact us at [email protected] and attach the file so we can work on getting it supported!