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Getting started

Import your first statement

Download a CSV or QIF from your bank, upload it, check the preview, and bring your transactions in.

The quickest way to get going is one statement file from your bank. This page walks through it once. Importing files has the details, and the Sync extension can fetch statements for you from then on.

Get a file from your bank#

Log in to your bank’s website and look for an export or download option on the account’s transactions. Choose CSV or QIF. Go as far back as you like, but keep the file under 10 MB. If it’s bigger, export a shorter date range.

Upload it#

  1. Open Import in the sidebar.
  2. Drop the file onto the page, or click to choose it.
  3. Wait a moment while it reads your statement.

Nothing is saved until you’ve checked the preview.

Check the preview#

Budget Smugglers recognises many banks’ exports and reads them straight away. If it doesn’t know the layout, it asks Which column is which? Pick the date, amount and description columns, and the rest if the file has them. You can save the layout under Remember as for next time.

Which account#

Under Which account?, pick the account the rows belong to. If the account doesn’t exist yet, choose Create to add it from the file. Budget Smugglers remembers the bank’s account names, so next time it’s picked for you.

The rows#

The preview sorts every row into a tab:

Tab Meaning
New Will be added.
Settles pending Updates a pending transaction you already have.
Already imported A duplicate. It’s skipped.
No account No account picked for these rows yet.
Problem Something in the row couldn’t be read.

Look over the New tab. Check the dates read the right way round and money out is negative.

Import it#

Choose Import with the number of transactions, at the bottom of the preview. Once they’re in, Budget Smugglers runs your rules and matches transfers between your accounts. The message afterwards says how many were categorised automatically.

Changed your mind? Choose Discard before importing. After importing, find it under Recent imports and choose Undo. Every transaction it added is removed, and you can import the file again later.

Check it over#

Open Transactions to see what came in. A few things to look at:

  • Uncategorised transactions. File the busiest merchants and Budget Smugglers learns them. See Auto-categorising.
  • Transfers. Money between your own accounts is linked as a transfer once both sides are in. Import your other accounts to pair them up. See Transactions.
  • Balances. On Accounts, check each balance matches your bank. See Accounts.

Then do the same for your other accounts, or set up Bulk sync to bring them all in at once.