Converter · Troubleshooting
Convert a bank statement PDF, even a difficult one
Not every statement PDF is the same. Here’s how to tell what kind you have, and how to get the transactions out of it.
or drop it here
Read in this browser. Your file is never uploaded.
Rows wrong or missing?
Send us the shape of this statement, not its contents. The report below is made in this browser. It keeps where text sits, dates and column headings. Every name, amount, reference and account number is replaced with x and 1, as you can see. Nothing is sent until you send it.
Then email the report to support@statementtocsv.co.uk and say which bank it is from. We’ll add the layout and let you know.
| Date | Description | Paid in | Paid out | Balance |
|---|
Send us the shape of , not its contents. The report below is made in this browser. It keeps where text sits, dates and column headings. Every name, amount, reference and account number is replaced with x and 1, as you can see. Nothing is sent until you send it.
Then email the report to support@statementtocsv.co.uk and say which bank it is from. We’ll add the layout and let you know.
| Check | Result | What we found |
|---|
Statements
| Period | File | Opening | Closing | Rows | Used as |
|---|
| Date | Description | Paid in | Paid out | Balance | From |
|---|
Works with text PDFs that have Date, Description, Paid in / Paid out (or Amount) and Balance columns. Scanned or photographed statements are not supported yet. The samples are fictional test data.
First, check what kind of PDF you have
Open the statement and try to select a word with your cursor. If you can highlight individual words, it is a text PDF: the kind banks produce for download, and the kind the converter reads. If dragging selects the whole page like a picture, it is a scanned or image PDF.
| What you have | Will it convert? | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Statement downloaded from online banking or an app | Yes | Convert it above. |
| Password-protected PDF | Yes | Enter the password when asked. It stays in your browser. |
| Web page “printed” to PDF | Often | Try it. If columns come out wrong, download the bank’s own PDF statement instead. |
| Scanned paper statement | Not yet | Download the PDF from online banking, or ask the bank for electronic statements. |
| Photo of a statement | Not yet | As above. OCR support is planned. |
Password-protected statements
Some statements, especially ones sent by email or passed on by an accountant, are locked. The converter asks for the password and uses it only to open the file in your browser. See password-protected statement PDFs.
When the balance check fails
A failed check doesn’t always mean the converter got it wrong. Work through these in order:
- Is a page missing? If the statement says “page 2 of 3” but you only have two pages, the gap shows up as a large difference. See missing statement pages.
- Look at the flagged row. The converter names the row where the balance stopped adding up and the amount. Find that point in the PDF and compare.
- Look for a wrapped or unusual line. Foreign currency payments, fees with an exchange rate and reversed transactions sometimes sit across several lines.
- Send a layout report. Click “Help us support this layout”. It creates an anonymised description of the statement’s layout, with every name and number replaced, for you to email to us.
When no transactions are found
If the converter finds nothing, the PDF is either an image, or a layout whose column headings it doesn’t recognise yet. Check you can select the text. If you can, the layout report is the fastest way to get the layout supported.
Statements from outside the UK
The converter is built for UK statements in pounds. Statements with dates and amounts written the UK way often work from other banks too, but they haven’t been tested.
Questions people ask
Why can’t the converter read my scanned statement?
A scan is a picture of text, not text. Reading it needs OCR, which the converter doesn’t do yet. The PDF from online banking contains real text and converts directly.
I forgot the password for my statement PDF. Can you remove it?
No. Without the password the file can’t be opened. Download the statement again from online banking, or ask whoever sent it for the password.
The converter found my transactions but says “Check needed”. Is the CSV wrong?
Possibly one row is missing or misread. The converter shows which row the balance stopped matching at. Compare that part of the PDF before you use the CSV.
Can I convert a statement with several accounts in it?
Statements that list several accounts one after another may not convert correctly yet. Convert each account’s statement separately where you can.