Import a Bank Statement CSV into GnuCash: Fields and Settings

This guide follows the “Importing Transactions from Files” section of the GnuCash v5 manual. GnuCash does not fix a column layout. Instead, an import assistant lets you assign each column in your file to a field. The manual says these fields must be specified:

• Date of the transaction.

• Account into which the transaction is imported. If your data has no source account, the manual says to choose one in the Account combo box and leave the column blank if the data supplies one.

• Description.

• Deposit or Withdrawal.

The per-column dropdown also offers other headers, including Num, Notes, Memo, Transfer Account, Reconciled and Reconcile Date, and a None option for columns you do not want imported.

The manual explains that for the Deposit header, positive amounts generally increase the account balance, and for a bank statement a credit is normally an increase. For the Withdrawal header, positive amounts decrease the balance, as with a credit card liability.

If your file has debits and credits in separate columns, assign Deposit and Withdrawal to the matching columns. The manual adds that some experimentation may be needed, so check the preview before you proceed.

A small synthetic file with separate columns, dated dd/mm/yyyy, looks like this. The opening balance of 1,000.00 plus 2,450.00 of deposits minus 133.20 of withdrawals gives 3,316.80.

In the import preview, the manual describes these settings:

• Separator: comma is the default for character-separated files. Semicolon is common where the comma is the decimal separator. Spaces, tabs, colons and semicolons can be used alone or combined, and a custom separator can be typed in.

• Escape character: enabled by default. Inside quoted strings, a backslash followed by a double quote becomes a single quote, and the manual lists similar rules for a newline and a double backslash.

• Encoding: usually UTF-8, but the manual notes other sources may differ.

• Currency Format: sets the decimal separator if Locale does not supply the correct one.

• Leading Lines to Skip and Trailing Lines to Skip: used to remove header and footer lines, for example field-name headers or account status lines from banks.

• Skip Errors: skips rows that have errors in the matched columns.

The manual does not state a row limit, a file size limit or a maximum number of columns.

The assistant has seven steps: Introduction, Select File for Import, Import Preview, Match Import and GnuCash Accounts, Transaction Information, Match Transactions, and Import Summary. The account matching step appears only if accounts cannot be matched automatically from previous imports.

By default, the manual says, transactions with no transfer account are placed in an Imbalance account. If your file includes an Account column, assign the Account header to it, and use Transfer Account for the second side of a transaction.

For recurring imports, the manual says you can save the current configuration under a name and load it later with the Load and Save Settings controls.