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Importing transactions

Almost every bank lets you download your transactions as a CSV file from its website (look for "Download", "Export" or "Statements"), and most European banks also offer CAMT.053 bank statements (XML files). FlyBudget can import both into any account. It's free, works with every bank, and nothing but the file is involved. If you'd rather have transactions arrive by themselves, connect a bank instead.

Importing a file​

  1. Open the account the transactions belong to, and choose Import CSV.

  2. Drop the file on the window, or click to pick it. A CAMT.053 statement goes straight to the preview (step 4): there are no columns to map.

  3. Map the columns. FlyBudget reads the file's headers and guesses what each column holds. Check the guesses, and change any that are wrong: Date, Payee, Amount, Inflow, Outflow, Direction (in/out), Notes or Skip. The first rows are shown underneath so you can see that it looks right. You need a date and either an amount or inflow/outflow columns.

    Mapping the columns of a CSV fileMapping the columns of a CSV file

  4. Preview. Every row is listed with its date, payee and amount. Rows you already have are marked duplicate and unticked. Untick anything else you don't want. Rows FlyBudget can't import (a date, amount or direction it can't read, or an amount of zero) are listed above the preview by row number, so you can fix the file first.

    The preview before importingThe preview before importing

  5. Choose Import. FlyBudget says how many transactions it imported and how many it skipped.

FlyBudget remembers how each account's files look: the separator, encoding, rows above the header, column mapping, date and amount formats, and your word for money going out. The next time you import a file with the same columns into that account, it uses them again, so you only answer its questions once. (If a file clearly says otherwise, for example a date with a day above 12, the file wins.)

Your rules run on every imported transaction, so they can rename SQ *DAILY GRIND 1142 to Daily Grind Coffee and put it in Coffee Shops. FlyBudget keeps the bank's original text as the imported description, which rules can match on too.

Duplicates​

FlyBudget remembers every row it imports, so importing a file that overlaps one you imported before is safe: the rows you already have are skipped. Two identical rows in the same file (two coffees at the same price on the same day) are treated as two purchases.

Transactions you entered by hand aren't matched against an import. If you enter transactions by hand and import files for the same account, check the preview for rows you already have.

If you imported files from a European bank before FlyBudget understood day-first dates and decimal commas, those transactions may have the wrong date or amount. Importing the same file again won't recognize them as duplicates, because their dates and amounts no longer match the file. Delete the wrong transactions first, then import the file again.

What FlyBudget understands​

  • Separators: commas, semicolons (common in Europe, where the comma is the decimal separator) and tabs. FlyBudget picks the one in the file's header row; change it under Separator if the columns look wrong.
  • Account details above the table: some banks (DKB and Comdirect, for example) start the file with a few lines about the account. FlyBudget finds the header under them by itself and shows how many rows it skipped under Rows above the header; change the number if it picked the wrong row.
  • Dates: 2026-01-05, 20260105, month first (01/05/2026), day first (05/01/2026, 05.01.2026, 05-01-26), a two-digit year first (26-01-05), with or without a time after them, and written-out dates like Jan 5, 2026.
  • Amounts: 1,234.56 or 1.234,56 (also 1 234,56), with or without a currency symbol, and -12.00, (12.00), 12.00- or 12.00 DR for money going out (CR for money coming in, and S/H in German exports). A DR/CR after the amount decides the direction even when the amount also has a sign (-12.00 CR is money coming in). With separate inflow and outflow columns, FlyBudget works out the sign.
  • Direction columns: some banks (ING in the Netherlands, for one) write every amount as a positive number and say which way the money went in a column of its own: Af/Bij, Debit/Credit or S/H. Map that column as Direction (in/out) and FlyBudget signs the amounts from it. If your bank uses other words, FlyBudget asks: type the word for money going out under Word for money out, and any other word it doesn't know counts as money coming in.
  • Text: UTF-8 (also UTF-16) and the older Windows encoding many banks still use, so names like Müller or Café come through intact. Files from Poland, Czechia, Hungary and nearby often use a Central European encoding instead: if letters like ł, ś or ő look wrong in the preview rows, choose Central European (Windows-1250) or (ISO-8859-2) under Encoding.
  • Files up to 100,000 rows. Rows with an amount of zero are left out (the preview lists them).

FlyBudget works out from the file in which order dates are written, and whether amounts use a decimal point or a decimal comma, and shows its choice under Dates and Amounts. When the file can't tell (every day in it is 12 or less, a two-digit year could come first or last, or every amount looks like 1.234), it asks you instead of guessing: a wrong guess would move every transaction to another date, or make amounts a hundred times too big. Once you've answered for an account, it remembers. Rows it can't read are left out, and the preview lists them.

CAMT.053 bank statements​

CAMT.053 is the standard bank statement format in Europe (ISO 20022). Look for "CAMT", "XML" or "ISO 20022" next to your bank's CSV download. It's the most reliable way to import: every amount says whether it's money in or out, so there are no formats to work out.

  • Only booked transactions are imported. Pending ones can still change or disappear, so they're left out (the preview says how many), and they'll come in with a later statement once they're booked.
  • Each transaction is dated when the bank booked it, so it lands in the same month as on your statement.
  • When one entry bundles several payments (a batch of transfers, say), FlyBudget lists each payment separately, as long as their amounts add up to the entry. If they don't, the entry is imported as one transaction, so the account balance is always right. (If you import an intraday CAMT.052 report and later the day's CAMT.053 statement, check the preview: a batch the report showed as one total is listed payment by payment in the statement, and can't be matched as a duplicate.)
  • Importing a statement that overlaps an earlier one is safe: FlyBudget recognizes the transactions it already has by the bank's own reference for each one.
  • A file with statements for more than one account asks which one belongs to the account you're importing into, and picks the one you imported into it before.
  • FlyBudget remembers the account number (IBAN) of the last statement you imported into each account. If a statement is for a different account, the preview warns you, so a statement doesn't end up in the wrong account by mistake (you can still import it).

If you switch an account from CSV files to CAMT.053 statements, check the first preview for transactions you already have: the two formats describe the same transaction differently, so FlyBudget can't always match them.

Credit cards​

Some banks export credit card purchases as positive numbers. If your purchases show up as money coming in, map the column as Outflow instead of Amount. Every row is then treated as money going out, so fix any refunds by hand after importing.