If your bills live in a spreadsheet or another system, import brings everything in at once, without retyping. It works for expenses, income, clients and suppliers, always with the same four-step wizard: File, Map, Review and Result.
Marina used to track household bills in Excel. Her spreadsheet has 180 rows with the columns "Description", "Amount", "Due", "Category" and "Paid?", and she wants to bring the whole year into Finances.
For an OFX bank statement, the path is different: see the OFX import article in this same collection.
Where it is
The Import button sits at the top of the Expenses, Income and Clients and suppliers screens. It shows for people who can create entries. The import goes into the space you are in, personal or business.
1. File
Drag or select a CSV, XLS or XLSX file of up to 10 MB. If you are starting from scratch, use Download CSV sample or Download Excel sample to see the expected format.
If your spreadsheet has another format, Copy ChatGPT prompt copies a ready-made instruction. Paste it into ChatGPT with the spreadsheet so it converts everything to the sample format.
2. Map
For each column in the file, you choose which system field it represents. The system already suggests what it recognizes by name and labels it as an exact or approximate suggestion. A column you do not need stays on — Ignore —. Each system field can only receive one column.
In an expense import, the fields are description, amount, issue date, due date, competence, payment date, category, subcategory, account, payment method, supplier, status and notes. Required ones show an asterisk.
Under Default values you set what applies to every row when the spreadsheet does not have the column, or when its value is not recognized: account, category, payment method, default status and supplier. Also set the Date format and the Decimal separator, comma (1.234,56) or dot (1,234.56).
Marina's spreadsheet has no account column, so she picks "Nubank Checking Account" as the default. She maps "Paid?" to Status, and rows become paid or pending based on that column.
Category, account and supplier are looked up by name among your records. The import does not create new records: if the spreadsheet says "Groceries" and there is no category with that name, the row uses the default category. It is worth creating the missing categories before importing.
3. Review
The preview shows each row with an OK, warning or error status and the reason. Use the filters to see only errors or only warnings.
- Warning — the row goes in, but with the default value. For example: value "Groceries" not found, using the chosen default.
- Error — the row does not go in. For example: an empty amount, an invalid date or an unknown status.
Check Save this mapping for future imports if you will repeat the process. Next time, Use last mapping fills everything in. The confirm button shows how many records will be imported. If there are errors, the system warns that those rows will be skipped before going ahead.
4. Result
The summary shows how many rows were imported, skipped and had errors. Download errors file (CSV) returns only the rejected rows with the reason, so you can fix and re-import just those. The view button opens the list already filtered to the due-date range.
Files with more than 2,000 rows are processed in the background. You can close the window and get a notification when it is done.
Imported rows become regular entries. Those marked as paid come in already settled and change the account balance, as if you had recorded them through the form.
Imports history
Imports › Imports history lists each import, spreadsheet or OFX, with date, type, file, status, imported over total and how many had errors. From the row's menu you download the original file or the error report.
Where this shows up in the rest of the system
- Expenses, Income and Clients and suppliers — receive the imported records.
- Categories and Bank Accounts — the import links rows to existing records by name.
- Notifications — tells you when a background import finishes.
Where to go next
- Categories — create the categories your spreadsheet uses before importing.
- Expenses and income (personal) — review and complete what came in.
- OFX import, in this collection — bring in the bank statement and check it transaction by transaction.
In short: download the sample or adjust your spreadsheet, map the columns and set defaults for what is missing, review warnings and errors, import, and fix the rejected rows using the errors file.