YNAB CSV Converter: Bank Statement to CSV, QFX or OFX for YNAB Import

What file formats does YNAB accept?

YNAB File Based Import accepts four file types: CSV, QFX, OFX and QIF. YNAB describes CSV as the recommended and preferred format, and says it checks CSV files after upload and adjusts the import preview based on what is in the file. Anything outside those four returns an Invalid File warning, which is the exact message people see after dragging in a PDF.

It is also worth knowing where the feature lives. File Based Import runs on the YNAB web app or on an iPad using Split View. YNAB states it is not available on iPhone, Android or other mobile devices, so a phone is the wrong place to try this.

How do I import old transactions into YNAB?

Through File Based Import, because Direct Import will not do it. YNAB states that when you link an account it imports the opening balance of that day, creates a Starting Balance transaction, and that transactions which cleared before the date of the Starting Balance will not be imported. Linking your bank a second time does not change this. The older period has to arrive as a CSV, QFX, OFX or QIF file.

There is a limit worth respecting. YNAB says it does not recommend importing transactions beyond one year old using File Based Import. For most people setting up a plan that is not a constraint, since three to six months of history is usually enough to see real spending patterns, but it does mean a decade long archive is not the right project.

Why is YNAB not importing my transactions?

There are four common causes, and they look almost identical from the outside. The file is not one of the four accepted types. The transactions are dated before the account Starting Balance. The transactions are dated more than three days before the last reconciled transaction, which YNAB excludes by design. Or YNAB has skipped them as duplicates because the same date and amount already exist.

YNAB surfaces the third and fourth cases in the import window itself. If the preview shows no transactions, the skipped transactions list above the Options section explains why each one was left out, and reading that list is faster than guessing.

Do I need to reformat my CSV for YNAB?

No, and this is the single most useful thing to know before you go hunting for a formatting template. YNAB matches each column in your file to one of its own fields, which are Date, Payee, Memo, Outflow and Inflow, and you can change any of those matches from a dropdown in the import window. It states plainly that you do not need to reformat the file.

The one that trips people up is a file with a single Amount column instead of separate debit and credit columns. YNAB handles it: choose that same column for both the Inflow and the Outflow field. It reads positive and negative values out of one column, and will often map it for you without being asked. If the signs come through backwards, Swap Inflow and Outflow fixes it in one click.

What genuinely does need work is a statement that is not a spreadsheet at all. A PDF has no columns for YNAB to match, which is where a conversion step belongs.

Will importing a file create duplicate transactions in YNAB?

Usually not, because YNAB skips imported transactions that carry the exact same date and amount as ones already in the account. It also matches file imports against transactions you entered by hand, as long as the amounts are exactly the same and the dates fall within ten days of each other.

Duplicates that do get through almost always come from dates. If the file you converted dates a transaction differently from the way it was originally imported, the two no longer look identical and both are kept. YNAB recommends deleting the duplicates and reconciling the account, because once an account is reconciled anything dated more than three days before that point stops importing.

One warning that catches people out: when you import transactions and then delete them, YNAB will not allow those same transactions into that account again. If you need them back you either enter them by hand or, as YNAB documents, create a new unlinked account, move the existing transactions across with Move to Account, and delete the old one.

Does YNAB import categories from a file?

No. YNAB is explicit that categories are not included in File Based Import, and the reason is that category information is not reliably present in the files banks produce. For the same reason you cannot create split transactions through an import.

This is not the loss it first sounds like. Categorizing is where YNAB does its actual work, and it offers bulk categorizing so a backfilled month can be sorted in a few passes rather than row by row. What the import needs to get right is the date, the payee and the amount, and those are exactly the three fields a converted statement carries.

CSV or OFX for YNAB: which should you export?

Export CSV for a one time backfill. It is the format YNAB prefers, the import preview shows you the columns before anything is written, and for a period that has never been in your plan there is nothing for duplicate detection to protect you from.

Export OFX or QFX when the same account will be imported repeatedly, or when the date ranges might overlap. Those formats give every transaction a FITID, a unique identifier the receiving program stores, so a period that has already been seen is recognized rather than added twice. YNAB also lets you drop several QFX or OFX files in at once, which suits a folder of monthly statements.

QIF is the one to avoid unless something upstream will produce nothing else. It carries no transaction identifier and its date handling is loose by design, so it inherits every duplicate problem CSV has without CSV being easy to inspect. If you want the detail, the OFX file format and QIF file format pages set out what each one actually stores.

How far back does YNAB Direct Import go?

It does not go back at all. Linking an account imports that day opening balance as a Starting Balance transaction, and YNAB states that anything which cleared before that date will not be imported. From then on, new transactions appear once they clear, typically within 24 to 72 hours.

The delay is worth understanding, since it is often mistaken for a broken connection. YNAB works with two providers, MX and Plaid, and picks whichever is performing better for your bank. Most linked accounts refresh once or twice a day, and some banks limit updates further, so a posted transaction can take up to three days to show up in your plan. Waiting is the right response there. Converting statements is the right response when the missing transactions are older than the day you linked the account.