Bank files: Preparing your bank files & accepted file types

Most online banking services offer several file export options, allowing you to import your transactions into PocketSmith. We support a wide variety of bank files, so you can bring over your transaction history regardless of where you bank! 🏦 💼 Read on to learn about accepted file types in PocketSmith.

Before you can import your transactions into PocketSmith using bank files, you will need to export the files from your online banking website. To do this, log in to your online banking and take a look at the export options. You will need to export files for each bank account you'd like to have in PocketSmith.

Each online banking website will look different; however, most should provide an export option.

Once you have exported your bank files in one of the formats listed below, you are ready to import them straight into PocketSmith!

Bank statements are different to bank files. PocketSmith does not accept bank statements downloaded from your bank. See supported file types below.

Four different file types can be used to import transactions into PocketSmith. These file types are OFX, QFX, QIF, and CSV.

OFX stands for Open Financial Exchange. OFX files follow a defined specification, which means you do not need to provide PocketSmith with any additional information. We recommend using OFX files when possible.

A QFX file is a standard OFX file. The only difference is that a QFX file is Intuit's version of the standard OFX format for Quicken. Typically, QFX files are just as seamless to use as OFX files.

QIF stands for Quicken Interchange Format, which is an older standard format, compared to OFX. A QIF file should be imported as easily as OFX and QFX.

CSV stands for  Comma-Separated Values, and this file type stores tabular data in plain text format. It is not a standardised format like OFX and QIF. Different banks provide CSV files that are in various layouts. You should only choose CSV files if OFX, QFX or QIF files are not available.

When importing a CSV file, you need to identify and select the information is in each column (i.e., merchant, amount, and date) so that PocketSmith knows how to import the file correctly. For details on how to set up a CSV format, see: CSV file formats

Currently, it is not possible to import other file types into PocketSmith. For example, some banks only provide PDF files. We cannot import bank statements or PDF files, as this is a presentation format, so it is not possible to easily extract transaction data.