Getting started 3 min read · Updated May 2026

Upload a CSV bank statement

CSV upload is the fallback (and sometimes the preference) when you'd rather not use Plaid. PeakBooks auto-detects most U.S. bank formats and de-duplicates rows you've already imported.

What you need

A CSV (comma-separated values) file exported from your online banking. Most banks offer this under Statements, Activity, or Download.
At minimum, the CSV needs three columns: a date, a description or memo, and an amount (or separate debit / credit columns).
The account in PeakBooks already created. If you haven't added it yet, go to Settings › Accounts › Add account › Manual first.

Upload

Go to Statements in the sidebar and click Upload statement.
Pick the account this statement is for. (Picking the wrong account is the most common mistake — double-check.)
Drop the CSV file onto the upload area, or click to choose it.
PeakBooks detects the format and shows you a preview of what it'll import — date, description, amount for each row. Scroll through to spot-check.
If anything looks off (e.g., dates parsed wrong, signs flipped), use the column-mapping dropdowns above the preview to point us at the right columns.
Click Import. New transactions appear on the Transactions view, ready to categorize.

Already imported this statement?

It's safe to upload the same CSV twice. We hash each row (date + amount + description) and skip rows we've already imported, so you won't see duplicates.

Common gotchas

Signs are flipped (every charge looks like income)

Some banks export charges as positive numbers and credits as negative, others the other way around. If the preview shows everything backward, change the Amount column selection to its sibling (e.g., "Withdrawals" instead of "Amount") or flip the sign with the toggle in the preview header.

Dates won't parse

U.S. banks use M/D/YYYY, U.K. banks use D/M/YYYY, and some use YYYY-MM-DD. The preview will show "Invalid date" on rows it can't parse. Use the Date format dropdown to tell us which one your bank uses.

My credit card statement is missing payments

Some credit cards export a separate "payments" CSV from "purchases." Upload both — PeakBooks treats each row independently and the totals will match your statement balance after both are in.

Excel saved it as XLSX, not CSV

In Excel, click File → Save As → CSV (Comma delimited). PeakBooks reads .csv only, not .xlsx.

What to do next

Categorize the imported transactions Reconcile against the statement Or connect via Plaid for automatic syncing

Was this article helpful? Email support@peakbooksapp.com if anything was unclear.