How to import a bank statement
into Xero.
When a bank feed is missing transactions, or your bank doesn’t offer one, you can import statement lines into Xero yourself. Xero can’t read a PDF, so the first step is turning the statement into a CSV.
Why you can’t upload the PDF directly
Xero’s statement import accepts structured files such as CSV, OFX and QIF, not PDFs. A PDF is a picture of the statement for people to read; Xero needs one row per transaction with a date and an amount it can match during reconciliation.
Step 1: Convert the PDF statement to CSV
Upload your PDF statement to BankPDFExport, review the extracted transactions against the original, and download the CSV. Each row contains the date (YYYY-MM-DD), the description, and a signed amount: negative for money out, positive for money in. That is exactly the shape Xero expects.
Step 2: Check the date range
Before importing, check which transactions are already in Xero for that bank account. Delete rows from the CSV that are already there, or Xero will show them twice in the reconciliation screen. Importing a statement that overlaps a bank feed is the most common cause of duplicates.
Step 3: Import into Xero
In Xero, open Accounting → Bank accounts, find the account, and choose Manage account → Import a statement. Select your CSV file and continue.
Xero then asks you to map each column. Map the date column to Transaction Date, the amount column to Transaction Amount, and the description to Description (or Payee). Leave the balance column unassigned. Confirm the date format matches the file, review the preview, and complete the import.
Step 4: Reconcile
The imported lines appear on the account’s reconcile tab, ready to match against invoices, bills and bank rules, just like feed transactions. Check that the closing balance in Xero matches the closing balance on your PDF statement.