Importing a bank statement

Download a statement from your bank's netbanking or app, or use the PDF your bank emails you every month. In Ahead, open the account it belongs to and press Import statement. Drop the file in, or choose it.

Ahead shows every row before anything is added: the date, who it was to or from, the amount, and the category. Press Import when it looks right.

If the PDF is locked, Ahead asks for its password. Your bank told you what it is, often a mix of your name and date of birth. Ahead uses it once to open the file and does not keep it.

Most statements print your balance after every row. Ahead adds up each row and checks it reaches the same balance as your bank. When every row matches, it says so at the top, and you know nothing was read wrong or missed.

If a row does not match, it is marked. Look at it, or leave it out and add it yourself. Some statements have no balance column, so Ahead cannot check them row by row. It says that too. Compare the account's balance with your bank's after importing.

Money you spend needs a category, the same as when you type it in. Ahead groups the rows by who they were to, so one choice covers every row from that payee. Next month, Ahead remembers what you chose.

Money coming in can have a category or none. With none, it goes to Left to assign, like your salary.

Not ready to choose for some rows? Untick them and import the rest. Import the same statement again later: rows already in Ahead are skipped.

If you typed a transaction yourself and the statement has the same amount within three days, Ahead says it looks like one you entered and links the two instead of adding it again. You can choose to add it as a new row, or leave it out.

Rows older than the account's starting balance are left out, because that balance already includes them.

Import a card statement into the card's account. Purchases come in as spending on the card, and money back as money back.

A bill payment shows on your card statement as money coming in, but it is really a transfer from your bank account. Ahead leaves it out, so it is not counted as income. Record the payment from your bank account instead. If you already did, Ahead links the two.

A refund is left out too, unless Ahead knows the category it goes back to. Tick it and choose the category.

Right after importing, press Undo this import to take out every row it added. Rows you typed yourself stay. A row you have since reconciled against your bank stays too.

Ahead reads the PDF your bank makes, not a scan or a photo of one. If a PDF will not read, download the Excel or CSV version from netbanking instead.

If Ahead cannot tell which column is the date or the amount, it asks you. Choose them once and it reads the rows.

Ahead reads the file and then deletes it. Only the rows you import are kept. Ahead never asks for your bank login.