To keep your books accurate and gain a clear picture of your company's financial health, it is essential to import transactions for any financial accounts you have added manually. This guide provides a comprehensive walkthrough of how to upload PDF statements or CSV/Excel files for your manual bank, credit card, and other cash equivalent accounts in Dappr Accounting.
This process is specifically designed for accounts that were added manually, which might be necessary if your financial institution isn't supported by our Plaid integration, if you need to import historical data from before you started using Dappr, or if you simply prefer not to link accounts directly. If you connected an account using Plaid, Dappr syncs your transactions automatically, and the option to upload statements will not be available for that account.
How to upload statements
You can initiate a statement upload directly from the Bookkeeping section of the Dappr platform. The process begins on the page that lists all your connected financial accounts.
Navigate to Accounting from the main menu on the left, then select the Bookkeeping tab from the top menu.
On the Bank and cash page, locate the specific manual account you wish to update from the list.
To the right of the account's status, click the three-dot actions menu to reveal a list of options.
Select Upload statement from the dropdown menu. This option will only be visible for manually added accounts.
In the "Upload statement" pop-up window, you will first define the time period for the transactions you are uploading. The Statement month dropdown conveniently lists any past months for which a statement has not yet been provided, making it easy to catch up. If you have a single file that covers multiple months or even years—for instance, a comprehensive annual statement or a custom export—select Custom start and end date to define the precise period.
After setting the date range, choose the file format you will be using: PDF or CSV/Excel.
Uploading a PDF statement
Most financial institutions provide official monthly statements as downloadable PDF files from their online banking portals. Dappr's AI-powered system can analyze these documents using optical character recognition (OCR) to extract transaction data automatically, saving you significant data entry time.
In the "Upload statement" window, ensure PDF is selected as the file format.
Drag and drop your PDF statement file into the upload area, or click within the box to browse your computer and select the correct file.
Click Continue. Dappr will begin processing the file, which may take a few moments depending on the statement's length.
A new screen will appear, presenting the extracted transactions in a table on the left and a full preview of your uploaded statement on the right.
Review the extracted data carefully. This is a critical step. Compare the extracted transactions against the statement preview to verify that the date, description, and amount for each line item are perfectly accurate. Look for common OCR errors, such as a misplaced decimal or a misidentified number. If the system was unable to extract the data due to a complex layout or poor scan quality, or if transactions are missing, you can add them manually by clicking the Add transaction button at the bottom of the table.
Once you have verified that every transaction from the statement is present and accurate in the table, click the Save statement button in the top-right corner. Confirm your action by clicking Save transactions in the subsequent pop-up.
The transactions from the statement are now successfully imported into the account's ledger within Dappr and will appear on the account's transaction list, ready to be categorized and reconciled.
Uploading a CSV or Excel file
Using a CSV or Excel file is a highly effective method for importing a large volume of transactions, especially when catching up on an extended period of bookkeeping or when your bank's export options are limited to spreadsheet formats.
In the "Upload statement" window, select CSV/Excel as the file format.
You will be prompted to manually enter the Ending balance from your statement period. This is required because, unlike a formal PDF statement, a CSV file is just a raw list of transactions and does not contain summary data like a starting or ending balance. This figure is crucial for ensuring your account reconciles correctly later.
Click Continue. In the next window, upload your CSV or Excel file.
Map your data. The system needs your help to understand the spreadsheet. First, you will be asked to select the header row from your file (the row that contains titles like "Date" or "Description"). Then, you must map the columns from your spreadsheet to the required fields in Dappr: Posted date, Description, and Amount.
Click Review data to proceed. Dappr will validate the information in your file against the required formats.
Correct any errors. The system will flag any cells that do not meet the formatting requirements. Common errors include incorrect date formats (the system requires
mm/dd/yyyy) or the presence of currency symbols ($) or commas in the amount column. For a small number of errors, you can edit the cells directly in the review table. For widespread formatting issues, it is often faster to open the original file in an application like Excel or Numbers, correct the data, save the file, and then re-upload it using the Upload again button.
Once all data passes the review, a confirmation message will appear. Click Save transactions to complete the import process.
After a successful upload, you will be directed to the account page, where you can see all the newly imported transactions from your spreadsheet, ready for the final step of reconciliation.