YNAB file import: account, CSV preview and mobile limits

YNAB’s current file-import preview lets you choose the destination account and map CSV fields. If you cannot find an import button on a phone, check the supported device before rebuilding the bank file: file-based import is available on the web and a supported iPad, not iPhone or Android.

LocalExtract prepares a CSV locally from a statement PDF. Importing that CSV into YNAB is a separate operation with YNAB’s own processing and privacy boundaries. The CSV columns are date,description,amount.

Choose the current route, not an outdated format rule

The official File-Based Import guide, updated September 22, 2026, now recommends CSV. OFX, QFX and QIF remain alternatives. Do not follow an older assumption that CSV must first become QFX.

On the web, drag the downloaded file into YNAB and inspect Import Transactions before confirming. On a multitasking-capable iPad, the guide describes Safari’s desktop site and dragging the bank file from Files in Split View; its iPad steps specifically name QFX/QIF/OFX. That is not proof of an import control in every mobile app or of every iPad/browser combination.

Check the account and the first visible row

At the top of the preview, confirm the intended account. Review field assignments using their dropdowns rather than assuming the saved mapping suits this bank export. Remember setting for this account is selected by default, so an earlier choice may persist.

If the first row is a real transaction, use No header row; if it contains column labels, retain the header interpretation. Check the option to include or exclude transactions before the account’s start date. Excluding older rows is not evidence that they were absent from the source.

YNAB no longer skips every zero-amount row. Inspect padding and informational rows in the original file rather than allowing them to become meaningless zero-value transactions. Do not remove a genuine event solely because its amount is zero.

A single signed Amount column is sufficient

The guide allows the same Amount column to be selected for both Inflow and Outflow. YNAB reads its signs; there is no general requirement to manufacture two separate source columns. Use Swap Inflow and Outflow only when an independently known debit and credit show reversed directions.

In our invented account, a signed −18 payment and a signed +45 receipt represent an outflow of 18 and an inflow of 45 respectively under the stated cash-account convention. The synthetic preview worksheet checks direction, header choice and the selected start-date boundary. Python models the example; YNAB itself has not been run.

Keep import scope and privacy explicit

File-based import cannot import your CSV’s categories or split structures. YNAB may clean payee names and infer categories afterward; inspect the register rather than assuming the raw bank narrative remains identical. For file dates and decimals, use the CSV locale guide.

YNAB says the uploaded file is sent over an encrypted connection and processed on its servers; only confirmed transactions are saved to the plan. LocalExtract’s local PDF extraction does not make that later upload local. Extract a PDF on your device, then decide separately whether to send its reviewed CSV to YNAB.

Official YNAB documentation checked October 16, 2026.