#TipTuesday: Tips to ensure a successful CSV import.

Coach Blake

Depending on when you add your accounts in Simplifi, you may want or need more than 90 days of transactions downloaded. We have the ability to import CSV files to pull in as much data as you can get from your financial institution.

Instructions

1. Hover over the menu on the left-hand side and select Transactions.

2. Select the Account that you'd like to import into.

3. Click the upward-facing arrow inside of a cloud icon, located to the upper right of the register (to the right of the search box).

4. Select where you're importing from.

5. Make sure that the correct Account is selected, then select the CSV file that you'd like to import or Drag & Drop the file into the window.

6. Click Import, and once complete, you'll receive a message stating "CSV Uploaded Successfully".

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1. Transactions can only be imported into Simplifi once. If you accidentally delete an imported transaction, you can add it manually.
2. If you are importing categories, make sure the categories already exist in Simplifi beforehand.

3. If you are using the Other option to import your own CSV file, you'll want to make sure that your spreadsheet uses the exact same column headers that we've provided, and that your dates and amounts are formatted like the examples. We recommend downloading and using our CSV template to avoid any issues with importing. 

If you run into any trouble importing transactions, please don't hesitate to contact one of our Coaches through the Simplifi Help Center!

Please let us know what methods have worked best for you when importing transactions!

Coach Nicole

Hi Everyone!

It's been a while since we discussed importing transactions, so I wanted to share a few additional tips to ensure a successful CSV import.

First, if you're importing from Mint, Personal Captial, or Apple Card, you mustn't alter the download before importing into Simplifi. This is because our system maps specific fields on downloads from those locations to fields within Simplifi. Changing those fields can lead to issues when importing.

Second, if you're creating your CSV file or using our downloadable template, not only should your column headers match, but so should the format of your dates and amounts. For example, dates should be in the M/D/YYYY form (i.e., 1/1/2022, not 01/01/2022), and the amounts should not include dollar signs.

Finally, we're working on adding error messaging to help users identify issues, but you may not always receive one. For example, if you're trying to import the same file multiple times into the same account, Simplifi doesn't present an error. Instead, you'll see an importing icon that appears, then disappears, and no new information is imported to the account. If you encounter any trouble, be sure to reach out and let us know!

You can also check out our new YouTube video that covers importing and exporting transactions in Simplifi!

We'd love to hear your best practices on importing transactions!

ahrosales5

In the instructions above, you mention importing Categories. And yet your sample template only has Tags, not Categories. Is it possible to assign categories to the transactions in the CSV file before importing them? And what would a template including Categories look like? Thank you!

Coach Natalie

Hello @ahrosales5,

Thanks for the inquiry!

At this time, Categories will not import into Simplifi, unfortunately. I'd suggest taking a look over our Support Article here for more details on importing transactions in Simplifi.

Please let us know if you have any further questions!

-Coach Natalie

corefi

Really, the import format should reflect the export format of Simplifi. The fact that we can't add notes or descriptions is pretty crazy. The format I'm talking about is when you export from Simplifi, you get: "account state postedOn payee category tags notes amount action security description quantity price commission"

This should also be the import format.