Guide

Why won't my bank statement PDF convert? Seven causes and fixes

You drop a bank statement PDF into a converter and get nothing, or a table full of nonsense. These are seven common causes to check.

1. The PDF is a picture, not text

If the statement was scanned or photographed, the page is an image. A text-only converter cannot read the image without OCR. Test it: open the PDF and try to select a line with your mouse, or press Ctrl+F and search for a word you can see. If you cannot select or find text, it may be an image or have a damaged text layer. Statement Converter does not do OCR, so the options are to download the text version from your bank, use the bank's CSV export, or run OCR in another tool first and then check every number.

2. The PDF is password protected

Some banks encrypt statements with a password. Use the password instructions supplied by your bank. Open the file in your PDF viewer, enter the password, and save or print a copy without protection. Then convert that copy. Statement Converter tells you when it meets a protected file.

3. Columns run together

PDFs have no real tables. Each piece of text sits at a position on the page. When a bank puts Paid out and Paid in close together, a converter can put an amount in the wrong column. The fix is to check the preview against the statement, and when the running-balance check fails on a row, look at that row first.

4. Descriptions wrap onto a second line

A long payee name often continues on the line below with no date. A good reader joins those lines to the transaction above. If your result has rows with no amount, or a description that stops halfway, line wrapping may be the cause.

5. The dates have no year

Many statements print only 15 Oct and put the year in the header. The converter has to take the year from elsewhere on the page. Statements that cross New Year are the risky ones, because December and January need different years. Look at the first and last date in the preview.

6. Money direction is not printed

Some statements print every amount as a plain positive number and rely on the running balance or on a CR or DR mark to show direction. When balances are printed, the converter can work out the direction from the balance change. When they are not, choosing bank or card alone cannot resolve every unsigned amount. Pick the statement type, then verify and correct each direction against the source statement or use the bank CSV.

7. Several accounts in one PDF

A combined statement lists a checking account, then a savings account, each with its own opening balance. Statement Converter can re-read repeated column headers, but it does not separate accounts into distinct export files. Do not export a combined-account result as one account. Use a separate statement or CSV for each account and confirm its totals. If your accounting tool imports one account at a time, convert and import each section separately.

When nothing works

Ask your bank for a CSV or OFX download. Structured bank data avoids many of the layout problems of PDF conversion. Use the PDF route when the bank only gives you PDFs, or when you need old statements that are not available as CSV.

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