Import your first data

A bank connection brings recent activity, and a file brings the years before it: the transactions and balances held by the app you are leaving, or by a bank you no longer use. The Import page reads that file, shows you every row it is about to write, and writes nothing until you click Import. This page walks one first import from start to finish: which file to export, the order that avoids duplicates, and what each step of the wizard asks. CSV & PDF importers lists every file Taiga Finance reads; Migrate from Monarch walks the Monarch files in particular.

What is the first import?

A new household’s ledger starts at the first sync, so a report over last year has nothing to read. The first import fills that gap once, from the export your old app or bank already offers. It runs on the Import page in four steps, Source, Upload, Map and Review, with a stepper across the top. Every row lands on an account you already have, carries a category you decided on, and is skipped when Taiga Finance already holds it. After the import, Transactions, Reports and the net-worth chart read the history like anything a bank sent.

Which file do I export?

Taiga Finance reads four apps’ own exports by name and maps their columns without asking. Anything else comes in through Bank CSV, which reads a file by its values, or as a PDF statement, which AI reads. The in-app tile for each source names the file it expects.

Where the history is	Source tile on the Transactions tab	The file
Monarch Money	Monarch Money	transactions.csv
YNAB	YNAB	Register.csv
Empower (Personal Capital)	Empower (Personal Capital)	export.csv
Rocket Money	Rocket Money	transactions.csv
Any other app, bank or card	Bank CSV	A CSV from the bank’s statements or transaction-history page, over the date range you want
A statement you already have	PDF statement	The statement PDF, with Smart categorization & enrichment on in Settings

Each app keeps its export under a settings, account or data-export menu; choose CSV when offered a format. Balance history is a separate file: any CSV with a date and a balance column, and an account column when it covers several accounts, imports on the Balance history tab. Monarch’s balance export is recognized as is.

In what order do I import?

Transactions map onto accounts that already exist, so the Import page’s Source step shows the hint Transactions map onto accounts that already exist until you have one. The order that avoids duplicates:

1. Connect the banks and cards you still use. A connection creates each account with its last four digits, the strongest signal for matching a file’s rows onto it.
2. Import balance history on the Balance history tab for anything you can’t connect, such as a closed account. The accounts you create there exist for the transaction import.
3. Import transactions last. Rows that overlap with a live connection are recognized as duplicates and skipped.

How do I import a transactions file?

1. Open Import from the sidebar. The page opens on the Transactions tab, on the Source step.

2. Click the tile for the app the file came from. The tile’s hint names the file, and the Upload card takes its place.

3. Drop the file on the card, or click to choose it, and click to upload. The card reads Nothing will be uploaded before you review and confirm. A staged list headed Building your preview ticks through Reading your file, Resolving merchants, Categorizing, Checking for duplicates, Suggesting category mappings and Matching accounts, each finishing with a count, and settles on Ready to review. A PDF statement adds Reading your statement first.

4. On the Map step, headed Map N accounts and categories, confirm where each account in the file lands. A row with a match shows the matched account with a Best match tag and a ✓ Confirm button; ✓ Confirm all matched commits every matched row at once. For a row with no match, pick the account from the Map to account menu, or click + Create account when it is not in Taiga Finance yet. A created row is tagged NEW ACCOUNT.

5. Under Category review on the same step, give each source category one decision: Map to existing category, Create new, Auto-categorize each transaction or Leave uncategorized. A category Taiga Finance guessed shows a Suggested tag beside the guess and an Accept button; the guess becomes a mapping only when you accept it. The decision is kept, so the next file from the same app applies it without asking.

6. Click Continue to review →. Taiga Finance applies the category decisions and rebuilds the preview.

7. On the Review step, read the table. Filters above it count All rows, Dup · ID and Dup · content, plus Needs a look and Will update when any row qualifies. A duplicate row is skipped, not imported.

8. Click Import N transactions. The button names the count that will be written. While a mapped row still has no account, it is disabled with Pick an account for every mapped row, or skip it. Back to mapping returns to the Map step.

9. The finished card reads N transactions imported, with N skipped as duplicates below it, then N updated from pending or N excluded by you when either applies. Import another returns to the Source step.

Note

With Smart categorization & enrichment off, the third category decision reads Auto-categorize (rules only — AI off), and the PDF statement tile is greyed out with Turn on AI in Settings.

How is a Bank CSV different?

A Bank CSV has no known shape, so its Upload step leads to Map your columns instead of straight to the account map. Taiga Finance reads the file by its values and reports what it found: We recognized every column. when a date, description and amount were clear, or We read your file by its values. with the count of fields it mapped. Pick the account the file belongs to under Pick an account…, since a bank’s file covers one account. How we read this file shows the Sign convention, Keep as-is or Flip signs, and the Date order, MM / DD or DD / MM, with the interpreted rows below so a wrong guess shows before anything is written. Click Review N transactions → to continue, or Map columns myself to assign each column by hand. The button stays disabled with A date, a description, and an amount column are required. or An account is required. until both hold. A second file of the same shape opens with We’ve seen this shape before. and the saved mapping applied.

What happens when I click Import?

Taiga Finance writes the rows that are not duplicates to the ledger, each under the account you mapped it to and with the category you decided. Categorization ran while the preview was built, so the import itself does not run it again. A row whose ID matches a pending transaction and carries a posted status updates that transaction’s status instead of adding a row. Nothing else changes: a transaction you already had keeps its category and merchant. The new rows appear in Transactions at once, and every page that reads transactions, Reports, Recurring and Plan, reads them from then on.

Troubleshooting

A dialog asks “Leave this import?”

You navigated away, or switched the destination tab, with a file uploaded and decisions made. Nothing has been written. Stay keeps the import where it was; Leave or Switch discards the staged file and its mapping.

The Import button is disabled with “Pick an account for every mapped row, or skip it.”

A row on the Map step is set to map but names no account. Go Back to mapping, and pick an account from Map to account for that row or create one.

Every row is tagged a “Dup · content” or ID duplicate and nothing imports.

Taiga Finance already holds those transactions, usually from a bank connection covering the same dates or from an earlier import of the same file. The import writes nothing twice. How Taiga Finance skips duplicates describes both checks.

FAQ

Can I import the same file again?

Yes. Every incoming row is checked against your transactions, so a second pass of the same file adds nothing. A category or merchant you changed on a row stays as you left it.

Does the import write anything before I review it?

No. The upload is staged, the preview is built from it, and the ledger changes only on Import N transactions. Leaving the page discards the staged file.

Can I import balances the same way?

Yes. The Balance history tab takes a CSV with a date and a balance column, maps its accounts the same way, and offers Skip or Fill forward for dates without a reading. It never overwrites a balance a bank synced or one you pinned by hand. Migrate from Monarch walks that tab.

Where do the imported transactions show up?

Everywhere a synced one does. Transactions lists them, Reports sums them, Recurring reads them for repeating charges, and the net-worth chart reads imported balances. An imported transaction is edited, split and given a new category like any other.

Can I import from an app that isn’t listed?

Yes, through Bank CSV, which maps any column layout, or as a PDF statement with AI on. CSV & PDF importers lists what each tab accepts.