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News and updates about the platform

The Best Bank Statement OCR Software (and How to Tell If You Need It)
Which tools actually read a scanned bank statement, what they really cost once you normalise per-page and per-document pricing, and the two-minute test that tells you whether you need OCR at all.

The Best Bank Statement to CSV Converters (and the One Thing to Test First)
A comparison of seven bank statement converters on the things that actually break an import: sign handling, OCR, where your file is processed, real cost per page, and bulk. Written by the team behind ConvertFin, with our own tool ranked where it belongs.

The Best PDF to QBO Converters (and Why Half of You Should Not Buy One)
An honest comparison of PDF to QBO converters for QuickBooks Desktop, from the team behind one of them — including the institution-ID limit every third-party QBO file shares, and prices checked 2026-09-08.

How to Download Your Bank Statement as a PDF
Where the statement PDF actually lives in each major UK and US bank's site and app, how far back the archive goes, the print-to-PDF fallback when there is no download button, and why a screenshot will not do.

OFX, QBO, QFX, QIF or IIF: Which Bank File Format Do You Need?
A decision guide to the accounting file formats. Which one your software actually imports, how OFX, QBO, QFX, QIF and IIF relate, why renaming the extension fails, and when plain CSV is the better answer.

What Is a QIF File (and Why Its Dates Import a Month Wrong)
A QIF file is a plain text list of transactions, one field per line. Here is what each letter code means, why QIF dates break imports, how QIF compares to QFX, OFX, QBO and CSV, and how to open one.

What Is an IIF File (and Why QuickBooks Online Will Not Take One)
An IIF file is Intuit Interchange Format: tab-delimited text QuickBooks Desktop imports straight into the register. Here is the record structure, the balancing rule, the tab trap, and how to convert IIF to CSV or CSV to IIF.

How to Categorize Bank Transactions in Excel
Add a category column to your bank statement in Excel, then use SUMIF and a pivot table to see exactly where your money went. Works only if the rows are clean to begin with.

How to Get a Bank Statement PDF into Google Sheets
Google Sheets can't open a PDF and IMPORTDATA won't parse a statement. Here's the reliable path: convert the PDF to a clean CSV first, then use File > Import.

How to Import a Bank Statement into Wave Accounting
Wave's free plan often has no working bank connection, so the CSV upload is your only way in. Here is how to turn a PDF statement into the plain Date, Description, Amount file Wave accepts.