I download monthly statements as PDFs and need them in CSV so I can import transactions into my bookkeeping sheet. I tried copying and pasting but the columns get messy - what’s the best way to handle this?
Honestly, check your online banking first to see if you can download a CSV directly instead of the PDF. Most banks have it buried in the export settings. If not, Excel has a Data from PDF feature that handles tables pretty well.
Copying and pasting usually breaks because the PDF stores each line separately rather than as a real table. I would try exporting the table with Tabula or Adobe Acrobat, then check the dates, negative amounts, and running balance before importing. If the statement is scanned, run OCR first, since CSV conversion alone will not read the text reliably.