Convert scanned bank statements and photos to Excel

What you can upload

Anything that shows a statement page as an image is read the same way as a digital PDF. Statements can be in any language and from any bank; there are no templates to wait for.

Handwriting isn't read. Typed and printed statements work; handwritten ledgers, notes in the margin and hand-filled passbook entries don't.

Why a balance check beats plain bank statement OCR

Generic OCR turns pixels into characters. It can't tell that an 8 was read as a 3, that a minus sign was lost in a smudge, or that a line disappeared at the bottom of a page. The output looks complete, and the error only shows up later when the books don't reconcile.

A bank statement carries its own proof: an opening balance, a closing balance and, on most statements, a running balance on every row. We use all three. A misread digit makes the running balance on that row disagree with the previous balance plus the amount, so the row is flagged with its page number instead of silently passing.

The same arithmetic fixes common mistakes. If an amount was read as money in but the running balance shows it was money out, the sign is corrected and the row is marked Sign corrected. Rows repeated at a page break, such as a line printed at the bottom of one page and the top of the next, are removed.

Photo and scan tips that get it right first time

Most problems with photographed statements come from the photo, not the statement. A few habits help:

• One page per photo, with all four edges of the page in the frame. A cropped edge can cut off the amount or balance column.
• Flat and straight. Put the page on a table, hold the phone parallel to it, and avoid folds and curled corners.
• Even light, no glare. Daylight from a window works well; the flash often leaves a bright spot right over the numbers.
• Sharp digits. Tap to focus and hold still. If you can't read a digit when you zoom in, it can't be read reliably either.
• Scanners: 300 dpi in grayscale or color is plenty. Higher resolution makes bigger files without better results.
• Keep a multi-page statement in one PDF. Then the opening balance on page 1 and the closing balance on the last page are checked together. Separate photos are read as separate files.
• iPhone photos: HEIC photos aren't supported. Upload a JPG or a PDF, or set Settings → Camera → Formats → Most Compatible so the camera saves JPG.

Phone scanner apps flatten, crop and combine pages into one PDF. On Android, the Google Drive app has one built in: see Google's guide to scanning documents. On iPhone, the Notes and Files apps can scan documents too.

What the Excel file looks like

You get the same columns whether the statement was a crisp PDF or a photo taken on a kitchen table, so a scanned statement and a digital one can sit in the same workbook.

The Summary sheet shows the balance check result for the statement: Balanced ✓, Does not balance — review flagged rows, or No balances to check when the page shows no balances at all.

When a scan doesn't balance

A statement that doesn't balance isn't a dead end. Open it, go to the flagged rows, and compare each one with the page shown next to it. Usually one amount is off by a digit or a row is unreadable. Edit the date, description or amount, save, and the balance check runs again.

Statements that don't balance don't use pages (up to 30 pages a month), and you see the transaction count, the balance check result and the first rows before you pay anything. See pricing.

Paper archives, old statements and client shoeboxes

Scanned statements usually turn up when someone needs history the bank no longer shows online: years of paper statements for a tax return, a client who kept everything in a folder, or old statements for a loan or mortgage application. Scan them in one batch, upload them together and export one workbook with every transaction in date order, optionally limited to a date range.

Bookkeepers catching up a client can export straight to the format their software imports. See how accountants and bookkeepers use it, or the step-by-step guide to converting a bank statement PDF to Excel.

Scanned PDF or digital PDF?

If you can still download the statement from online banking, do that: a digital PDF is sharper than any scan. If the bank also offers CSV or OFX downloads, upload those instead; structured files use no pages. See bank statement to CSV.

For everything else, such as paper-only statements, closed accounts and faxed copies from a branch, scanning is the way in, and the balance check tells you whether the result is complete. For digital statements, see bank statement PDF to Excel.

Questions