Cleaning a messy bank CSV export into real columns
May 9, 2025
Bank CSV exports arrive in every shape there is. Headers are found, columns are mapped to date, description, amount, and balance, and dates are normalised to sort.
Bank CSV exports agree on almost nothing. Some lead with a few rows of account preamble, some name the columns differently, and some split debit and credit while others sign a single amount. Dropped into a spreadsheet raw, they rarely sort.
The parser finds the real header, maps whatever it finds to date, description, amount, and balance, and normalises the dates so the sheet orders them properly. A signed column and a paired debit and credit column both come out the same way.
The result is a clean table with the columns lined up, ready to import into whatever bookkeeping software you use, without an afternoon of find and replace first.
