How to Import a Bank Statement
Scanning receipts catches what you remembered to capture. A statement catches the rest: the direct debit, the tap you made in a hurry, the subscription that renewed quietly in March. Importing one is not about replacing your records with a bank feed. It is about reading down a list once and ticking the handful of lines that never became a record.
Updated: 2026-09-13
Short answer
Export the statement as a PDF from your bank app, then share it into HeyJerni with the iOS share sheet. There is no import button inside the app, because the file has to come to it.
The import opens on a three-step review: transfers, then charges, then categories. Nothing is written to your records until you tap Add, so you can go back and forth, or leave and come back tomorrow.
Export from the bank app rather than photographing a printed statement. A scan is an image of text, and the reader needs the text itself.
The four steps
1
Export the PDF from your bank
In your banking app, open the account and look for Statements or Documents, then export the period you want as a PDF. The table below has the path for ANZ Plus and NAB.
2
Share it into HeyJerni
On the PDF, tap Share and choose HeyJerni, either straight from the bank app or later from the Files app. The app opens on the import. HeyJerni sits in the row of app icons, not the list of actions below it; if it is not there yet, tap More at the end of that row and turn it on once.
3
Work down the three steps
Transfers first, then the charges you want to keep, then categories by shop. Each step has a button that carries you to the next one, and the stepper at the top moves you back.
4
Tap Add
Only the ticked charges become records, each with the category you gave it. Anything you left untouched is simply not imported.
Where the export is, bank by bank
Banks move things when they redesign. If yours has moved, the thing you are looking for is called Statements, Documents or eStatements, and it lives on the account.
| Bank | Where to tap | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| ANZ Plus | Profile, then Statements. Open the one you want and use the share icon on it | A PDF for that month, shared without leaving the app |
| NAB | The account, then Statements, then Download your recent transactions. Pick a date range, tap Generate your PDF, then Share | A PDF of the range you chose, going back up to two years in the app |
| Any other bank | On the account, under Statements, Documents or eStatements | Whatever the bank produces. A text PDF goes through the general reader |
Longer periods are sometimes only available through internet banking rather than the app. A statement downloaded on a computer works too, as long as it reaches the phone as a file.
Handing the file over
Tap Share on the PDF and HeyJerni is in the row of app icons, the strip above Copy and Print. That row is the one that opens apps; the list underneath it only performs actions on the file.
A fresh install may not be in that row yet. Tap More at the end of it, turn HeyJerni on once, and it stays there. Everything after this happens inside the app, and the statement is read on the phone.
Which statements can be read
Two banks have readers written against their exact layout. Everything else goes through a general reader, which handles most text PDFs and will tell you when it is unsure.
ANZ Plus
Read line by line, including the continuation line that carries the real transaction date, which is why an ANZ Plus charge lands on the day you made it rather than the day it settled.
NAB
Read line by line. NAB prints a running balance once a day rather than once a line, and the balance check accounts for that instead of calling a good statement broken.
Other banks
A general reader takes the columns as printed. It works on most text-based PDF statements. Lines it cannot read are listed rather than dropped, so you can see exactly what it missed.
A photographed statement
Will not work, and says so rather than importing half of it. A photo or a scan holds no text to read. Export the file from the bank app instead.
Step one: transfers, so they never count as spending
Money you moved between your own accounts is not an expense, but on a statement it looks exactly like one. The first step groups those lines by the account on the other side and asks a single question about each group: your account, or an expense?
Leave a group as My account and its lines stay out of your records entirely. The answer is remembered, so the same account you moved money to last month does not ask again next time.
Step two: tick what never became a record
The charges step is the list you actually work. Charges that match something already in your records are flagged, so the coffee you scanned a receipt for does not get added a second time.
Most lines arrive with a category already filled in, worked out on the phone from the merchant name. Filters narrow the list down, and sorting by Unfiled brings whatever still needs a decision to the top.
What the import does on its own
The point of the review is that none of this is taken on trust. Every one of these is visible and changeable before anything is saved.
| It does this | So that | |
|---|---|---|
| Holds transfers out of the charge list | Moving your own money never shows up as spending | |
| Flags charges that match an existing record | A receipt you already scanned is not duplicated | |
| Fills in a category from the merchant name | Most of the list needs no decision at all | |
| Checks the running balance the statement prints | A misread amount or a missed line is caught, not hidden | |
| Lists every line it could not read | Nothing disappears quietly | |
| Keeps the import until you discard it | Leaving the screen does not cost you the work |
The balance check, and why it is worth reading
A statement prints its own running balance. Reading the charges and following that balance from one checkpoint to the next proves something a careful parser cannot prove about itself: that no line was missed, no amount was misread, and every debit and credit went the right way.
When it does not add up, the import says so at the top of the list rather than presenting a tidy set of rows that is quietly missing some. A partial list you know is partial is far more useful than a complete-looking one that is not.
The same principle covers lines the reader could not parse at all. They are counted, and you can open the list and read the raw text of each one, which is usually enough to type in the couple it could not handle.
Before you import, check
Thirty seconds here saves working through a list that was never going to be right.
- The file is a PDF exported by the bank, not a photo or a screenshot
- The period is the one you want, and does not overlap an import you already did
- You are importing the account you actually spend from
- You have a few minutes, though you do not need them all at once
Whether a particular expense is deductible depends on your circumstances and current ATO rules. Importing a statement is a record-keeping step, not tax advice.
Leaving part way through
An import waits. Leave the screen, close the app, come back tomorrow, and a card on your Records screen takes you back to the same review with your ticks and categories still there.
It is gone only when you discard it, which also deletes the statement file from the phone. Records you already added stay where they are.
Frequently asked questions
Does importing a statement connect HeyJerni to my bank?
No. You export the PDF yourself and hand it over like any other file. There is no credential, no data provider in the middle, and no standing access to the account. The file is read on your iPhone and is never uploaded.
Which banks are supported?
ANZ Plus and NAB statements have readers written for their exact layout. Other banks go through a general reader that handles most text-based PDF statements. Because you review every line before anything is saved, an unfamiliar statement is worth trying.
Why can it not read my statement?
Almost always because the PDF is a scan rather than text, which happens when a printed statement is photographed or a bank produces an image-only file. Export the statement again from the bank app. If it is a text PDF and still fails, the layout is one the general reader cannot follow.
Can I import a CSV instead?
Not currently. PDF statements only, because that is the format every bank app will hand you without a desktop.
What happens if I import the same statement twice?
Charges matching records you already have are flagged as possibly recorded, so the overlap is visible before you add anything. Overlapping periods are still worth avoiding, since the flag is a warning and not a lock.
Do I have to give everything a category?
No. You can add charges with no category and file them later. Record Check will keep reminding you about them rather than blocking the import.
Is the statement file kept on my phone?
It is kept while the import is unfinished, so you can come back to it, and deleted when you discard the import. It is moved out of the share container as soon as it arrives, into storage the app encrypts.
Read next
- Expense tracker without bank linkingWhy the file comes to the app rather than the app going to the bank.
- How to organise receipts for tax timeWhere a quarterly statement sweep fits in the wider routine.
- How to keep digital receiptsThe subscriptions and direct debits a statement is the only trace of.
- How to separate work and personal expensesGiving the imported charges a purpose, not only a category.
Australian references
Last reviewed: September 2026. Tax information on this page is based on publicly available Australian Taxation Office guidance. HeyJerni is a record-keeping tool and does not provide tax or financial advice.
Read the statement once, then forget it
HeyJerni reads the PDF on your phone, holds transfers out, flags what you already recorded, and files most of the rest before you look at it.