How does a manual bank import work?

If your bank isn't supported by our automated bank feeds, or you don't want to use them, then you can do a manual bank import instead.

With Bokio’s bank import, you log in to your online banking, take a copy of your account statement and paste it into Bokio. We then let the computer analyse it for you and read the dates and amounts and suggest what the different transactions might be. You can then check everything as normal and approve the recording of the different transactions. If you use the invoice method, you can also set the invoice date for the invoices you’ve paid so that these are also input correctly.

Step 1: Copy from the bank

Log in to your online banking and copy the lines you want to import into Bokio. Ctrl+C on PC and ⌘+C on Mac. For the lines and columns to be read by Bokio, sometimes you need to paste the extract into Excel first and then adjust and correct the table. Copying directly from a PDF file can be difficult for the system to read.

Bear in mind the following:

1. The date format must be DD/MM/YYYY or DD/MM/YY

2. All lines must be completed. The column for “Description” is often not included on all account lines. You can overcome this by entering a hyphen, for example.

Step 2: Paste into Bokio

You can reach the manual bank import by clicking Bank feeds on the left hand menu. Then click on the payment account you wish to import for and not the connect your bank button.

bank accounts

You will then come to the below page where you can click on “Import manually” and you’ll see the history of previously imported bank lines.

import manually

If you are using bank feeds but need to import some earlier transactions or there is a technical issue you can access the manual import by going to "Bank feeds" and then clicking on the specific bank. At the bottom of the page you can click on "Import transactions manually

transactions from bank feeds

Then select which account the import relates to e.g. company account (1200). The account you select here will be the account the bank line is recorded on.

Paste the lines (Ctrl+V on PC and ⌘+V on Mac) and click “Next”. If Bokio is unable to read the table, we’ll warn you.

paste bank data

If you are unsure on what to do you can click on “View sample statement” where you will receive further instructions.

Step 3: Checking columns

Check that the columns match the headings “Date”, “Message”, and “Amount”. If they don’t, edit them or ignore the column. If so, select “No, Change columns”.

check columns

Change the respective column as required. When you’re done, click “Use new columns”.

use new columns

To import the bank lines, click “Yes, import”.

The next step is to match the bank lines against existing journal entries or saved customer and supplier invoices.

Bank imports aren’t working

If the import doesn’t work we usually recommend that you first paste into Excel to adjust any uneven columns. You can then usually add the import to Bokio. If it still doesn’t work, we’ll be happy to help.