You can import many transactions at once from a file into FiQu. A transaction will be linked to an account and has either a negative amount (expense; money you paid) or a positive amount (income; money you received).
Two types of files to import transactions
You can use two types of files to import transactions:
- An .ODS (Open Document Spreadsheet) file in FiQu format. You can create this easily yourself with the free Libre Office software. Or with Microsoft Excel and then save your spreadsheet in the .ODS format.
- A .CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file from your bank. For selected banks only.
Two places in FiQu to import
Using this round button with this icon on the Transactions screen, you can import: .CSV files and .ODS files where the account name (column A) is empty. Before selecting a file from your device or Google Drive, you must first select an account, to which all transactions in this file will be added.
The Import button on the Settings screen also has this icon. Here you can only import .ODS files, with an account name in column A that exactly matches an account already created in FiQu. Every transaction in such an . ODS file can have a different account name, allowing imports for all your accounts in one go.
| Import using | .CSV files | .ODS files: empty account name | .ODS files: account name exists in FiQu app |
| Transaction screen | yes | yes | no |
| Settings screen | no | no | yes |
Accidentally imported the same file again?
Not a problem. FiQu will report that all transactions are already in the database. Provided you have not changed the account, amount, date or description of the already imported transactions.
It is ok if you have only added or changed category or added one or more hashtags to the description. Then the import mechanism still detects the transaction as duplicate, if you happen to import the same file again. Or the same transaction in another file, like a .CSV download for a period which overlaps with expenses and incomes already imported.
Create your own spreadsheet with transactions
Via this button you can download a sample .ODS spreadsheet in FiQu format. You can try it out to import into a test account. Or use it as template to import as many of your own transactions as you like.
If you open this spreadsheet, either with Libre Office or Excel, it will look like this:
Please keep the following in mind when using this file as template for your own imports:
- The transaction .ODS file can have only one tab/worksheet. You can change the name of it.
- The first row is reserved for column headings. You can use column names in your own language
- Do not change the order or the total number of columns: 8, up to column H.
| Column name .ODS | Meaning | How to populate |
| account name | FiQu account to which the transaction will be linked | Leave empty or fill with an account name that already exists in FiQu. See above what this means for the screen in FiQu where you can import the file. |
| date | Transaction date, mandatory | A valid date. Either you give this cell the “Date” type in your spreadsheet (recommended), or populate with either yyyy-mm-dd or mm\dd\yyyy formatted date. |
| amount | Negative (with minus sign; expense) or positive (income). Zero is not allowed. | |
| plus/minus | Indicates the sign of the amount, if the value in that column does not have one. | Leave empty, unless your bank statement or download only contains positive amounts and a separate column indicates positive or negative. Entering a value here will save you the trouble of adding minus signs to some amounts. The values that FiQu accepts are in the above sample: minus, expense, debit, DB and -/- |
| description | Describes what the transaction is about, mandatory | Any length of text, maximum 300 characters |
| contra account number | The bank account to which you paid, or where you received money from | Leave empty, unless provided on your bank account. If filled, this helps to automatically determine the transaction category after import. |
| category | FiQu category of this transaction | Leave empty and select later, or: enter an existing FiQu category |
| balance | How much money is left in this account after this transaction | Leave empty; you can periodically update account balance later. Or fill with the values from your bank statement |
Download a .CSV transaction file from your bank
Via your bank’s website you can download a bank statement with transactions (sometimes only balances) in .CSV format. At the moment FiQu only supports .CSV files from two Dutch banks: ING and Rabobank.
ING (Netherlands)
- Transactions: semicolon separated, English language and including account balance value after each transaction.
- Transactions: semicolon separated, Dutch language and also including balance after transaction amounts.
- Transactions: comma separated, English language (old format).
- Transactions: comma separated, Dutch language (old format).
- Balances per day: comma separated (old format).
Rabobank (Netherlands)
- Transactions: semicolon separated and including an account balance value after each transaction.
Unlimited importing of .CSV files
You can import a .CSV file of any period (from 2011 onwards) in one go into FiQu. Ten thousand transactions, for as many accounts as you like, will take less than a minute to import.