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What you will accomplish
In one short session you can add one account, bring in a statement, review the transactions and understand your first spending totals. You can start without registering or connecting your bank.
1. Start with Personal
Open Cashflow Pilot, choose Personal, and add the account whose statement you downloaded. Confirm whether it is a bank or credit-card account and use the currency printed on the statement. Do not mix CAD and USD balances in one account.
For an easy first trial, use an account that has only ten or twenty recent transactions. You can add your other accounts later.
2. Import the statement
Open the Personal statement-import workflow. Select the file and confirm the account, dates and import preview. If your bank exports CSV, compare the debit and credit columns carefully; card spending may appear with the opposite sign from chequing withdrawals.
Review any warnings about overlapping dates, duplicates or missing fields before you confirm. See the complete statement import tutorial for file-specific tips.
3. Review three kinds of transaction
- Paycheque: check that a $2,000 deposit is income, not a refund.
- Groceries: check a $75 purchase has the right category. Cashflow can suggest categories, but the decision is yours.
- Transfer: if $300 went to another account you own, mark it as a transfer rather than an expense.
These figures are examples, not sample data automatically created in your account. The review step matters more than importing a large volume of transactions.
4. Check balances before trusting totals
For example, if a statement starts at $1,500, shows $2,000 in deposits and $850 in withdrawals, the expected ending balance is $2,650. Compare that with the statement closing balance. If it differs, inspect dates, signs, missing transactions and duplicates.
Cashflow's statement checks help you investigate discrepancies; they are not the same as automatically locking or certifying every transaction.
5. Explore the results
Review Personal Home, Transactions and Reports. Try filtering the month to see spending by category. A forecast becomes more informative after you configure recurring bills and confirm enough reliable account history.
6. Save a backup
Use Backup everything and store the ZIP somewhere safe. Signing in and turning on Cloud Sync are optional, separate decisions; neither replaces a restorable backup.
If something looks wrong
Do not import the same file repeatedly. Check the statement's date range and any import-undo option first. See why balances differ or the troubleshooting hub.
Want the bigger picture? Explore the Personal, Portfolio and Business product tour →