How-To Guide

7 min read

How to Import Bank Transaction to Wave (2026 Guide)

After converting your data with one of our tools, follow these steps to import the bank transaction into Wave.

Import Steps

Navigate to the Upload Transactions page

Log in to your Wave account. In the left-side menu, click Accounting and then Transactions. Click the More button in the top-right corner and select Upload Transactions from the dropdown. This opens the statement upload wizard.

Select your CSV file and payment account

Click Choose File and select the CSV bank statement you downloaded or generated. In the Payment Account dropdown, select the bank or credit card account where these transactions should be recorded. The account must already exist in Wave and its currency must match the CSV data.

Warning: Wave has a maximum limit of 1,000 rows per upload. If your CSV has more than 1,000 transactions, split it into smaller files.

Wave Accounting CSV import page showing file selection and payment account dropdown — Select your CSV file and choose the payment account where the transactions should be recorded.

Confirm the date column

On the Select Date page, Wave displays the columns from your CSV. Click on the column that contains the transaction date. For bank statements, select the transaction date (the date you made the purchase). For credit card statements, select the posting date (when the bank processed the charge). Click Confirm Date to proceed.

Tip: Wave expects dates with leading zeros in MM/DD/YYYY format (e.g., 01/15/2025 not 1/15/2025).

Wave CSV Import Select Date step showing transaction date column highlighted in the CSV preview with Confirm Date button — Click on the column containing the transaction date, then click Confirm Date to proceed.

Select the amount column

On the Select Amounts page, click on the column that contains the transaction amounts. If your CSV has a single amount column, select it and Wave will interpret positive values as deposits and negative values as withdrawals. If your CSV has separate deposit and withdrawal columns, Wave will ask you to identify each one. Click Confirm Amounts to continue.

Wave CSV Import Select Amounts step showing the amount column highlighted in the CSV preview — Select the column containing transaction amounts, then click Confirm Amounts.

Choose the description column

On the Select Description page, click the column that contains the best description for your transactions (payee names, memo text, or reference numbers). This description will appear on each transaction in Wave and helps you identify and categorize entries later. Click Select Description to proceed.

Wave CSV Import Select Description step showing the description column highlighted in the CSV preview — Select the column with the best transaction description, then click Select Description.

Review and upload your statement

Wave shows a final preview of how your transactions will be imported. Verify that dates, amounts, and descriptions look correct across several rows. If everything is accurate, click Upload My Statement to complete the import. Wave processes the file and adds the transactions to your selected account.

Categorize imported transactions

After the upload, your transactions appear in the Transactions list as uncategorized entries. Click each transaction to assign it to an income or expense category. Wave remembers your categorization choices and will suggest the same category for similar future transactions, speeding up subsequent imports.

Tip: If your bank offers OFX, QBO, QFX, or ASO download formats, those are easier to import into Wave than CSV files because they do not require manual column selection.

Wave Accounting Transactions page showing imported uncategorized transactions with date, description, amount, category, and account columns — Imported transactions appear in the Transactions list. Click each one to assign it to an income or expense category.

Required Wave Fields

Field	Type	Description	Example
Date	Date	Transaction date (MM/DD/YYYY with leading zeros)	01/15/2025
Description	Text	Transaction description (payee, memo, reference)	PayPal Payment from John Smith
Amount	Currency	Transaction amount (positive for deposits/income, negative for withdrawals/expenses)	97.10

Wave requires these fields for successful import.

Tip Make sure your converted file is saved and ready before starting the import. You can preview the converted data in the tool before downloading.

Frequently Asked Questions

Wave accepts CSV files for importing bank transaction. Our converter ensures the file is formatted correctly for Wave.

Check the error message from the platform. Common issues include date format mismatches, missing required fields, or duplicate entries. Our converter handles most formatting issues automatically.