Import bank CSV to Xero

Can Xero read a PDF statement directly?

Only for some organisations. Xero Central says PDF statement import is available only to organisations in the United States and Canada, and not on the Xero Ledger plan. The PDF has to be in English, not password-protected, and 100 pages or fewer. Everywhere else, including the UK, the EU, and Australia, Xero imports a statement file such as CSV, OFX, QFX, or QIF instead.

BankSheet does not produce an OFX file and does not connect to Xero. For UK accounts it has dedicated support for text-based statement PDFs from Barclays, HSBC, and NatWest, and from Revolut. On Barclays, HSBC, and NatWest, numeric dates are read day first (02/08/2025 is 2 August, and a hyphen is accepted as well as a slash). Written months such as “2 Aug”, “02 Aug 24”, and “24 AUG” are read, and a missing year is taken from the statement period when the statement prints one; otherwise BankSheet infers the year and shows a warning to check it. When the opening and closing balances are found, the balance check compares the opening balance plus credits minus debits with the printed closing balance, and passes when the difference is at most 0.02. The Xero preset writes Date, Amount, Payee, Description, and Reference. Money in is a positive Amount and money out is negative. Payee is left blank. Reference is left blank on a single statement; when several statements are exported together, Reference is the statement label.

FAQ

Can Xero read a PDF statement directly?

Only for some organisations. Xero Central says PDF statement import is available only to organisations in the United States and Canada, and not on the Xero Ledger plan. The PDF has to be in English, not password-protected, and 100 pages or fewer. Everywhere else, including the UK, the EU, and Australia, Xero imports a statement file such as CSV, OFX, QFX, or QIF instead. BankSheet does not produce an OFX file and does not connect to Xero. For UK accounts it has dedicated support for text-based statement PDFs from Barclays, HSBC, and NatWest, and from Revolut. On Barclays, HSBC, and NatWest, numeric dates are read day first (02/08/2025 is 2 August, and a hyphen is accepted as well as a slash). Written months such as “2 Aug”, “02 Aug 24”, and “24 AUG” are read, and a missing year is taken from the statement period when the statement prints one; otherwise BankSheet infers the year and shows a warning to check it. When the opening and closing balances are found, the balance check compares the opening balance plus credits minus debits with the printed closing balance, and passes when the difference is at most 0.02. The Xero preset writes Date, Amount, Payee, Description, and Reference. Money in is a positive Amount and money out is negative. Payee is left blank. Reference is left blank on a single statement; when several statements are exported together, Reference is the statement label.

Which preset should I use for Xero?

Select the Xero export preset in BankSheet before downloading CSV so columns align with common Xero bank import formats.

Do UK banks work with this guide?

Yes. Barclays, HSBC, NatWest, and Revolut flows commonly use Xero — convert the PDF first, then import the CSV.