Here is a common scenario: You need to reconcile the books for a client, but they only provided PDF bank statements.

You try to upload the PDF to Xero or QuickBooks Online, but you get an error. These platforms do not accept PDF files for bank feeds. They only want CSV, OFX, or QIF formats.

Why built-in converters fail

You might try copying and pasting data from the PDF to Excel, but:

  • Debits and Credits get merged into one column.
  • Dates are formatted incorrectly.
  • Multi-line descriptions break the rows.

The “Clean CSV” Workflow

To bypass this limitation without spending hours on manual entry, you need a specialized converter.

  1. Upload the PDF: Use a tool like ParserData which is specifically designed for financial documents.
  2. AI Parsing: Unlike generic OCR, it detects the table structure and separates “Withdrawals” and “Deposits” into correct columns.
  3. Date Normalization: It auto-formats dates to the standard needed for import (DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY).
  4. Download CSV: You get a clean file that Xero/QuickBooks accepts immediately.

This simple step turns a 2-hour reconciliation job into a 5-minute task.