Scanned bank statement to CSV
A scanned statement is an image, not text. Open one in a PDF reader, try to select a line, and nothing highlights. Every text-extraction tool fails on these, which is why scans and phone photos are the hardest statements to get into a spreadsheet.
Drop a scanned statement
Drop your PDF statement here
or click to browse · 10MB max · nothing is stored
How to tell if your PDF is scanned
Open it and try to select a transaction line with the cursor. If the text highlights, the PDF is text-based. If the whole page selects as one block or nothing selects at all, it is an image and needs to be read visually rather than parsed.
What makes scans hard
Skew, shadows, low contrast and compression artefacts all attack the same thing: distinguishing digits. The characters that get confused are the ones that matter most, particularly 3 and 8, 5 and 6, and 1 and 7 in handwritten annotations.
Getting a better scan
The quality of the input decides the quality of the output:
- Scan at 300 dpi or higher rather than the default 150
- Use grayscale rather than aggressive black and white thresholding
- Photograph flat, straight on, with even light and no shadow across the page
- Avoid re-compressing the file after scanning
Always verify a scanned conversion
Scanned output deserves more scrutiny than a text PDF. Check the row count against the statement, then confirm the amounts total to the closing balance. A single misread digit shows up immediately in that check.
Frequently asked questions
+Can it read a photo of a statement?
Yes, if the page is flat, in focus and evenly lit. Convert the photo to a PDF or upload it as an image-based PDF.
+How accurate is it on scans?
Good scans read very close to text PDFs. Poor scans lose accuracy on digits, which is why the balance check matters.
+Does it handle handwriting?
Printed statement text reads well. Handwritten annotations in the margin are not reliably transcribed.