CSV exports, column by column

A CSV is only useful if you know what is in it before you open it. So here is the header row LedgerBox writes, taken from the same constant the exporter uses rather than retyped for a marketing page.

Try this export All export formats

LedgerBox CSV · columns

5 columns

date: The transaction date, resolved from the statement period when the row prints only a month and a day.
description: The description as printed, collapsed onto one line.
debit: Money out, positive, blank on a row that is money in.
credit: Money in, blank on a row that is money out.
balance: The balance after the row, blank when the statement prints none.

Header row, as written

date,description,debit,credit,balance

Merged across several documents

source_document,date,description,debit,credit,balance

Approve a document, choose CSV, and download. Nothing to configure, and the LedgerBox CSV is not behind the paid-plan gate the QuickBooks files sit behind.

How to get the file

Upload the document

A bank statement, an invoice, a receipt, a table, a tax form. A single drop takes up to 20 files, and each one becomes its own document with its own export.
Review and approve it

Every field sits beside the original, and anything LedgerBox could not verify is already flagged with a reason. Approval is what marks the rows as yours rather than ours.
Download the CSV

Pick the CSV your document type offers. Selecting several documents first gives you one file for the whole selection instead of a folder of files to stitch together.

Wondering which columns your document type produces? Every document type LedgerBox reads

The other files this export writes

Depending on the document type, more than one file is on offer: LedgerBox CSV, Line items CSV, Table CSV, Summary CSV, and Realized gains CSV. The ones with a fixed header row publish it; the ones whose columns come from the document type say what decides them, instead of printing a row that would be wrong for half the types.

Realized gains CSV · columns

9 columns

symbol: The security's symbol, as printed on the statement.
description: What was sold.
quantity: Units sold.
acquired_date: When the lot was acquired, keeping the printed year even when it is years earlier than the statement period.
sold_date: When the lot was sold.
proceeds: Sale proceeds.
cost_basis: Cost basis.
gain_loss: Proceeds minus cost basis, checked against the printed figure before the document can be exported.
term: The holding term, last in the row so part I and part II split with one filter.

Header row, as written

symbol,description,quantity,acquired_date,sold_date,proceeds,cost_basis,gain_loss,term

Merged across several documents

source_document,symbol,description,quantity,acquired_date,sold_date,proceeds,cost_basis,gain_loss,term

Line items CSV

One row per extracted line.

The columns come from the document type's own export columns, so an invoice's lines and a pay stub's earnings do not share a header row. Each row names its record type.

Table CSV

One row per table row.

The columns are named from the header row LedgerBox detected in the document, applied across every page, so a table that spans three pages exports as one sheet.

Summary CSV

One row per document.

The columns are the document type's summary fields in registry order, so a W-2 reads in box order and a stack of forms lands as one table.

Worth knowing before you import

The quirks of a file are the part nobody writes down, and the part that costs an afternoon when it turns out to matter.

Debits and credits stay in separate columns

Money out lands in the debit column as a positive figure and money in lands in the credit column, and a row only ever fills one of the two. A single signed amount column is available too, as the QuickBooks 3-column CSV.

The transaction layout is fixed, the others are not

Bank and card statements always write the five columns above. Line item, table, and summary CSVs take their columns from the document type instead, which is why this page states what decides them rather than printing a row that would be wrong for half the types.

A merged export names its source

Export several documents at once and the file gains a leading source_document column carrying each document's title, so a quarter of statements reads as one table you can filter rather than three you have to align.

CSV export FAQ

What columns does the LedgerBox CSV have?

For bank and card statements: date, description, debit, credit, balance. Money out fills the debit column, money in fills the credit column, and the balance column carries the balance after the row, left blank when the statement prints none.

Why do invoices and receipts have different columns?

Because their rows are different things. A statement row is a transaction; an invoice row is a line item with a quantity and a unit price, and a pay stub row is an earning or a deduction. Those CSVs take their columns from the document type rather than forcing every type into one shape.

Can I get one CSV for several documents?

Yes. Select the documents and export once, and you get a single file with a leading source_document column naming which document each row came from. The QuickBooks QBO file is the one export that cannot merge, because it declares a single account and period.

See the columns on your own documents.

Upload a document and download the export in under a minute. No card required.

Get started free

Four formats produce a file today and nine do not. See all thirteen, grouped