Bank Statement OCR — Scanned to Structured

Upload a scanned PDF, photo, or image of any bank statement. Our OCR + AI reads every transaction and exports clean data to CSV, Excel, or QIF — no manual typing.

Drop your bank statements hereUpload your bank statements
or click to browse — PDF, JPG or PNG · multiple files supported
Free·No signup·PDF deleted after analysis
... statements analyzed
|See a live example →

How it works

1

Upload the scan or photo

Drop a scanned PDF, JPG, or PNG of your bank statement. Even a phone photo of a paper statement works.

2

OCR reads every character

Google Cloud Vision OCR processes the image, then our AI identifies transaction rows — dates, amounts, descriptions — even from messy scans.

3

Review & download

See every extracted transaction in a clean table. Download as CSV, Excel, or QIF — or use the built-in spending analysis dashboard.

What happens under the hood

Four stages turn a scan into structured transaction data.

1

Image preprocessing

Your scan is analyzed for rotation, skew, and contrast. The OCR engine handles deskewing and noise reduction automatically — you don't need to clean up the image first.

2

Character recognition (OCR)

Google Cloud Vision reads every character on the page — text, numbers, symbols. It handles multiple columns, small fonts, and even partially faded ink that's hard to read by eye.

3

Transaction detection

Raw OCR text is messy — headers, footers, logos, and legal fine print are mixed in with your transactions. Our AI separates the noise from the actual transaction data.

4

Structure & categorize

Each transaction is structured into a clean row: date, payee/description, amount (signed), and AI-assigned spending category. The result looks identical to what you'd get from a digital PDF.

Digital PDF vs scanned statement — what's the difference?

Not sure if your PDF needs OCR? Here's how to tell — and why it doesn't matter for you.

Digital PDFScanned / Photo
SourceDownloaded from your bank's website or appPaper statement scanned or photographed
Text layerText is embedded — selectable and searchableNo text layer — it's just an image of text
OCR needed?No — text is extracted directly from the PDFYes — OCR reads the image to produce text
Accuracy99%+ (text is exact)95–99% depending on scan quality
Processing speedInstantA few seconds for OCR
Our tool handles both?Yes — auto-detected, no OCR step neededYes — OCR runs automatically when needed
You don't need to know which type you have. Upload any PDF, JPG, or PNG — we auto-detect whether OCR is needed and run it automatically. Digital PDFs skip the OCR step entirely for faster, more accurate results.

Tips for the best OCR accuracy

Our OCR handles most scans well out of the box. These tips help with edge cases.

Use 200+ DPI
Most scanners default to 150 DPI. Bump it to 200 or 300 DPI for significantly better OCR accuracy — especially for small transaction text.
Scan in grayscale, not color
Grayscale scans produce sharper text contrast than color scans and are smaller files. Avoid black-and-white (1-bit) mode — it loses detail.
Keep the page flat and aligned
Wrinkles, folds, and skewed pages reduce accuracy. Flatten the statement before scanning. Our OCR handles minor skew, but a straight scan is always better.
Phone photos work — with good lighting
If you don't have a scanner, photograph the statement on a flat surface with even lighting. Avoid shadows across the text and hold the phone directly overhead.
Crop to just the statement
If your scan includes the desk or envelope around the statement, crop it before uploading. Less noise means faster, more accurate OCR.
One page per file for photos
If photographing a multi-page statement, take one photo per page and upload each separately. Multi-page scanned PDFs are fine as a single file.

Who uses bank statement OCR

Anyone with paper or scanned bank statements that need to become structured data.

Digitizing old paper statements
Scan years of paper bank statements and convert them to searchable, structured data. Build a complete financial history in your accounting software.
Banks that only mail paper
Some banks and credit unions still mail paper statements without offering PDF downloads. Scan them and extract the data you need.
Accountants processing client docs
Clients hand you paper statements or low-quality scans. Run them through OCR instead of manually entering hundreds of transactions.
Landlords verifying applicants
Rental applicants sometimes provide printed or photocopied bank statements. OCR extracts the transactions so you can verify income quickly.
Estate & legal document processing
Executors and attorneys often receive paper bank records from estates. OCR converts them to structured data for accounting and court filings.
Auditing physical records
When you need to cross-reference paper statements against digital records, OCR gets the paper side into a format you can sort, filter, and search.

Works with any bank

Any scanned or photographed bank statement from any bank worldwide. No templates to configure.

ChaseBarclaysHSBCDeutsche BankBNP ParibasINGBank of AmericaSantanderHDFC BankTD Bank+ 10,000 banks worldwide

Frequently asked questions

What is bank statement OCR?+−
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) reads text from images. Bank statement OCR specifically reads scanned or photographed bank statements and extracts the transaction data — dates, amounts, merchant names — into structured, machine-readable format. It's the technology that lets you turn a paper statement into a spreadsheet.
Do I need OCR if my bank statement is a digital PDF?+−
No. Digital PDFs (downloaded from your bank's website) already contain selectable text — our tool extracts it directly without OCR. OCR only runs when we detect the PDF is a scanned image. You don't need to know which type you have — just upload and we handle it automatically.
How accurate is the OCR?+−
For clear scans at 200+ DPI, accuracy is typically 98–99%. For phone photos with good lighting, 95–98%. For faded, wrinkled, or low-resolution scans, accuracy may be lower — but our AI flags uncertain transactions rather than guessing. Digital PDFs bypass OCR entirely and are 99%+ accurate.
Which image formats are supported?+−
PDF (scanned or digital), JPG/JPEG, and PNG. For best results, scan at 200+ DPI in grayscale. Phone photos in JPG are fine with good lighting.
Can OCR read handwritten entries on a bank statement?+−
Our OCR is optimized for printed text, which is what bank statements contain. If a statement has handwritten notes in the margins, those may not extract accurately — but the printed transaction data will.
How long does OCR processing take?+−
Usually 3–8 seconds per page, depending on image complexity and size. A typical 2-page scanned statement processes in under 15 seconds. Digital PDFs are nearly instant since no OCR is needed.
Is my scanned statement kept private?+−
Yes. Your image is processed in memory and immediately discarded after OCR. It's never stored on disk, never shared with third parties. Only the extracted transaction data is saved temporarily to generate your download.
What if the OCR misreads a transaction?+−
Occasional misreads happen with low-quality scans — a smudged digit, a partially cut-off line. Our AI flags transactions with low confidence rather than silently outputting wrong data. You can review flagged items before downloading.
Is the OCR tool free?+−
Yes — up to 3 pages per month, no account required. Most single-month bank statements are 1–3 pages. Paid plans start at $9/month for 500 pages.

Upload your scanned statement — free

No account. No credit card. Up to 3 pages free every month.

Drop your bank statements hereUpload your bank statements
or click to browse — PDF, JPG or PNG · multiple files supported
Free·No signup·PDF deleted after analysis
... statements analyzed
|See a live example →
Related tools & guides
Extraction Software →Bank Statement to CSV →Bank Statement to QIF →Convert to Excel →Bank Statement Converter →