Convert PDF to OFX: Fulla Ledger now exports reviewed bank statements as OFX

What launched: a fourth export next to CSV, XLSX and JSON

You can now convert PDF to OFX in Fulla Ledger. Until this release, an approved bank statement could leave Fulla as a CSV file, an XLSX workbook or JSON through the developer API. OFX joins them as a file built for one job: loading bank or credit card transactions into accounting software through its statement import, without rebuilding the data in a spreadsheet first.

The workflow in front of the export has not changed. Fulla drafts transaction rows from the PDF, you check each row beside the page it came from, and you approve a saved revision. Download OFX appears on the review page beside CSV and XLSX, batch review gains a Combined OFX option, and API clients can request the same file with POST /api/v1/statements/convert?format=ofx. All three routes use only the approved revision.

Why OFX: fewer decisions at import time

A CSV file is a plain table, and every accounting product reads tables differently. QuickBooks Online asks you to match your file’s columns to its own fields and expects three or four specific columns. Xero asks you to assign each column to a statement field and choose a date format the first time you import a CSV. Each of those choices is a chance to swap a debit for a credit or read 03/04 as the wrong month.

OFX removes most of those choices because every value in the file is labeled. Xero’s own help center recommends OFX where possible and notes that OFX files can be imported without changing them. In practice that gives three advantages:

• No column mapping. The posted date, amount, payee name, memo and transaction ID are named fields, so there is no column layout to describe to the importer.
• Unambiguous signs. Each transaction carries one signed amount and a CREDIT or DEBIT type, so money in and money out cannot be flipped by a mapping choice. A negative amount is money leaving a bank account or a charge on a card.
• De-duplication with FITID. Every transaction has a stable unique ID taken from the approved row, so importers that de-duplicate by FITID will not add the same row twice if the same file is imported again.

What is inside a Fulla Ledger OFX file

The file is OFX 1.0.2 in its SGML form, the version accounting importers have accepted the longest. It is ASCII text, so accented letters in a description are written as their plain equivalents. One file describes one account and contains one statement response with every approved transaction.

• For each transaction: the posted date, the signed amount, a CREDIT or DEBIT type, the payee name (the first 32 characters of the description), the description as the memo, and the FITID.
• For the statement: the period start and end dates, the closing (ledger) balance and its date, and the currency.
• For the account: the last four digits as the account ID when the statement shows them, and whether it is a bank statement or a credit card statement.

Combining several statements into one OFX

Monthly statements for the same account can be combined into one OFX, which is useful when you are catching up on a quarter or a year. Fulla merges their transactions in date order into a single statement response. Combining is allowed only when every statement shows the same last four account digits, the same statement type (bank or credit card) and the same currency.

If a selection mixes accounts, Fulla refuses the combined file with a clear message instead of writing an OFX that would load one account’s transactions into another. Download those statements separately, or select only the statements for one account. Combined OFX lives on the batch review page, which is part of the paid plans.

Where OFX fits, and where it does not

QuickBooks Online’s Upload from file accepts .ofx files alongside .csv, .txt and .qbo, with up to 1,000 lines per upload and files of 350 KB or less. Xero imports OFX statement files, as well as QFX, QBO, QIF and CSV. The QuickBooks Online and Xero integration pages walk through each import step by step.

Fulla is not the only way to get a PDF into those products. QuickBooks Online can read an uploaded PDF or image statement itself and show a side-by-side review, and Xero offers PDF statement import for organizations in the United States and Canada. Fulla is a good fit when you want to check each row against its source page before anything reaches the books, convert a batch of PDFs at once, send the same approved data to Excel, CSV, OFX, JSON or the API, and keep financial content only briefly.

Some things are deliberately out of scope. Fulla does not create QFX or QBO Web Connect files, so the OFX export is not for QuickBooks Desktop or Quicken, which rely on those bank-issued formats. Fulla does not sync with accounting software or categorize transactions; you import the file and categorize in the destination.

Availability and limits

OFX follows the same plan rules as CSV and XLSX, so single-statement OFX downloads are available on every plan, including free. Without an account you can convert 1 page per IP address per rolling 24 hours, and a free registered workspace shares 5 pages per rolling 24 hours, with no card required. Paid plans have identical features and differ only in page allowance; the pricing page lists them. Combined batch exports and multi-document API conversion need a paid plan.

Uploaded and derived financial content, including exports, expires 24 hours after the upload starts, and exporting does not extend that deadline. Download the OFX and finish your import within that window. Before you accept the import, compare its row count and closing balance with the statement; the free bank statement balance checker can help confirm that the opening balance, transactions and closing balance agree.