CSV amounts in parentheses: turn them into negative numbers
Accounting software and some banks write money out as a number in parentheses instead of with a minus sign. Many importers read such a cell as text, or drop the parentheses and take the amount as positive. Choose the file below: the page works in your browser, shows the first 20 cleaned rows and lists every line it left out, with the reason.
Clean your CSV export
The cleaner detects the delimiter (comma, semicolon or tab), looks for a header row with a date column and an amount column, and writes eight fixed columns, comma-delimited: date, description, amount, currency, fee, net, reference and source. It recognises common header names in English, Spanish, German and French, such as Date, Fecha, Buchungstag, Amount, Importe, Betrag and Montant.
Your file is read in your browser and is never uploaded, stored or logged. It is held in the memory of this tab only, and closing or reloading the page discards it. Operator: Augeo. See the privacy notice.
Exports do not share one layout, and this page makes no promise about yours: the free preview shows what it does to your file.
The cleaning logic is checked by an automated test script that runs the engine file of this site over six synthetic sample files and a set of checks of the parsing rules; it ran in a sandbox before this site was published and finished with no failed check. The script does not open this page in a browser, does not test the licence key step, and nothing was tested against a real export from any provider. Use the free preview to check your own file.
Report
Warnings
Lines not parsed
Lines dropped
Preview of the cleaned rows
| line | date | description | amount | currency | fee | net | reference | source |
|---|
Download the full cleaned file
- Price: 6 USD, paid once on Gumroad. No subscription. You receive a licence key.
- What the key unlocks: the download of every cleaned row of the file you chose, as one CSV named after your file with -cleaned.csv at the end, instead of the first 20 rows on screen. The report and the way files are read stay the same.
- The key is for one buyer. Runs are not counted and no number of runs is promised. The key is kept in the memory of this page only, so you enter it again after closing or reloading the page.
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- Try the free preview first. If the preview cannot read your file, the full download cannot either.
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How amounts in parentheses are read
- Parentheses mean negative. A cell that is a number wrapped in parentheses is read as a negative amount and written with a leading minus sign, a decimal point and no thousands separator.
- A currency symbol can sit inside or outside the parentheses. Both forms are read the same way, and the symbol is removed from the number.
- Thousands separators inside the parentheses are removed. Which sign is the decimal one is taken from the amounts of the whole file, and the report states it.
- Other ways of writing a negative are read too: a minus sign after the number, a typographic minus or dash in place of the hyphen, and the markers DR or DB before or after the number.
- Zero in parentheses is written without a sign.
- Parentheses around something that is not a number are not turned into zero. A cell such as
(n/a)leaves the row out of the output and puts it under "Lines not parsed" with the reason.
The cleaner keeps the sign the file gives; it does not decide whether a negative means money out in your books. If your export has separate debit and credit columns instead, see the page on merging them.
The output is always the same eight columns (date, description, amount, currency, fee, net, reference and source), comma-delimited. Columns of your file that are not among them are not carried over, so this is a cleaner for files of transactions and not a general CSV editor.
By hand: import the amount column as numbers and check with =ISNUMBER(C2) filled down that the cells in parentheses arrived as numbers, then give the column the number format 0.00 before saving as CSV.
Notices
- Privacy: files are read in your browser and never uploaded, stored or logged. Operator: Augeo.
- Independent tool, not affiliated with or endorsed by Etsy, PayPal, QuickBooks or any bank.
- Check the output before you use it. This is not accounting, tax or financial advice.
- Price of the full download: 6 USD one-time. The key is for one buyer. Refunds are requested through the Gumroad receipt.
- Only upload data you have the right to process. Choosing a file here does not send it anywhere, but you remain responsible for the data in it.