Why scans need a different reader

A PDF downloaded from online banking contains real text, and Tallyrows reads it directly in your browser. A scanned PDF or a photo is only a picture of the page. When you drop one in, Tallyrows notices there's little or no text, renders the pages as images and sends them to the AI reader. The AI reader also helps with text PDFs whose layout isn't recognised, or whose rows don't add up on the first pass; in that case it gets the statement's text rather than images.

How it works

Drop a scanned PDF, or a JPEG or PNG photo of a statement page, into the box above.
The pages go to our server and on to the AI model, which returns each transaction with its date, description, amount and printed balance. This usually takes 10 to 40 seconds.
Back in your browser, the same balance checks run as for text PDFs: every running balance, and opening plus transactions against the closing balance. Rows that don't agree are highlighted so you can correct them against the paper statement.
Download Excel, CSV, QBO, OFX or QIF.

Free and paid use

Reading: without credits, the AI reader handles up to 6 pages a day. With a credit pack it reads up to 400 pages a day.
Downloading: your first statement is free in every format. After that each statement uses one credit, whichever reader read it. A credit covers a statement of up to 30 pages, downloaded as many times and in as many formats as you like.
Size: a scanned PDF is read up to its first 20 pages; split longer scans into separate statements. A photo is one page per upload.

What you see before downloading

The rows the AI reader returns appear in the same editable table as any other statement, with the same verdict above them. If every balance agrees, the status line says so. If some rows don't agree, they're highlighted, and you can compare them with the scan and correct a date, description or amount in place; the checks rerun as you type. Nothing is downloaded until you choose a format.

Getting a good result from a scan

Scan at a normal document resolution, flat and straight, with the whole page in frame.
For photos, use even light and avoid shadows across the columns of figures.
Include the page with the opening or brought-forward balance: without it the first rows can't be checked.
If the statement prints a running balance on every line, the check is at its strongest, because each row is tested individually.

Limitations

Handwriting, faded thermal print and heavily skewed photos can be misread. The balance checks catch most errors because a wrong figure stops the running balance from agreeing, but a statement with no printed balances can only be checked by its totals, so look over the rows yourself.
Scans are sent to our server and to our AI provider to be read; text PDFs never leave your browser. See the privacy page for what happens to them.

Your first statement is free (every format, up to 30 pages, no sign-up). After that a credit pack is 10 statements for £9 or 50 for £29, with no subscription.

Scanned bank statement to Excel