Why some statement PDFs won't convert

Some PDFs convert cleanly and others return nothing at all. The difference is whether the file contains real text or only a picture of text.

Text-based PDFs

Statements downloaded from online banking are normally text-based: every date, description and amount is stored as characters. Tools can read them directly and the result is exact.

Scanned PDFs

A scan or a phone photo saved as PDF is an image. There are no characters to read, so a text extractor finds nothing. Reading it needs OCR, which guesses at characters and can silently misread digits. For money, a misread digit is worse than no result.

A 10-second test

Open the PDF and try to select a line of text with your cursor, or press Ctrl+F and search for a word you can see. If you can select and search it, it is text-based. If not, it is an image.

What to do with a scan

Log in to your bank and download the statement again as PDF, or check for a CSV or OFX export. Banks usually offer text versions even for old statements. If the only copy is paper, ask the bank to re-issue it digitally.

Why PennyTie does not do OCR

PennyTie verifies that opening balance plus transactions equals the closing balance. That guarantee only means something when the numbers are read exactly, so it supports text-based statements only and tells you clearly when a file is a scan.

Try it: open PennyTie, drop a text-based statement PDF (or use the built-in fictional sample). Free for statements up to 5 pages; nothing is uploaded.

More guides: PDF to CSV · Totals don't match · No-upload conversion · Scanned vs text · Reconcile in Excel · For bookkeepers