Add older history to a linked bank account

Say you linked your checking account last month, and Pennyweight pulled in the history your bank provides, up to about two years. Your statements go back to 2021, and you want those older years in the same account without counting anything twice. Your AI finds where the bank's history starts, you import only what came before it, and then you line the account up with your bank's balance. If the account isn't linked yet, start with connect a US bank or card.

How to do it

1. Ask your AI what dates the bank feed covers. For each linked account, it sees the earliest and latest dates of the transactions your bank has sent. Only bank transactions count, so history you import doesn't change that range. If your AI says the range hasn't been measured yet, it fills in after the account's next completed sync. See how and when bank transactions arrive.
2. Check whether the bank is still sending history. Your AI is told when the bank still has older transactions to send. While that's true, the earliest date keeps moving back. Banks can also send older months later, so ask your AI to check the range again right before it imports.
3. Import only rows dated before the feed's earliest date. Hand your AI your statements, name the linked account, and ask it to send only the rows dated before that day. The history goes into the linked account itself, not a separate one. For several files or many years, have your AI plan the batches first. See import years of history across many accounts.
4. Read the preview, then say yes. A linked account doesn't need an opening balance before you import. See reading an import preview.
5. Line up the balance. Once all the history is in, ask your AI to set the account's opening balance so its transactions add up to the balance your bank reports. Your AI gets back the gap between the two, and a gap of zero means they match. See set or correct an opening balance.

What you'll see

Your AI names the earliest and latest dates the bank feed holds for each linked account, and says whether the bank is still sending older history. If you have no linked bank, it tells you that, and that there is no feed range to check.

For the import, your AI shows a preview of which rows are new and which match transactions already in the account. On a linked account, the preview notes that the balance in your account list stays the one your bank reports.

When it sets the opening balance, your AI gets back the bank's balance, what the opening balance and the account's transactions add up to, and the gap between them.

Good to know

• Why the date cutoff matters. Against what's already in the account, a row is skipped as a duplicate when a transaction there has the same date, the same amount to the cent, the same currency and the same merchant. If the feed and your statement word a merchant differently, that row is imported. If they date it a day apart, it isn't matched at all. Keeping your history before the feed's earliest date avoids the overlap.
• Leave no gap. Import right up to the day before the feed's earliest date. If months are missing in between, the transactions can still be made to add up to the bank's balance, but the account's history is incomplete.
• Your bank's balance stays on display. The balance in your account list is still the one your bank reports. The opening balance only changes what the transactions add up to.
• Checking for copies afterwards. Your AI's duplicate check also looks within one account for pairs where one transaction came from your bank and the other was imported, with the same amount to the cent and currency, dated within a day of each other. By default it returns only pairs whose merchant names match or start alike. For names worded differently, ask your AI to loosen the match. The check covers the last 60 days unless you name a period. A period can be any date range up to a year long, so ask for the months around the feed's earliest date, even when that's more than a year ago. See find and fix duplicates.
• US banks only. Bank linking works for US banks and cards. Elsewhere, import your statements into a manual account. See use Pennyweight without a bank link.