The short answer
The Capital One file has 7 columns, dates written as YYYY-MM-DD and separate debit and credit columns. YNAB wants a CSV with the columns Date,Payee,Memo,Outflow,Inflow. So the date is kept as it is, the amount is split into Outflow and Inflow, and the text columns are moved as in the table below.
Paid pack. The Capital One profile is one of the 35 profiles unlocked by a licence (9 US dollars, paid once; see the terms). Without a licence you can still convert this file with the free manual column mapper, using the column table on this page, within the free limit of 25 rows per file.
The converter runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded.
What the Capital One CSV looks like
- Country: United States.
- Account type: credit card.
- Header row: yes, one row before the first transaction.
- Columns: 7, separated by commas.
- Date format: YYYY-MM-DD, for example 2024-03-04 (the source writes it as yyyy-mmm-dd (as written in the source comment)).
- Amounts: separate debit and credit columns. Evidence for the direction: the source says it in words.
- Header text: the source prints it, so the columns below carry their real names.
Note kept with this layout in the profile data: The source comment writes the date as yyyy-mmm-dd and sets no explicit date-format rule; year-month-day order is certain, the month may be numeric or abbreviated, so the converter should accept both. Header names are taken from the comment and from the csv2ofx mapping ("Card No.", "Posted Date", "Debit", "Credit", "Description").
What YNAB accepts
- File type: CSV (the vendor calls it the recommended and preferred format); QFX, OFX and QIF are also accepted.
- Header row: optional; the import preview has a "No header row" option.
- Required columns: Date, Outflow, Inflow.
- Optional columns: Payee, Memo.
- Amounts: Two positive columns: money out in Outflow, money in in Inflow. A single signed amount column is also accepted: the user selects the same column for both Inflow and Outflow in the import preview, and YNAB reads positive and negative values from it. The preview has a "Swap Inflow and Outflow" option.
- Dates: not stated on the page; the columns and their reading are confirmed in the import preview.
| YNAB column | Required by YNAB | Filled from the Capital One file |
|---|---|---|
| Date | required | column 1 "Transaction Date" |
| Payee | optional | column 4 "Description" |
| Memo | optional | left empty |
| Outflow | required | column 6 "Debit" |
| Inflow | required | column 7 "Credit" |
From the vendor's help page: "Select that same Amount column for both the Inflow and Outflow fields in the import dropdowns. You don't need to reformat your file or split it into two columns first—YNAB reads positive and negative values from a single column."
Column-by-column mapping
Every column of the Capital One file, left to right, and where it ends up in the YNAB file.
| Column | Header text | What it holds | Where it goes in the YNAB file |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Transaction Date | Transaction date | Date, rewritten as YYYY-MM-DD |
| 2 | Posted Date | Posting date | Not copied |
| 3 | Card No. | Account or card identifier | Not copied |
| 4 | Description | Description | Payee |
| 5 | Category | Category | Not copied |
| 6 | Debit | Money out (debit) | Outflow, as a positive number |
| 7 | Credit | Money in (credit) | Inflow, as a positive number |
Pitfalls for Capital One to YNAB
Dates
- Same date layout on both sides: the bank file and the YNAB file both use YYYY-MM-DD. No reordering is needed.
- YNAB on dates: not stated on the page; the columns and their reading are confirmed in the import preview. The converter writes year-month-day because it cannot be misread as day/month or month/day. The vendor page does not list accepted date formats, so the user must check the dates in YNAB's preview before importing.
Amounts and their direction
- The bank file already has separate money-out and money-in columns, like YNAB's Outflow and Inflow. The debit column goes to Outflow and the credit column to Inflow, both as positive numbers.
- YNAB's own rule: Two positive columns: money out in Outflow, money in in Inflow. A single signed amount column is also accepted: the user selects the same column for both Inflow and Outflow in the import preview, and YNAB reads positive and negative values from it. The preview has a "Swap Inflow and Outflow" option.
- How sure the direction is: the source says it in words.
Other YNAB import rules
- The vendor states it is no longer necessary to format a CSV file before uploading it; columns are matched to fields with dropdown menus after upload.
Before and after: an invented example
Invented sample data. These four rows were made up for this page. They are not from a real Capital One export and hold no real account, name or balance.
The column headings are the header text the source prints.
| 1: Transaction Date | 2: Posted Date | 3: Card No. | 4: Description | 5: Category | 6: Debit | 7: Credit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-03-04 | 2024-03-05 | 0000 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | Eating out | 4.50 | |
| 2024-03-05 | 2024-03-06 | 0000 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | Income | 2500.00 | |
| 2024-03-07 | 2024-03-08 | 0000 | RENT MARCH | Housing | 1234.56 | |
| 2024-03-11 | 2024-03-12 | 0000 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP | Shopping | 15.25 |
| Date | Payee | Memo | Outflow | Inflow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-03-04 | COFFEE CORNER MAIN ST | 4.50 | ||
| 2024-03-05 | PAYROLL EXAMPLE CO | 2500.00 | ||
| 2024-03-07 | RENT MARCH | 1234.56 | ||
| 2024-03-11 | REFUND EXAMPLE SHOP | 15.25 |
Do it by hand in a spreadsheet, free
These steps need no tool from this site. The cell references follow the column positions of the profile above; if your spreadsheet uses semicolons between formula arguments, replace the commas.
- Open the Capital One CSV in a spreadsheet program through its import dialog. Set the date column (column 1 "Transaction Date") to Text so the program does not reinterpret it, and leave the amount columns as numbers.
- Row 1 is the header and the transactions start in row 2.
- Date: the bank already writes YYYY-MM-DD, which is what the YNAB file uses. Copy column A as it is.
- Amounts: Outflow is the debit column and Inflow is the credit column, both positive. Outflow:
=IF(F2="","",ABS(F2))Inflow:=IF(G2="","",ABS(G2)) - Text columns: fill Payee (from column 4 "Description"); Memo (left empty). Where several bank columns feed one column, join them with a separator such as " - ".
- Apply YNAB's own rules from its help page: The vendor states it is no longer necessary to format a CSV file before uploading it; columns are matched to fields with dropdown menus after upload.
- Keep only the new columns, put the header row Date,Payee,Memo,Outflow,Inflow on top, save the sheet as a comma-separated CSV, and compare the dates, the direction of the amounts and the number of rows with your statement in YNAB's import preview.
Or use the converter
Load the file, choose the Capital One profile in the bank list and the target YNAB, read the preview, then download. The conversion runs locally in your browser: the file is not uploaded, and only the licence key is sent for unlocking.
Paid pack. The Capital One profile is one of the 35 profiles unlocked by a licence (9 US dollars, paid once; see the terms). Without a licence you can still convert this file with the free manual column mapper, using the column table on this page, within the free limit of 25 rows per file.
Where this layout comes from
No bank supplied or approved this layout. It was copied on 5 October 2026 from a public open-source importer file kept by volunteers: simonmichael/hledger, file examples/csv/banking/capital-one.csv.rules
Also read: reubano/csv2ofx, file csv2ofx/mappings/capitalone.py
The lines used from the source: # this is the format that capital one returns if you export data as .csv as of July 9 2022 ; # columns are Transaction Date in yyyy-mmm-dd, Posted Date, Card no., Description, Category, Debit, Credit ; fields date, posting-date, _, description, _, amount-out, amount-in
The YNAB rules come from the vendor's own help pages: support.ynab.com/en_us/file-based-import-a-guide-Bkj4Sszyo (named as text, not linked), support.ynab.com/en_us/formatting-a-csv-file-an-overview-BJvczkuRq (named as text, not linked). The official page was fetched and read on the checked date.
Bank formats change. Banks alter their CSV exports without notice and vendors change their import rules, so this mapping can be out of date. If the preview looks wrong, use the manual column mapper.