Import from Monarch

How to export your transactions from Monarch Money and import them into Forbidden Finance.

Overview

If you are switching from Monarch Money, you can bring your transaction history into Forbidden Finance with a CSV export. Monarch's export format includes dates, merchants, categories, account names, amounts, tags, and notes. Forbidden Finance auto-detects the Monarch format and imports the data with minimal effort on your part.

How to Export from Monarch

Go to monarchmoney.com and sign in. Exports are available from the web version.

Navigate to Transactions

Click Transactions in the left sidebar to see your full transaction list.

Apply date filters (optional)

If you only want to export a specific date range, set date filters before exporting. Otherwise, the export includes your full history.

Download the CSV

Click the Export button (look for a download icon near the search bar or in a menu). Select CSV as the format. The file downloads to your computer.

Expected File Format

Forbidden Finance recognizes the Monarch export by its header row:

Date,Merchant,Category,Account,Original Statement,Notes,Amount,Tags

Column	Mapped To	Notes
Date	Transaction date	Typically YYYY-MM-DD or MM/DD/YYYY
Merchant	Merchant name	Used for auto-categorization
Category	Category	Matched against Forbidden Finance categories by name
Account	Not imported directly	Helps you decide which account to import into
Original Statement	Preserved as metadata	The raw bank description
Notes	Description	Your personal notes on the transaction
Amount	Transaction amount	Negative values are expenses, positive values are income
Tags	Tags	Imported as tags on the transaction

Monarch uses the amount's sign to indicate direction: negative is an expense and positive is income. This matches Forbidden Finance's convention, so amounts import directly without conversion.

How to Import into Forbidden Finance

Open the import screen

Go to Transactions > Import in Forbidden Finance.

Select your Monarch export file

Choose the CSV file. Forbidden Finance detects the Monarch format automatically and confirms the detection.

Choose the target account

Select the account these transactions belong to. If your Monarch export covers multiple accounts (check the Account column), consider splitting the file by account first.

Review the preview

Check that dates, amounts, merchants, and categories look right. Monarch categories are matched to Forbidden Finance categories by name. Unmatched categories import as uncategorized.

Confirm the import

Tap Import. The progress bar shows how many rows have been processed, imported, and skipped.

Common Issues

Some Monarch categories did not match

Monarch and Forbidden Finance use similar but not identical category names. Categories that do not match are imported as uncategorized. After import, use the uncategorized filter to quickly assign them to the appropriate Forbidden Finance categories.

My tags from Monarch did not come through

Monarch's Tags column should import as tags in Forbidden Finance. If tags appear missing, open the CSV in a text editor and verify the Tags column contains data. Empty tag cells are expected for transactions that were not tagged in Monarch.

Transactions from multiple accounts are mixed together

Monarch exports include an "Account" column but Forbidden Finance imports each file to one target account. For accurate account-level tracking, filter the CSV by account name in a spreadsheet app and save separate files for each account.

Some amounts seem inverted

Monarch uses negative for expenses and positive for income, which matches Forbidden Finance. If amounts appear flipped, check whether you have a modified or reformatted export. The raw Monarch export should work correctly.

Tips

Monarch's "Original Statement" column is preserved during import. This gives you the raw bank description alongside the cleaned-up merchant name, which can be helpful for identifying transactions later.

If you used rules in Monarch to auto-categorize transactions, those categories carry over as long as the names match. After import, set up a few transactions manually and Forbidden Finance will learn your categorization preferences going forward.

If your Monarch export covers multiple accounts, import each account's transactions separately to keep your accounts organized in Forbidden Finance. You can split the export file in any spreadsheet application.

CSV and JSON Import Overview

General import guide.

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Import Generic CSV

For bank exports or custom files.

Need more help? Contact us at support@403fin.io.

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