How to export PayPal transactions for a budget

Download your PayPal activity

1. Log in at paypal.com. Use a browser on your computer. PayPal's help describes downloading on the website and doesn't mention the app.
2. Go to History. Click the Download icon, then click Custom.
3. Set up the report. Select the report that suits you, then follow the prompts to create it: choose the dates (up to 12 months) and CSV as the format.
4. Download it. When the report is ready, click Download.

Small reports download right away. A large one can take up to five business days to prepare; PayPal emails you when it's ready and keeps your last three large files.

Business accounts

PayPal's developer guide gives a business account's route as Activity, then All reports. On the Activities tab, choose Activity report, set the transaction type, the dates and the format, and choose Create report. You get a notification when it's ready to download.

Monthly statements

PayPal also has monthly statements at paypal.com/reports/accountStatements: click Request next to the month, then Download when it's ready. Keep them for your records. For importing, use the activity report above: you choose its dates, and PayPal documents its columns.

Formats and limits

• How far back. Up to the past seven years.
• How much at once. Up to 12 months in each report. UrBudget imports up to 10,000 rows per file, so if you have more activity than that, download a few months at a time.

Get the CSV ready: rename Net to Amount

PayPal's developer documentation lists the activity report's columns. Among them are Date, Time, TimeZone, Name, Type, Status, Currency, Gross, Fee, Net, Transaction ID, Balance and Note. Here's how UrBudget 1.0.3 reads the ones that matter:

So the one change is the amount column. Open the file in a text editor, change the word Net on the first line to Amount (keep any quotation marks around it), and save. In a spreadsheet app, change the Net heading the same way and save the file as CSV. If you want PayPal's notes as memos, change Note to Memo while you're there.

Net is the right column for a budget because it's what each row actually added to or took from your PayPal balance; Gross includes PayPal's fees. Since the balance is the previous balance plus Net, money that left your balance has a negative Net, which is how UrBudget reads money out. Leave Purchases are positive unticked.

PayPal doesn't publish a sample file, so look at the first line before you edit it: it should be the column names. If there are other lines above them, delete those too.

Count each payment once

When you pay with PayPal, the money comes from your PayPal balance or from a bank account or card you've linked. If your preferred payment method can't cover all of a payment, PayPal can use a backup method for the rest, so one payment can come from two places. Whatever came from a bank account or card is also in that account's own file, so a budget that imports both counts it twice.

If you do keep a PayPal balance, keep your PayPal account in UrBudget to what moved through that balance:

• Paid from your PayPal balance. Only PayPal has it. Import it and give it a category.
• Paid with a bank account or card. Categorize it in that account, where it shows as a charge from PayPal, and choose Skip for it in the PayPal import. If PayPal's file also has a row for the money arriving from that bank or card to cover the payment, skip that row too. On a credit card, categorizing it there also moves the money into the card's payment category, ready for the bill.
• Money you receive. Import it and give it a category: income, or the category a refund or a friend's repayment belongs to.
• Transfers to and from your bank. Money you move from PayPal to your bank, or add to PayPal from it, is a transfer between your own accounts, not spending or income. Edit the row and choose Transfer: Checking (or your bank account's name) as its payee. When you import the bank's file, its side of the transfer is offered as a match, so it isn't added twice.

Then compare your PayPal account in UrBudget with the balance PayPal shows. If they differ, look for a payment paid partly from your balance and partly from a bank or card, and make sure only the part from your balance is in your PayPal account.

Import it into UrBudget

1. Add your PayPal account. Add PayPal as a budget account (Checking or Cash type), with the balance it had just before the first transaction you'll import. Select it in the sidebar and choose Import file above its transactions.
2. Choose the file. Click Choose a file, or drop the CSV you edited onto the box. For a US account, set Dates in the file to Month/day/year.
3. Preview and decide. Choose Preview transactions. Every row is listed before anything is saved. Check that payments you sent show a minus sign, and choose Skip for payments made with your bank or a card. Rows you imported before are recognized by their Transaction ID and skipped.
4. Import. Choose Import. The transactions arrive unapproved: give each a category, make transfers to your bank into transfers, and approve them.

Add rules in Payees & rules for the sellers you pay often. Rules rename and categorize imported rows, so each download needs less work.

If something looks wrong

• "CSV needs Amount or Outflow/Inflow columns." The Net column hasn't been renamed Amount, or you chose the original download instead of the file you edited.
• "CSV needs Date, Payee/Description, and Amount (or Outflow/Inflow) headers." The first line isn't the column names. Delete any lines above them.
• "Cannot read date…" Set Dates in the file to Month/day/year for a US account and preview again. UrBudget reads dates written like 10/14/2026, 14/10/2026 or 2026-10-14.
• Amounts in another currency. If you hold or pay in more than one currency, the file can have rows in each, and UrBudget would read them all in your budget's currency. Delete the rows in other currencies before you import.
• The balance still doesn't match PayPal's. Look at the Status and Balance Impact columns in the file. PayPal marks each row's effect on your balance as Debit, Credit or Memo. A Memo row, or a payment that is still pending or was denied, may not have changed your balance; skip it.
• A payment is counted twice. It was paid with your bank or a card and imported into both that account and PayPal. Delete the copy in your PayPal account.

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