You Can Now Import and Export Your Data

We believe in data portability. People should be able to make sure they could get their data out if they needed to, and bring in data from elsewhere. Its yours. Nobody wants their financial records locked in a system they might not use forever.

So now you can export everything (JSON or CSV) and import it back later. Or import from other tools if the format matches.

That's it. Here's how it works.

Export: Two Formats

JSON export gives you a complete snapshot—accounts, transactions, tags, budgets, transfer templates, everything. One file, all your data. Good for backups or moving to another Tricksy.io account.

CSV export is a ZIP with separate CSV files for each data type. Good for importing into spreadsheets or other finance tools. You get 7 files: accounts, transactions, tags, budgets, budget line items, templates, and template rules.

Both formats support date range filtering if you only want transactions from specific periods.

Rate limit is one export per minute, which should be plenty unless you're doing something weird.

Import: JSON or CSV

JSON imports restore complete Tricksy.io backups. It's an all-or-nothing process that recreates everything exactly as it was when you exported.

CSV imports are more flexible—you can import transaction data from any tool that exports date, amount, and account columns. The system maps imported accounts to your existing accounts (or creates new ones if you want).

There's a 5-step wizard that walks you through:

Upload the file (drag & drop or file picker)
Preview the data (first 10 rows, plus validation)
Configure account mapping and duplicate handling
Watch the import progress
See the summary (success/error counts)

Important Behavior Notes

Imports are additive—they never delete or modify existing data, only add new stuff. If you import the same file twice with "skip duplicates" enabled, nothing bad happens. The system detects duplicates by matching date, amount, description, and accounts.

Rate limiting: 5 imports per hour to prevent abuse. File size limit is 10MB.

Batch processing: Large imports process 500 transactions at a time, so you won't get stuck on big datasets.

Account Mapping

When you import CSVs, you map the imported account names to accounts in your Tricksy.io account. Say your CSV has "Chase Checking" but you call it "Checking" in Tricksy—you just map them during import.

You can also create new accounts on the fly if the imported accounts don't exist yet. The system preserves account types (asset, liability, etc.) if they're specified in the source data.

Where to Find It

Account dropdown menu → "Export Data" or "Import Data". Both take you to dedicated pages with clear instructions and example files you can download to see the expected format.

Why This Matters

Data ownership: Your financial records belong to you. Export them whenever you want, keep backups locally, switch tools if you need to.

Migration path: If you're using another finance tool, export your data from there and try importing it here. Worst case, you spend 5 minutes cleaning up the CSV to match our format.

Disaster recovery: Something goes wrong? Restore from your latest backup. The JSON format is timestamped so you can keep multiple versions.

CSV Format Examples

If you're building a CSV to import, here's what we expect:

Transaction CSV:

date,amount,description,fromAccount,toAccount
2025-12-01,50.00,Groceries,Checking,Expenses
2025-12-05,1200.00,Paycheck,Income,Checking

Or if you're tracking a single account:

date,amount,description,account
2025-12-01,-50.00,Groceries,Checking
2025-12-05,1200.00,Paycheck,Checking

Dates can be ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD) or common formats like MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY—we detect the format automatically.

Try It Out

If you're already subscribed, go export your data right now. Download it, look at the structure, maybe keep a backup. Then try importing it back into a test account to see how the flow works.

If you're evaluating Tricksy.io, the import feature means you can try migrating your existing data without manually re-entering everything. Export from your current tool, clean up the format, import here, see if it works for you.

We're interested in your feedback! Let us know if you have issues, questions, or just want to make a comment.