How to export American Express transactions to CSV

Step-by-step: download your American Express transactions as a CSV file from the website, using the official help pages, then import them into a budgeting app.

Last checked against the official help pages, linked under Sources.

Export American Express transactions

  1. Log in to your American Express online account.
  2. Open your transaction history or billing statements.
  3. Sort or filter to the transactions you want.
  4. Choose the download option and select CSV.

File formats and how far back you can go

Formats: CSV, Excel, PDF, Quicken, QuickBooks. Choose CSV (or the spreadsheet option) for a budgeting app or spreadsheet.

History: American Express says your previous two years of transactions can be viewed, filtered and downloaded online. Its software download help mentions recent activity and the past six billing statements.

Good to know

  • American Express’s help pages don’t name the exact buttons, so the steps above stay general.
  • PDF copies of older, archived statements can be requested online and are available within 24 hours, but a PDF can’t be imported as transactions.

Import into Money Tracker

Money Tracker is a budgeting app for iPhone and Android. CSV import is included on the free plan, and you don't have to link your bank.

  1. In Money Tracker, add an account for this card or bank account if you haven’t yet. Imported rows go into one of your accounts.
  2. On the Dashboard, tap the Settings icon in the top-left corner, then tap Import Data under Manage.
  3. Under Account, pick the account. Under CSV Data, tap Choose a CSV file and select the file you exported (or paste the CSV contents). Tap Continue.
  4. On Configure, check the separator, date format, number format and column mapping. Money Tracker detects these from your file’s headers, including separate debit and credit columns. If purchases show as positive numbers, map the amount column to “Amount (positive = spending)”. Tap Continue.
  5. On Preview, check the Valid and Errors counts and the sample rows, then tap Continue.
  6. On Review, check Rows to import and Duplicates (skipped), then tap the Import button, which shows how many transactions it will add.

Tips

  • Save the file where your phone can see it. Money Tracker opens files through the Files app, so if you exported on a computer, save the CSV to iCloud Drive or send it to your phone first.
  • Re-importing is safe. Rows that were already imported are skipped, so you can export an overlapping date range without creating duplicates.
  • Categories carry over when they match. If your file has a category column and a value matches one of your Money Tracker categories, it's applied directly. Other rows are categorized after import.
  • Pick CSV, not PDF. A PDF statement is a picture of your transactions, not data a budgeting app can read.

Sources

Checked on . Banks change their menus, so if a label doesn't match what you see, the page below is the place to check.