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💳 How to import financial data

This article explains how you can upload financial data to your account, allowing Substly to identify costs and renewal dates to services.

Julia Nash avatar
Written by Julia Nash
Updated this week

Using financial data, Substly makes it easier than ever before to get an overview of how much your company is spending on subscription-based services.

There are four main types of financial data that Substly can use to identify services and costs:

  • Credit cards

  • Debit cards

  • Bank accounts

  • SIE files

If preferred, financial data can be added manually per service in addition to Substly's financial integrations

Importing a card or bank statement

  1. In your Substly account, navigate to Integrations & Imports

  2. Click on Get Started under Transactions import

  3. Choose New import.
    ​
    ​Important! Make sure your uploaded file meets the file requirements for importing your card and bank statements. If not, the file cannot be properly processed. (Columns: Date, Description, Amount, Message, are required).
    ​

  4. Add the file you want to upload in the box to the left, then click Upload.

Once you've uploaded your file, Substly will automatically attempt to validate and process the data.

✅ If the file is correctly formatted:

  • The file will be marked as “Processing” if it's still being handled by the system.

  • When processing is complete and successful, the Edit button becomes active—allowing you to open and review the imported data.

❌ If the file contains errors:

The system will enter a "fail state", where:

  • The Edit button remains disabled.

  • No direct error message or notification will be shown—so it's important to manually check the file status under the Files tab.

This can happen if:

  • The file type is incorrect (must be .csv, not .xlsx, .docx, etc.)

  • One or more required column headers (Date, Description, Amount, Message) are missing or misspelled

  • The headers are not placed in the first row of the file

To fix the issue, you'll need to remove the invalid file, correct the formatting in your original file, and upload it again.

5. Your file can now be found under the Files tab.

Note! Imported transactions that are older than one year and not mapped to a service are automatically ignored (but can be unignored).

🛠️ What to do if your file fails to upload

  • Click the Files tab under Transactions import

  • Locate the failed file (Edit button will be disabled)

  • Remove the incorrect file

  • Fix the formatting in your original document

  • Re-upload the corrected file

View mapped transactions and make adjustments

After a transaction statement has been uploaded, you can see which transactions have been added to your account and make adjustments to the import.

  1. Navigate to Integrations & Imports

  2. Click on Get Started under Transactions Import

  3. Select the Files tab

  4. Find the relevant import in the list and click Edit to the right.

In the Matched transactions tab, you'll find all transactions that have been mapped up to a service in your Substly account. Double check to see if everything is correct, and if you need to make adjustments:

  • Select the green, circular arrows to re-select another service, if matched incorrectly.

  • Or, ignore if you don't want to the service/transactions to be imported.

In the Umatched transactions tab, you'll find all transactions that have not been mapped to a service.

Mapping unmatched transactions

If there are services that haven't been mapped up automatically, you can add them manually:

  1. In the Unmatched transactions tab, go through the list and find any transactions or services you want to add to your Substly account.

  2. Once you find a service/transaction that you want to add to Substly, search for the service and click Add, or Create New if the service doesn't exist in our database.

  3. Once matched, the service is moved to the Matched transactions tab.

  4. Once you are done, click Import to add it to your account

Transactions and rules that have been added manually once will automatically be mapped up the next time you upload a transaction statement.

Ignored Transactions

You can ignore transactions, unmatched and matched, that you don't want imported into your account. To do this:

  • Click on Ignore on the right hand side

  • Find your ignored transactions in the Ignored transactions tab.

You can always go back and adjust the import again if you wish

Importing a SIE file

What is an SIE file?

SIE (Standard Import Export) is a standardized Swedish file format that transfers financial data between accounting systems. For example, you can export accounting data from your financial software and import it into a tool like Substly.

Step-by-step: How to import an SIE file into Substly

1. Export the SIE file from your accounting system

  • Log in to your accounting software (e.g. Fortnox, Microsoft Business Central or NetSuite)

  • Look for an option to export data (usually under reports or bookkeeping)

    • Important! Make sure your uploaded file meets the file requirements for an SIE-file.

    • Choose time period. The system analyzes historical data to forecast future spending. For the most accurate predictions, select a longer time period— at least 12 months to capture all annual payments, and preferably 24 months for best accuracy.

  • Save the file locally (usually with the file extension .se or .sie)

2. Log in to Substly

3. Go to the Integrations & Imports section

  • Navigate to Settings > Integrations & Imports

4. Go to “SIE import” and Get Started

  • SIE import > Get Started

  • Select New Import

  • Drag and drop the SIE file you previously exported into the upload area in the top left corner

(Please ensure that the file is in SIE type 4 or 4i format and does not exceed 10 MB in size.)

5. Upload your SIE file

Click Upload to add your SIE file to Substly. The system will start processing the data.

Once uploaded, your file will appear under the Files tab in the SIE import section. From here, you can:

  • Preview the contents of the file

  • See basic file details like file name, size, and import data

  • Start the review process when you're ready

6. Review and confirm

After processing, Substly will generate a summary of the imported data, including:

  • A list of detected suppliers

  • Related transactions

  • Any potential issues or duplicates

Go through the summary to ensure the data looks accurate.
You’ll then be asked to:

  • Match suppliers to services in Substly

  • Ignore or exclude any suppliers that aren’t relevant

  • Make final adjustments if needed

When everything is reviewed and matched, click Confirm import to complete the process. Your financial data is now active and can be used in your dashboards and reports.

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