import PDF paychecks from ADP
Hi,
The company I work for has online paychecks from ADP in a PDF format. I would like to be able to import them as a split transaction into Moneydance. I have traditionally entered my paychecks manually using split transactions. Sometime my paycheck is the same so I can duplicate it but this isn't often.
I'm looking for suggestions on the best way to proceed. I have the following ideas,
Create a python script that reads the PDF and creates a CSV file or other type of file that I could import. I see CSV Importer extension but could not fine any documentation on how to use it. I am also not sure if it would support the split transactions.
My second idea is to create a Moneydance python script that reads the PDF and creates the transaction. This seems like a more difficult option although the most automated.
My last option is to stop tracking the taxes, 401k etc..of my paycheck and just use the imported income amount from my bank.
Thanks for the help.
Any other suggestions on how to do this?
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1 Posted by dwg on 25 May, 2026 01:58 AM
Your last option is the easiest.
PDF files are difficult to work with, as a final form document they are not designed for any further processing, they have to be broken apart to be ale to do it.
To think about extracting the data from a PDF it would have to be a text based PDF rather than an image based, i.e. you would be able to highlight and cut text out of it, rather than just being about to copy an area.
CSV is a very simple table based format, the importers for CSV require you to have consistent rows of data, you would not have that with split transactions hence I do not believe any of the CSV importers would be able to handle it, I think it would probably require discrete transactions for each amount, quite messy. Formats that can handle split transactions are financial formats like OFX and QIF. QIF is a lot easier to create as it is a much simpler format.
There are online converters for PDF to QIF/OFX there is also software you can get that can do it and be run locally.
Personally I would not feel comfortable using an online converter.
Yes creating a python script or an extension to be run in Moneydance to perform the task is the most complex way, it is certainly possible, but you need to understand Moneydance internals to be able to do it, it represents taking steps beyond creating a file that existing import capabilities can handle, it would be essentially combining both.
Your options are fairly limited, you have basically outlined the three broad approaches that could be taken (apart from manual entry which makes a fourth).
2 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 25 May, 2026 06:09 AM
You don’t say whether you know how to code with python?
Of the options above, except the last ‘don’t bother option’, the second which is getting the script to create the transaction directly in Moneydance is the easy bit. I would do this and not bother with separate importers.
IMHO - actually reading the PDF to extract the data is probably going to be the hardest bit. Have you done this before? Do you know how to do it?
3 Posted by ajbarr on 25 May, 2026 12:25 PM
Hi dwg and Stuart,
Thanks for the quick replies and input. I am new to python but have done some scripting using tcl many years ago. I'm a Linux user and have python setup. I would like to learn more about python and figured AI could help. I used Claude and made a script to extract the text from the PDF File so that part is done.
I will study the Moneydance API and Stuart's page for some https://yogi1967.github.io/MoneydancePythonScripts/ idea and proceed with trying to use Mondance python API to create the transaction in Moneydance.
4 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 25 May, 2026 12:36 PM
This thread might help.
https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/moneydance-developme...
Support Staff 5 Posted by Ethan on 30 May, 2026 10:11 PM
I agree that a lot of this will come down to how readable the PDF file is, not just in terms of being text based, but how that data would be recognized by whatever is the next step in the process. Some PDFs that I've encountered are organized well enough that the key sections can be copied and pasted neatly into a spreadsheet, which from there could be saved as an importable CSV file. I mostly wanted to add that you may want to think about how to reduce the number of steps you want to take for each paycheck import, or if that's not what's most important to you, you may already be practically finished if you've extracted the PDF data into a useful format.
Ethan
Infinite Kind Support