Use an expense CSV export without changing the numbers

To use an expense export in a spreadsheet, preserve the original file, inspect its delimiter and amounts, and import a working copy. Check the row count and a small known total before sorting or calculating. A file that opens without an error can still contain amounts treated as text or dates read in the wrong order.

In Manor, the legacy month route can produce a monthly CSV with expense rows. That does not mean every budget workspace has the same export button. Check the installed route and what it offers before following instructions. A month summary image and an account archive are different outputs with different uses.

Identify which file you actually have

The legacy monthly CSV includes date, amount, category, status, fixed-expense information, source, Note, and Original transcript columns. It ends with a month total row. Its amounts use locale formatting. A missing amount has an empty field, not a zero. Keep those distinctions when preparing a worksheet so you do not turn an unresolved expense into an apparent zero-cost purchase.

A monthly summary image does not include the expense rows, notes, or transcripts needed for row-by-row analysis. The account export available through settings is an archive with CSV, JSON, a manifest, and an audio directory. Eligible retained audio may be included. It is not a full history of every edit. Do not treat these outputs as interchangeable evidence.

Decide what question the file should answer. Comparing grocery entries needs individual rows; a visual monthly summary cannot supply them. Before sharing any file, read the voice expense privacy guide because notes and transcripts can reveal details that a simple total would not.

Inspect delimiters and decimal values before import

The legacy monthly CSV uses commas between columns, with quoting around fields that need it. Your spreadsheet's regional settings may expect semicolons, or a different decimal separator. A semicolon expectation does not mean the file is damaged. Inspect the file and its import preview rather than replacing every comma, which can also change notes and decimal values.

Microsoft's CSV import guidance explains that directly opening CSV uses current default data formats. Use the import preview to check column boundaries and types. Confirm that a familiar decimal amount remains the same number. Check a date whose day is greater than twelve, and read an accented or Arabic note to catch interpretation problems before saving.

Work in a copy. If all the headings appear in one cell, revisit the delimiter. If an amount appears as text, changing its visual format alone may not make it numeric. Check the import's decimal interpretation and convert the working amount column only after confirming the source value. Keep the original text for comparison.

Verify a small total before calculating a month

Take an illustrative euro file with expense rows of EUR 12.50, EUR 7.25, and EUR 10.00. The purchase total is EUR 29.75. If the file also has a final total row of EUR 29.75, adding every numeric cell gives EUR 59.50. Exclude the final total row from the expense range; it is a check, not another purchase.

If one of the three expenses becomes text, the spreadsheet may omit it from a sum. Compare the three individual values and count the rows as well as checking the result. A blank amount needs review, not replacement with zero. Work on a small sample until you can explain each value and the calculated total.

Look for repeated rows before relying on category totals. The duplicate expense guide shows why equal amounts alone do not justify deletion. Correct the source notebook separately if needed. Editing an exported cell does not update Manor, and a later export may overwrite your spreadsheet changes if you paste over them.

Prepare a shareable working copy

Notes and Original transcript can contain private context even when the description looks harmless. For a category review, a recipient may need only dates, categories, amounts, and currency. Remove unnecessary columns from the copy you intend to share, then reopen that copy and check it. Keep the complete original in a place you control.

Check the file before using its totals

1. Confirm the period, account or budget scope, and currency. Keep separate currencies in separate totals.
2. Preserve the downloaded original. Import a copy and inspect delimiters, decimals, dates, and non-Latin text.
3. Separate expense rows from the final total row. Count unresolved amounts without treating them as zero.
4. Compare a known example and its sum. Investigate any difference before building a chart or summary.
5. Remove unneeded private columns from the sharing copy. Check that recipients receive that copy rather than the original archive.