Import your YNAB data.
Years of categorized history is the part of a budget you can't rebuild by hand. One file from YNAB carries it — your category groups, your categories, and every transaction they sorted — and Spense rebuilds the lot in the background.
Export your plan from YNAB
Sign in to YNAB in a desktop browser — the mobile apps can't export. Click your plan name in the top-left corner and choose the export option in the menu. YNAB downloads a zip with two files inside, named after your plan: one ending in Plan.csv and one ending in Register.csv. The Register file is the one you want.
Upload the Register file in Spense
Get the file to your phone (AirDrop, email it to yourself, or a cloud drive all work), then open Spense. On the More tab, open Data Management and tap Import YNAB Data, then Select CSV and pick the Register file. Spense reads the headers, confirms it's a YNAB transactions export, and shows "We found these accounts in your data" — one card per account in your history.
Match each account and let it run
Each account card offers two buttons. Connect Bank links the real account through Plaid, so it keeps syncing after the import — it needs your trial or a subscription. Create Manual Account makes a hand-tracked account on the spot, free, with the type inferred from its name (a "credit" in the name becomes a credit card, a "loan" a loan). Mix the two however you like. The moment the last account is matched, the import starts on its own: a progress bar counts categories, then transactions, and ends at Import Complete!
Mid-switch and want the whole picture — what transfers, what doesn't, and when it's safe to cancel YNAB? Our switching-from-YNAB walkthrough covers the full migration around this import, including the after-import checklist.