Last updated: April 2026 · Written for accuracy and trust
There are three practical ways to get Bank of America statement data into Excel, and the best one depends on whether you need recent account activity or your official monthly statement.
That distinction matters. If you only need recent transactions, Bank of America’s online activity tools may be enough. If you need the actual monthly statement, statement balances, or older records, you will usually want the PDF statement instead.
What We Verified Before Writing This
- Bank of America provides account statements through Statements & Documents in Online Banking.
- For checking accounts, Bank of America says you can view, print, and download up to 18 months of statements online.
- Bank of America says it keeps copies of statements for up to 7 years, and older copies can be requested through Online Banking.
- For credit cards, Bank of America says eBill statements are available in Online Banking and the mobile app for 24 months.
- Bank of America’s activity and transaction tools are useful for recent history, but they are not the same as the official monthly statement.
The Difference Between Activity History and Statement PDFs
This is the part that causes most confusion: Bank of America’s account activity view is not the same thing as your monthly statement PDF.
| Account Activity / Transaction History | PDF Statement | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Recent transactions, spending review, categorizing activity | Official monthly records, reconciliation, archived reporting |
| Time range | Recent and searchable activity, depending on account and tool | Up to 18 months online for checking statements, with older statement copies requestable up to 7 years; credit card eBill statements available for 24 months |
| Includes pending activity | May include recent and pending transactions | No, statements reflect posted statement-period activity |
| Official monthly statement format | No | Yes |
| Best when you need statement context and balances | No | Yes |
The practical takeaway: if you need something that matches the bank’s monthly record, use the statement PDF. If you only need recent activity for spreadsheet work, the activity tools may be enough.
Method 1: Use Bank of America Activity Tools for Recent Transactions
If your goal is to get recent account activity into Excel quickly, start with Bank of America’s online activity tools.
- Sign in to Bank of America Online Banking.
- Open the account you want to review.
- Use the activity or search tools to find the transaction range you need.
- If a download or export option is available for that account and tool, export the data and open it in Excel.
When this works well:
- recent spending review
- categorizing transactions
- working with short-term account activity
- quick spreadsheet analysis
Where it falls short:
- it is not the same as the official monthly statement
- statement-style balances and monthly structure may not match
- older statement-based work usually requires the PDF statement
If you are doing reconciliation, audit prep, or anything that needs to mirror the bank’s official monthly record, this is often not the best final source.
Method 2: Download the Statement PDF and Convert It
If you need the statement itself in Excel, this is usually the better route.
Step 1: Download the PDF statement
- Sign in to Bank of America Online Banking.
- Open Statements & Documents for the account.
- Select the statement period available for your product.
- Open or download the statement PDF.
For checking accounts, Bank of America says you can view, print, and download up to 18 months of statements online. It also says you can request copies of older statements, and it keeps copies for up to 7 years. For credit cards, eBill statements are available for 24 months. If you need older records, availability depends on the product and statement type.
Step 2: Convert the PDF into Excel
Once you have the PDF, you can either:
- copy and clean the data manually, or
- use a PDF extraction tool.
Statement PDFs are designed for reading, not spreadsheets. That means rows may wrap, descriptions may split across lines, and pasted columns may not stay aligned in Excel.
If you want a faster workflow for Bank of America statement PDFs, this is where a tool like SendItSheets can help. It gives you a way to extract table-like transaction data from the PDF so you can review it in spreadsheet form instead of rebuilding it manually.
Step 3: Review before using operationally
No matter how you convert the file, compare the spreadsheet against the original PDF before using it for:
- bookkeeping
- tax preparation
- financial reporting
- account reconciliation
Method 3: Copy and Paste a Few Transactions
If you only need a small number of rows, manual copy and paste can work.
- Open the Bank of America statement PDF.
- Select the rows you need.
- Paste them into Excel.
- Clean up the formatting manually.
This is fine for a very small job, but it usually becomes frustrating once you move beyond a handful of lines. For full statements, manual cleanup often takes longer than people expect.
When to Use Each Method
| Situation | Best Method |
|---|---|
| You need recent activity quickly | Use Bank of America activity tools |
| You need the official monthly statement in Excel | Download the PDF statement and convert it |
| You need older statement records | Use statement PDFs and request older copies if needed |
| You only need a few rows | Manual copy and paste |
| You want a cleaner workflow for multiple statement PDFs | Use a statement extraction tool such as SendItSheets |
Bank of America-Specific Things to Know
- Statement availability varies by product. Checking, credit card, and other account types do not all expose the same online statement window.
- Statements and activity serve different purposes. Activity tools are useful for recent transaction review; statements are the formal monthly record.
- Pending transactions belong to activity views, not statements. If you need posted statement-period records, always start with the PDF.
- Older historical work is usually statement-based. If the job depends on the bank’s monthly record, use Statements & Documents and request older copies when needed.
Final Answer
If you only need recent Bank of America transactions, the online activity tools may be enough. If you need the actual monthly statement in Excel, especially for balances, reconciliation, or archived records, download the statement PDF from Statements & Documents and convert that instead.
If you want a faster way to work with statement PDFs, SendItSheets is a reasonable option to test when manual copy-and-paste becomes too slow.