Protected statements
Password-protected bank statement PDFs: opening them and getting the rows out
A password-protected statement is a normal PDF with a lock on it. Once you know what the password is, the rest is ordinary — but several tools quietly fail on these files, and it pays to know why.
What the password usually is
Banks that protect statements normally tell you the rule when they send them: often a date of birth in a fixed format, a postcode, or the last digits of the account number, sometimes combined. If a statement asks for a password you were not given, the bank's help pages for "statement password" are the place to look. Ledgavo, and this page, do not guess passwords; the rule is the bank's, and the password is yours.
Why some tools fail on them
A protected PDF has its contents locked inside the file. Your PDF viewer asks for the password, unlocks it, and shows the page. A table extractor or a spreadsheet's PDF import that does not ask for a password will either refuse the file or, worse, report that it found no tables — which reads like "this statement has no data" rather than "this statement is locked". If a tool gives you an empty result on a statement you can read perfectly well in your viewer, the password is the first thing to suspect.
Two ways to work with them
1. Use a tool that takes the password
The cleanest route: the tool asks for the password, opens the file for that job, and the file on disk stays exactly as the bank sent it — still protected. This is what Ledgavo does: it asks for the password when a statement needs one, uses it to open the PDF, and does not write it down or send it anywhere.
2. Save an unprotected copy from your viewer
Most PDF viewers can print or export an opened statement to a new PDF without the password. That works, but you have now created an unprotected copy of a bank statement — keep it where you keep the originals, and delete it when the job is done.
Being straight with you: the protection on the file is there for a reason. Nothing on this page bypasses it; every route needs the password the bank gave you.
Where Ledgavo fits
Choose the statement; if it is protected, Ledgavo asks for the password, opens the file on your computer, reads the rows and checks them against the running balance where the statement carries one. The password is used to open the PDF and then gone — never written down, never sent. In a folder run, a protected file is skipped and named, so you can do it on its own with the password.