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Reconnecting a Bank and Fixing Duplicate Accounts

This guide explains what happens to your ledger accounts when you reconnect a bank, and how to repair the two copies of an account that a reconnect can leave behind. Use it when you see the same bank account twice in your Chart of Accounts, or when a reconnected feed starts writing into a new, empty account instead of the one with your history.

How a Bank Feed Relates to a Ledger Account​

Each connected bank account writes its transactions into exactly one ledger account in your Chart of Accounts. There is no separate inbox: a bank feed and its ledger account are the same list of transactions, and your reconciliations belong to that ledger account.

When you reconnect a bank through Yodlee or Salt Edge, the provider issues new identifiers for the connection and for each bank account. Fiskl cannot tell on its own that the new identifiers are the same real account as before. Without your help, the reconnect creates a new ledger account and re-imports your history into it. You then have two accounts with the same name: one holding your history and reconciliations, and one receiving the live feed.

The sections below cover, in order, how to tell the two apart, how to reconnect so the duplicate never appears, and how to repair one that already exists.

Telling a Connected Account From a Copy​

Fiskl marks accounts so you can see at a glance which one has the feed and which one has the history.

  • In Accounting > Chart of Accounts, each ledger account row shows a bank badge when a bank feed writes to it, and a tick badge when it has reconciled periods. Hover over a badge for the provider, the connection name, the last refresh and the last reconciled period.
  • In Accounting > Transactions, the same two badges appear in the balance tile at the top right of the account.
  • In Banking, each account card names the ledger account it writes to, with its account number, so two cards that look alike can be told apart.

The bank badge is green when the feed refreshed within the last two days, amber when it is older, and grey when the bank account or its connection is disabled.

Reconnecting Without Creating a Duplicate​

When you reconnect, Fiskl offers your existing ledger accounts before it creates anything. This works for Yodlee and Salt Edge.

  1. Go to Banking and select Connect bank.
  2. Select your provider and complete your bank's authentication.
  3. When the provider returns your accounts, the Link to your existing accounts dialog opens, listing each new bank account next to a dropdown of ledger accounts it could write to.
  4. For each account, select the ledger account that held it before. Fiskl ranks the closest matches first, and shows both the current display name and the original name the bank gave the account, so you can recognise it either way.
  5. Leave an account on Create new account on import only if it is genuinely new to Fiskl.
  6. Select Proceed.

The feed then continues into the account you chose. Transactions it already holds are not imported again, and your reconciliations are untouched.

The dialog only lists ledger accounts of the same kind and currency as the new bank account, and only ones that do not already receive a live feed. An account still attached to the old, expired connection is offered, because that is exactly the account you want.

tip

Reconnecting the same bank is the one time the original account name matters. If you renamed "Barclays: 4421" to "Main account" last year, the dialog shows "Main account" with "Barclays: 4421" underneath.

Repairing an Existing Duplicate​

If a reconnect already created a second account, you have two repairs. Use the first one whenever you can.

Change the Linked Account​

This points the live feed at your original ledger account and tidies up the copy in one step.

  1. Go to Banking and find the card for the reconnected account.
  2. Select Change linked account.
  3. Select the original ledger account from the list. Each candidate shows how many transactions it holds, its last transaction date, and its reconciliations.
  4. Read the preview. It states how many transactions move into the original, how many are removed because the original already holds them, the date the feed continues from, and that the copy is archived once empty.
  5. Select Change linked account to confirm.

After the change, the banking card names the original ledger account, the Chart of Accounts shows the bank badge on it, and the next sync continues from the last transaction the feed had already delivered.

Fiskl refuses the change in a few cases, and tells you which:

  • The chosen account already receives a live feed from another connection.
  • The chosen account is a different kind or currency from the bank account.
  • The chosen account is archived. Restore it first.
  • The account the feed currently writes to has reconciliations of its own. Move those with a whole-account move first, described below.

Move Every Transaction Into the Original​

Use this when the copy has already gathered reconciliations, or when the accounts are not bank-connected at all.

  1. Go to Accounting > Transactions and open the copy.
  2. Select all transactions, then select Move.
  3. Select the original account as the destination.
  4. The dialog checks the move before anything happens. Because every transaction of the account is selected, it offers to move the reconciliation history with them and archive the copy once it is empty. Keep that option ticked.
  5. Select Move.

The reconciliation history can only travel when the original account has no reconciliation covering the same dates. If it does, the dialog says so and lists the overlapping periods. The transactions still move, but the copy's reconciliations stay behind and are marked as needing attention.

See Moving Transactions Between Accounts for everything the move dialog checks.

Removing Duplicate Transactions​

When an account holds transactions that also exist in another money account, a strip appears above its transaction list. It names the other account and says how many of the rows were added after the originals.

  1. Go to Accounting > Transactions and open the account showing the strip.
  2. Select Review.
  3. The dialog lists each matching transaction, the account that also holds it, and why it matched: the same bank reference, or the same date, amount and name.
  4. Rows that are later copies and are neither reconciled nor linked to a payment are ticked for removal. Rows marked Original, Reconciled or Linked cannot be removed from here.
  5. Select Remove copies.

Fiskl matches on the same date, amount and name. A recurring payment to the same merchant on different days in two accounts is not a duplicate and is not listed.

info

The feed also refuses to import a transaction that another ledger account already holds under the same bank reference. When that happens, the banking card says how many transactions the last sync skipped and why, so nothing is dropped silently.

Common Issues​

I don't see Change linked account on the banking card

The button needs bank connection permission and an active subscription. It is also hidden on disabled bank accounts. Select Reactivate on the card first, then the button appears.

My original account isn't in the list of accounts to link to

The list only contains ledger accounts of the same kind and currency as the bank account, under Cash and Cash Equivalents or Credit Cards, that are not archived and do not already receive a live feed. Check the currency of the original account in Accounting > Chart of Accounts, and restore it from the Archived tab if needed. If another connection is still feeding it, disconnect that connection first.

The move dialog says my reconciliations will need attention

You are moving transactions that belong to reconciled periods, and the destination already has reconciliations covering the same dates, so the history cannot travel with them. The transactions still move. The affected periods are marked as needing attention and must be reviewed again in Accounting > Reconciliation. If you would rather keep the periods intact, cancel and reconcile the destination's overlapping periods differently, or keep the two accounts separate.

The reconciliation history moved but the periods still need attention

The history moves with the transactions, but the periods keep their reconciled status only when the destination account had no transactions dated inside those periods. If it did, the balances the periods certified have changed, and Fiskl marks them for a balance check rather than guessing. Open each period in Accounting > Reconciliation and confirm the statement balance.

The duplicates strip doesn't show rows I know are duplicates

The strip matches on the same date, amount and name, or the same bank reference. If the two accounts imported the same transaction with different posting dates, or one was renamed, they do not match. Move or delete those rows by hand from the transaction list.