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Reconnecting a Bank and Fixing Duplicate Accounts

This guide is for the moment a bank reconnect leaves you with two ledger accounts for the same bank account, one holding your history and one receiving the live feed. It tells you which repair fits your situation and walks through each one. The repair never involves disconnecting the bank or connecting it again.

Do not disconnect, and do not connect the bank again

Disconnecting a connection only stops its feed. It does not merge the two accounts, and it does not remove the copy. Connecting the bank again from scratch creates a third account unless you pick an existing account in the linking dialog. If you already have two accounts, go straight to Repairing Two Accounts That Already Exist.

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. The bank feed and the ledger account are the same list of transactions, and your reconciliations belong to that ledger account.

When a bank is connected again through Yodlee or Salt Edge, the provider issues new identifiers for the connection and for each bank account. Fiskl has no way to match the new identifiers to the account you connected before, so unless you tell it where the feed belongs, it creates a new ledger account and imports your history into it again. The result is two accounts with the same name:

  • The original: holds your full history, your categorisation and your reconciliations. Its feed has stopped.
  • The copy: receives the live feed and a fresh import of recent history. It usually has no reconciliations.

Everything below is about getting back to one account without losing either the feed or the history.

Which Situation Are You In?​

Find your situation in the first column and follow the section it points to. Only one of these needs a repair.

What you seeWhat to doSection
The banking card shows a connection or consent warning and a Reconnect buttonSelect Reconnect on the card. The feed keeps writing to the same ledger account and no copy is created.Renewing an Expired Connection
You have to connect the bank again from scratch, and the copy does not exist yetConnect, then pick your existing ledger account in the Link to your existing accounts dialog.Connecting Again Without Creating a Copy
Two ledger accounts with the same name: one has the history, the other has the live feedChoose one of the two repairs below. Do not disconnect first.Repairing Two Accounts That Already Exist
One account, but the same transactions appear twice in itUse the duplicates strip above the transaction list.Removing Duplicate Transactions

Telling the Original From the Copy​

Before you repair anything, confirm which account is which. Fiskl marks both so you can tell them apart.

  • 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.

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. After a reconnect, the copy has a green bank badge and no tick badge. The original has a tick badge and a grey bank badge, or no bank badge at all.

Renewing an Expired Connection​

Banks ask for a fresh authorisation from time to time. This is not a reconnect in the sense of this guide, and it never creates a copy.

  1. Go to Banking.
  2. Find the account card showing the connection or consent warning.
  3. Select Reconnect.
  4. Complete your bank's authentication.

The feed continues into the same ledger account. If Reconnect is not offered and the connection is gone, follow the next section instead.

Connecting Again Without Creating a Copy​

Use this when the old connection no longer exists and you must connect the bank from scratch. 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, a linking dialog opens: Link to your existing accounts for Yodlee, Connect History Account Data for Salt Edge. It lists 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.
  5. Leave an account on Create new account on import only if it is genuinely new to Fiskl.
  6. Select Proceed.

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

The dialog 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 the account you want.

tip

If you renamed "Barclays: 4421" to "Main account" last year, the dialog shows "Main account" with "Barclays: 4421" underneath, so you can recognise it either way.

Repairing Two Accounts That Already Exist​

If a reconnect has already created a copy, you have two repairs. Both end with one ledger account that has the feed and the history, and the other account archived. Neither one needs you to disconnect anything first.

  • Keep the original. Point the live feed at the original account and let Fiskl archive the copy. This is the usual choice. See Repair A.
  • Keep the copy. Move the original's transactions and reconciliations into the copy, and let Fiskl archive the original. See Repair B.

How to decide:

  • Choose Repair A when the copy has no reconciliations of its own. It is quicker and keeps the account your reports already refer to.
  • Choose Repair B when the copy has already been reconciled, or when you have categorised a lot of transactions in it and want to keep that work.
  • If both accounts have reconciliations, choose Repair B. Repair A refuses to run while the copy still has reconciliations.

Repair A: Keep the Original and Point the Feed at It​

This repair moves the live feed to your original ledger account and archives the copy, in one step. The feed is not disconnected at any point.

  1. Go to Banking and find the card for the copy. It is the card whose feed refreshed recently.
  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 delivered. If the old, expired connection still had a stale link to the original, Fiskl replaces it as part of this step.

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 copy has reconciliations of its own. Use Repair B instead.

Repair B: Keep the Copy and Move the History Into It​

This repair moves every transaction and every reconciliation from the original into the copy, then archives the original. The live feed already writes to the copy, so it is untouched.

  1. Go to Accounting > Transactions and open the original account.
  2. Select all transactions, then select Move.
  3. Select the copy 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 as well and to archive the original once it is empty. Keep that option ticked.
  5. Select Move.

Transactions the copy already holds are reported as duplicates in the dialog. After the move, use the duplicates strip described below to remove the extra rows.

The reconciliation history can only travel when the copy 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 original's reconciliations stay behind and are marked as needing attention. See Moving Transactions Between Accounts for everything the move dialog checks.

After the Repair​

  • The account you kept has the bank badge and the tick badge in Accounting > Chart of Accounts.
  • The other account is archived. It appears on the Archived tab of the Chart of Accounts and is not deleted.
  • The expired connection, if its header is still shown in Banking, now holds no accounts. You can remove it with the disconnect icon on its header. This is the only time disconnecting is part of the repair, and it happens last.
  • If the kept account shows the duplicates strip, review it as described next.

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 bank reference, or on the same date, amount and name. A recurring payment to the same merchant on different days is not a duplicate and is not listed.

info

The feed 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 was told to disconnect the extra connection. Should I?

No. Disconnecting stops the feed on that connection and nothing else. The two ledger accounts stay as they are, and if you then connect the bank again you may end up with three. Use Repair A or Repair B instead. The only connection worth removing is the old, expired one, and only after the repair, when it holds no accounts.

I reconnected and chose the new account. Can I undo it?

You do not need to undo anything. The reconnect created a copy, which is exactly what the two repairs fix. Open Repairing Two Accounts That Already Exist and pick Repair A to keep your original account.

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. Make sure you are looking at the card for the copy, the one whose feed is live, not the card for the expired connection.

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

The list 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 live connection is still feeding it, that connection has to be removed first. An expired connection does not block the list.

Change linked account says the current account has reconciliations

Repair A cannot run while the copy has reconciliations of its own, because they would be left on an archived account. Use Repair B instead and move the original's history into the copy, or move the copy's transactions and reconciliations into the original with a whole-account move and keep the original.

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 consider Repair A, which does not touch the original's reconciliations.

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 bank reference, or the same date, amount and name. 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.

The two accounts really are different bank accounts

Then there is nothing to repair. Two accounts with similar names are only a problem when both represent the same real bank account. Rename one of them in Accounting > Chart of Accounts so they are easy to tell apart.