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Supported file types and formats

Article author
Jonathon Plowman-Samson
  • Updated

Summary

Learn about the file types and file formats that MindBridge supports.

Supported file types

At this time, MindBridge only supports the following file types:

  • .csv
  • .xls
  • .xlsx
  • .dbf
  • .zip (only 1 file can be included in the zipped folder)
  • .txt (plain text file)
    • Only supported if delimited by a comma, tab, semi-colon ( ; ), or vertical bar ( | )
Tip: If you have a file with the .GDPdU file extension, zip the file then import it into the MindBridge file manager.

Supported file formats

Chart of accounts* General ledger

Tabular files:

Tabular files are generally accepted.

Refer to the list of ERP export guides and/or the FAQ for direct connectors to discover the supported file formats that best apply to your needs.**

* You must accurately verify account mapping in order to procure the most valuable analysis results from MindBridge.

** Grouped files must be ungrouped before importing. If you need assistance, open the MindBridge sidebar and get help from Customer Support to help transform your file.

Note: Multiple Excel data files must be consolidated onto on a single sheet, and appear on the first sheet of the document. Only 1 general ledger file can be imported per period. If your files are all in an otherwise ingestible format, use the merge tool to combine them. If you need to combine worksheets in an Excel workbook, you will first need to use the split tool to extract the desired sheets and save them into individual files. Then you will be able to select which of these you would like to merge.

File types not supported

Unsupported files types should be formatted into one of the supported file types. If you need assistance formatting your data, reach out to Customer Success to help transform your file.

Some files, such as .pdf, are for display purposes only and do not contain usable, analyzable data that can be extracted. MindBridge cannot read .xlsx, .csv, or .txt files that have been exported from .pdf. In these cases, you may have to request a new file in the supported type.

File restrictions

MindBridge does not support password-protected files.

Disable the security settings before importing your file into MindBridge, or sharing it with the Customer Success Team.

File size limitations

Maximum file size: 8 GB

We recommend zipping or compressing any file before importing it.

Note: Only 1 compressed file can be imported at a time, except in the case of GDPdU imports.

If the compressed file is below 8 GB and/or continues to prompt a server error, please reach out to our Customer Success Team.

Fixed width text files

As noted above, plain text files are ingestible by MindBridge (and in fact are the preferred format) only if  they are delimited by a comma, tab, semi-colon ( ; ), or vertical bar ( | )

  • For example, MindBridge cannot ingest fixed width text files, but if your fixed width text file requires no or minimal formatting (nothing more than deleting subtotal/blank/extra header rows), you can open your fixed width file in Excel, delete extraneous lines as needed, and save as Excel format to import into MindBridge. 
  • If your fixed width text file requires more complex formatting, such as ungrouping, please submit a Data Formatting Request. Be sure to upload the original fixed width text file to your File manager, not an Excel conversion.

Special characters to avoid

The characters to be aware of in as they may cause an ingestion error depending on the file format and context. We recommend you avoid using these characters as delimiters. 

  • BOM (\uFEFF or erroneously as \uFFFE)
  • Form Feed (\014)
  • \u00DO
  • CR (carriage returns)
  • LF (line feeds)
  • Quotation marks within a field ( " and ' ) - in a CSV or text file, if a field has the delimiter character (for example, a comma character in the account description or memo in a CSV file), the entire field needs to be enclosed in ""s 
  • Tabs (in the data itself)
  • Backslash ( \ )
  • Tilde ( ~ ) (specifically on .txt files)

 

Anything else on your mind?

Head over to the community with your thoughts and inquiries! You can also chat with us, or, submit a request for further assistance.

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