Duplicate Transactions
Overlapping imports are normal. Aventurine catches repeats on the review screen so you can import freely without doubling anything up.
What you see
On the Here Is Your Import screen, rows that already exist in your ledger are shaded and badged duplicate. They arrive unticked, so pressing “Looks Right” imports only the new rows.
You can tick one if you actually want it — see “Real repeats” below.
What counts as a duplicate
A row is treated as a duplicate when an existing transaction matches on all three of:
- the date
- the amount
- the description (ignoring capitalization and surrounding spaces)
Nothing else is considered. Notes, category, and account play no part.
Aventurine compares against your existing transactions from the earliest date in the file onwards, so importing a recent month does not require checking years of history.
Real repeats that are not mistakes
Two identical coffees on the same day, at the same price, from the same shop, produce two identical rows. The second is flagged as a duplicate because Aventurine cannot tell it apart from a re-import.
If you know it is real, tick it. It will import.
This is why duplicates are unticked rather than removed: the app makes the safe assumption and leaves the decision with you.
Cases it will not catch
Different date. A transaction downloaded once as its transaction date and once as its posted date looks like two different transactions. Be consistent about which date column you map. See Matching Your Columns.
Different description. Some banks change a description slightly once a transaction settles — “PENDING …” becoming the final text, or a reference number appearing. Duplicate detection is exact on the description, so those are treated as new rows. Importing only settled transactions avoids this.
Different amount. A tip added after the fact, or a currency conversion that landed differently.
The same transaction imported into two accounts. Detection looks at your whole ledger regardless of account, so this is caught — but the row will be unticked when you may actually want it under the second account. Read the badges before committing.
Cleaning up duplicates that got in
If duplicates did land:
- Go to Transactions.
- Use the Name and Date filters to narrow to them.
- Tick the extra rows and press the trash button.
Deleting a transaction does not affect anything else — categories, learned rules, and your Balance Sheet are untouched. Your Cash Flow statement recalculates itself, unless you had typed over those cells. See Computed and Typed Values.
If detection is unavailable
Duplicate checking is a convenience, not a gate. If it cannot run for some reason, the import proceeds with every row ticked. The badges are absent rather than wrong.
Related: Importing Transactions · Matching Your Columns · Finding Transactions