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Data Export Issues

Export row caps, the Excel option that returns CSV, UTF-8 encoding in Excel, PDF generation failures, and accepted bank statement formats.

All UsersLast reviewed 03 Aug 2026

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TravelFlow exports data as CSV and PDF, and imports bank statements and accounting data from spreadsheet and banking files. This article covers the limits and quirks that cause most export and import support tickets.

Large Exports Are Capped

Exports do not stream an unlimited number of rows. A saved-report export returns at most 5,000 records, and the accounting transaction export at most 10,000. The file is produced without any warning that it was cut short, so a full-year ledger export can look complete while missing rows.

Important: When an export is for reconciliation, audit or tax work, split it by date range (month or quarter) and check the row counts add up to what the on-screen report shows. Do not assume a single large export is complete.

The Excel Option Produces a CSV

Report exports offer PDF, CSV and Excel. Choosing Excel currently downloads a comma-separated file with a .csv extension, not a real workbook. Excel opens it, but there are no sheets, formatting or formulas. If you need a workbook, open the CSV and save it as .xlsx yourself.

“Too many requests” When Exporting

Exports are limited to 10 per minute per user and imports to five. Clicking the export button repeatedly does not queue anything — each click is a fresh request, and once the limit is hit the server answers “Too many requests” with “Rate limit exceeded. Please try again later.” Wait for the download to start, and wait a minute after a rate-limit message.

CSV Encoding in Excel

CSV files are written in UTF-8 without a byte-order mark. Excel often guesses the wrong encoding for such files, which is why Rand symbols and accented names can appear garbled. Import the file through Data > From Text/CSV in Excel and select UTF-8 as the file origin, or open it in Google Sheets, which detects UTF-8 automatically.

“Failed to generate PDF”

Quotation, invoice, voucher and itinerary PDFs are rendered in your browser, not on the server, so there is no server timeout to hit and missing fields do not block generation — the renderer substitutes defaults. A failure here is local: reload the page and retry, and try another browser if it recurs. Saved-report PDF export is the exception; it runs on the server, so reduce the date range if a very large report will not export.

Bank Statement Imports

Upload statements under Banking > Bank Statements. Accepted extensions are .csv, .txt, .xlsx, .xls, .ofx, .qfx and .qif, up to 100 MB. Anything else is rejected with “Invalid file type. Please upload CSV, Excel (.xlsx/.xls), OFX, QIF, QFX, or TXT files. PDF files are not supported yet.” The separate Transactions > Data Import screen is narrower still: .csv, .xlsx and .xls only.

If an accepted file still fails to parse, check that:

  1. The extension matches the real format — a PDF statement renamed to .csv will not parse.
  2. The file has the expected columns (date, description, amount). Column order varies by bank and is detected, but the columns must be present.
  3. Dates use one consistent format throughout the file.
  4. The file is not empty or truncated. Open it in a text editor to confirm it has content.
Tip: Exported files usually contain client and financial data. Store them somewhere controlled and delete them from your device once you are finished.