How do I export the general ledger report from AppFolio to CSV or Excel?

Open Reporting, then Reports, run the General Ledger for the bank-statement dates, click Update, then Actions and Export as Excel or CSV. Core can still download it. An API key is not required. The PDF is a picture of the same report.

This is the download path for a small property-management office on AppFolio, often Core, still called Basic, that already exports the general ledger for the CPA, the three-way rec, or an auditor. Pull last month’s bank statement first, then the GL.

What you are downloading

The bank shows one number. AppFolio shows several accounting reports. For month-end, the file the CPA and the rec packet want is the General Ledger spreadsheet.

File	Where	What it is for
General Ledger, Excel or CSV	Reporting, Reports, General Ledger, Actions	Every posting in the period, by GL account and property
Trial Balance	Accounting Reports	Year-to-date totals. Not the lines.
Trust Account Balance	Accounting Reports	Cash by owner and property
Owner statement PDF	Owner packet or portal	The owner packet. Not the GL.

AppFolio’s accounting product page, read 2026-11-03, names “secure export functionality to organize your data outside AppFolio.” How to export AppFolio data to QuickBooks is the packet after this file is on disk.

AppFolio does not have a single export-everything button. Abode’s February 26, 2026 migration guide writes that exports are report-by-report. Run the General Ledger. Then run the owner ledgers if the packet needs those too.

Pull the General Ledger on desktop

Do this in AppFolio before you touch QuickBooks. Pick the bank-statement dates first. The usual miss is Today against a statement through the 30th.

APM Help’s reporting tutorial is this path. PropertyManagement.com’s scheduled-report guide, updated 2026-10-30, shows the Actions menu on a screenshot: Save Layout, Email, Export as Excel, and Export as CSV.

1. Go to Reporting, then Reports. Or type general ledger in the search bar.
2. Open General Ledger under Accounting Reports. AppFolio opens Customize Report.
3. Properties: leave blank and Show All Properties, unless the CPA asked for one door.
4. GL Accounts: All for the month-end file. The trust cash account only, if this export is for the rec.
5. Date Range: the bank-statement period. Not Today. Not All Time for a monthly packet.
6. Check Show Reversed Transactions when the total has to match the bank rec.
7. Under Columns, turn on Created At and Last Edited At if you need an audit trail.
8. Under Row Groups, remove grouping so each row is one posting.
9. Click Update.
10. Click Actions, then Export as Excel or Export as CSV.

Keep the file as AppFolio wrote it. Resaving Excel as CSV before you match can scramble dates and cents.

Core includes Property Accounting and Reports on AppFolio’s pricing page, read 2026-11-03. Does AppFolio Basic have an API? is the plan question. Core has no API. You still export.

Save the layout so next month is the same columns. Actions, Save Layout, Make a copy of this report called. Leave Lock this saved report to the selected date(s) unchecked. Locking freezes the dates. Every later run then repeats the same day.

What sits in the spreadsheet

Each row is a posting AppFolio already recorded: a rent receipt, a vendor bill, a management fee, an owner draw, a journal. APM Help’s chart-of-accounts write-up (September 17, 2026) says every one of those lands in a GL account.

APM Help’s June 6, 2025 General Ledger article is that customization. For an audit of who posted, add Created At and Last Edited At, and group by Created By. Flatten that before you send the file.

APM Help’s reporting tutorial says to check Show Reversed Transactions for bank-aligned balances. Check the box when the cash account has to match the rec. On r/PropertyManagement in April 2026, offices said Excel exports still take cleanup: enable editing, strip the header banner, and format the range as a table.

Pick the bank-statement dates, not today

The GL as of today is not last month’s rec. Run it to the statement ending date, the same cutoff as the owner-ledger export and the deposit report. AppFolio (June 16, 2026) calls the monthly job a Triple Tie Out of owners, banks, and the general ledger, 100 percent of the time. How to do a three-way trust account reconciliation is that packet. The GL export is one of the three numbers.

For a CPA who wants history, Abode says to export the General Ledger by year. A multi-year All Time file is the one that times out.

CSV, Excel, or PDF

AppFolio will give you all three. Only two of them are a spreadsheet.

Format	Use it as the books?
Export as Excel	Yes, if a person will read it. Header rows still need stripping.
Export as CSV	Yes, if someone will import the rows.
PDF	No. A picture of the report.
Scheduled Report, XLSX or CSV	Yes. Same file, on a cadence.
AppFolio Report Connection in Excel	Plus only. A live refresh, not the file on disk.

LeaseLoom’s export guide, read 2026-11-03, puts it in one line: a PDF is a picture of the report and cannot be imported. Anyone who can run reports can export.

A scheduled report is the same export without the monthly click. Reporting, Scheduled Reports, New Scheduled Report. Pick the saved General Ledger. Set Format to XLSX or CSV. Add the CPA.

Microsoft’s AppFolio Report Connection listing, read 2026-11-03, requires Plus and refreshes saved reports inside Excel. That is not the Core CSV.

What never replaces this file

Thing	Use it as the general ledger?
Trial Balance or income statement	No. Totals or P&L. The GL is the lines.
Trust Account Balance	Cash by owner. Keep it in the rec packet.
Owner statement PDF	The owner packet.
Owner portal	Owners view statements. They do not download the GL.
A connector that needs an API key, on Core	No. Core has no API.
AppFolio GL uploaded as a QuickBooks bank file	No. A bank CSV wants Date, Description, Amount.

On r/appfolio in February 2026, an owner said the owner portal does not download transactions as CSV or Excel. A property manager replied that AppFolio allows CSV downloads, and to request the file. Export it on the PM login.

Intuit’s bank-upload help (updated 2026-08-24) wants Date, Description, Amount, or Date, Description, Credit, Debit. A general ledger is not that file. How to export AppFolio data to QuickBooks is the summary-journal path.

When the spreadsheet and the bank still disagree

Work AppFolio-to-bank first.

Symptom	Likely cause	What to do
GL cash is short of the rec	Reversed lines left off	Re-export with Show Reversed Transactions on
Totals match last week, not the statement	Date range is Today, or a locked saved layout	Re-run to the statement ending date
One owner ledger is whole, the GL is not	Cutoff mismatch	Re-export GL and owner ledgers to the same date
Excel will not filter	Header banner and grouped rows	Strip the banner. Flatten Row Groups.
File never finishes	Multi-year All Time	Export by year
QuickBooks income is rent	Uploaded the GL as a bank file	Reverse it. Post a summary journal.

Report Builder (November 9, 2023) lets you add columns, then export. Start with the canned General Ledger.

What the software already does

AppFolio wins the general ledger. That report is the property books. On its own ledgers, the Triple Tie Out works. What accounting features AppFolio has is that list. QuickBooks Online wins the two-way rec and the file your CPA already opens. Do not clone every tenant into QuickBooks. Someone still has to pick the cutoff, check reversed transactions, and refuse the PDF.

How to tell this month is closed

The General Ledger Excel or CSV uses the bank-statement date. Show Reversed Transactions was on. Row Groups were off. The trust cash total equals the rec. Owner ledgers used the same cutoff. The PDF was not the file you sent.

Pull last month’s trust-account bank statement, then download the General Ledger for those same dates as Excel or CSV. Keep the spreadsheet as AppFolio wrote it. Start the rec from those two files. They already exist.