FAQ: Importing security prices including Hi/Lo/Vol

q_lurker

It is now pretty well documented in Quicken's Help files how to import security prices into the datafile as a csv file.  The actual format can be flexible, but the common sequence is:
Ticker, Closing Price, Date
CTXS, 3.00, 1/1/2016
CTXS, 8.12, 1/2/2016

While sometimes asked, importing HI, Lo, and volume data can also be done, but the sequence is not documented anywhere in Quicken that I am aware of.  mshiggins had a post some years ago in a discussion on the qlc site about "Importing Stock Prices Why the Change", but my current search for that post produced nothing from this site. 

But I did finally uncover the secret through the usenet forum feeds; a 5/4/2005 post from Marjohn.  The magical sequence is

Symbol, Close, ---, Date, ---, Hi, Lo, Vol/100, *
CTXS, 3.00, ---, 1/1/2016, ---, 4.00, 2.00, 500, *
CTXS, 8.12, ---, 1/2/2016, ---, 9.34, 7.56, 1000, *

• I do not know that three dashes are required vs 1, 2, 4, or none, but it worked that way.
• The Volume does need to be divided by 100; my two examples will appear in Quicken as volumes of 50,000 and 100,000 shares, respectively.
• It had been identified that volumes over about 20,000,000 shares would not be read in.  I have confirmed that Vol/100 of 20,000,000 will appear as 0; Vol/100 of 200,000 will appear as 20,000,000 in the price history.  So there is some limit like that.
• No " " are needed but I suspect if your ticker has spaces, quotes might be beneficial.  Other than that, I do not think any other variation are allowed.  
• I have not tested for dates before 1/1/2000.  Given that the 4-digit year worked here, that is the direction I would try for old dates.
• I believe the closing asterisk is also required.
• I know this works in US QW2017 and did in prior versions as well.  No idea about CAN, or Mac versions.   

Happy importing.