Importing historical transactions prior to 90 day download window -- Quicken for Windows 2017

PJ1983

Greetings all,

I am undertaking a rather large effort to track my investments and I want to establish a good historical basis for analysis. To that end, I want to import investment transactions going back a couple of years. My brokerage does offer the web connect service, but of course that only provides the most recent 90 days or so of data. They do offer .csv download of my entire account history, however, as noted elsewhere .csv import is not an available service.

After additional research, it appears that I would need to download the .csv data and convert it to either .qif or .qfx format, as discussed in these threads:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7776919/how-do-i-import-investment-transactions-into-quicken-2018-for-mac
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7150750/faq-how-to-import-qif-files-into-non-cash-accounts-post-q2004
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7160091/faq-download-old-transactions

Conversion to .qif appears to be ruled out since, contrary to the note in the page from the second link to ignore the dialog warning about QIF imports, my investment account doesn't show up in the list of possible import accounts.

Before I move forward with the .qfx import process, I wanted to check to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious.

Related question: I did a web download of transactions into a bank account for which I'd specified an opening balance several months in the past. The download adjusted the date and amount of the opening balance to the balance and date of the earliest available download data. It seems that is "normal" behavior, however, I'd like to prevent that in other account downloads. Will simply entering a single transaction dated sometime between the existing opening balance date and the 90-day download window prevent that adjustment?

Thanks in advance!

NotACPA

The FAQ Download Old is the route you need to take.  Don't, at least initiallly, go the CSV or QIF routes as they're significantly more complicated.

q_lurker

NotACPA's comment is for you to make sure that getting a QFX file for older periods is not possible.  (You indicated only a csv file was available.)  If QFX, by any name, is at all possible, it is the preferable path.  

"Conversion to .qif appears to be ruled out since, contrary to the note in the page from the second link to ignore the dialog warning about QIF imports, my investment account doesn't show up in the list of possible import accounts."

You are misinterpretting the instruction/note.  The inclusion of the proper account name in the actual QIF file overrides the fact that your investment account does not show up.  

PJ1983

> @q_lurker said:
> NotACPA's comment is for you to make sure that getting a QFX file for older periods is not possible.  (You indicated only a csv file was available.)  If QFX, by any name, is at all possible, it is the preferable path.  
>
> "Conversion to .qif appears to be ruled out since, contrary to the note in the page from the second link to ignore the dialog warning about QIF imports, my investment account doesn't show up in the list of possible import accounts."
>
> You are misinterpretting the instruction/note.  The inclusion of the proper account name in the actual QIF file overrides the fact that your investment account does not show up.  

I just verified with my brokerage (TD Ameritrade) that .qfx downloads for historical data aren't available, it's .csv only. Guess I'll have to look into that conversion program for the historical data. Once I get that loaded, I can then use Web connect to keep things up to date.

I'm still a bit confused on the .qif imports -- the popup I see limits me to a predefined list of cash and asset accounts before I enter a file name. If I do have a file for my investment account, will that account then appear in the predefined list once I enter the file name, or do I just use the default <All account> selection?

Thanks!

q_lurker

PJ1983 said:

... 
I'm still a bit confused on the .qif imports -- the popup I see limits me to a predefined list of cash and asset accounts before I enter a file name. If I do have a file for my investment account, will that account then appear in the predefined list once I enter the file name, or do I just use the default <All account> selection?

Thanks!

Use the default <All accounts> selection.  An investment account name will never appear in the selection list.