Make a copy or clone a single investment account - Mac Subscription

Question

I'd like to make a copy of a single investment account, among several that I have, to test some changes to the way historical information was captured in that specific account.  Is there a way to clone the account?  I thought about exporting and importing but I only see the QXF and CSV options.  QXF exports all of the accounts and CSV exports the transactions shown in the transaction screen, which might not import correctly.  Is there a way to export a QIF file for a single account and then re-import it as a single account in the Mac version?

Pharmwheel · Answer

OK, I see what you mean.  Create a test file of my entire portfolio of accounts.  It would work, although I'd like to see the impact of the changes side by side with the current account.

You make a good point about the transfers, though. I hadn't thought about that.  With a cloned account reconciling the transfers would be messy.  Your second option is probably the best way to go.

Thanks for the help!

jacobs · Answer

In a word, no. ;)

There's a technique which might work for you: make a copy of your data file, in the copy, delete every account except the one you want, rename it, then in your main file, import the data file which has the single account. But this is likely more of a problem than you want you want to deal with, because all the linked transfers of funds into and out of the account will be broken. (Please make a copy of your current data file before starting this, as it could create a mess if things don't go smoothly!)

Couldn't you instead make a copy of your data file and do your experimental changes in the account you want to change. If you get the results you want, use that file going forward and delete or archive your previous live file; if you don't get the results you want, toss the copy and go back to your regular file.