How to use .QIF downloads

Ruivão

I’ve made a download of a file .QIF of all credit card transactions in a period of time. Can I integrate it in my Quicken file?

Boatnmaniac

(Edit:  Corrected option 1 to reflect current QIF file import process and added other comments in italics.)

You cannot can import that file into Quicken.  There are 2 ways I know of to indirectly do that:

1. IF YOU ARE USING PRE-SUBSCRIPTION QUICKEN (QUICKEN 2017 OR EARLIER):  Edit the QIF file in Notepad, Save it and then Import it per FAQ: How to Import QIF Files Into Non-cash Accounts, post-Q2004.  I used to use this process for downloading/importing QIF files from a 401K broker and once I got the hang of it the process was fast and worked quite well.      IF YOU ARE USING SUBSCRIPTION QUICKEN:  Download the QIF file from the financial institution and save it to your hard drive.  Then import it via File > Import > QIF file > select the name of the account to import the downloaded data into. 
   
2. Use ImportQIF to modify the QIF file into a something that Quicken can import.  ImportQIF is a freeware program developed by a longtime Quicken user and member of this forum.  I personally have not used it but others posting here have said it works quite well.  You can read up on it and download it from here:  http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/.

See my discussion with @Chris_QPW below for more information regarding the pros and cons of each option.  (BTW, @Chris_QPW is the person who developed the ImportQIF program and made it free to all.  Quite the charitable person!)

Chris_QPW

For Quicken Subscription you can import a QIF directly into whatever account you want (2004 limitation has been removed), but when they did that they also removed all the processing like renaming rules and memorized payees to get the category.

That would be one reason for running the QIF file through ImportQIF so that you can use its "Map" functions to replace that functionality by doing it in ImportQIF and filling it into the converted QIF file.

Note there isn't any workaround for it not matching existing transactions.
More details on my website at: http://www.quicknperlwiz.com/importprocessing.html

Boatnmaniac

Chris_QPW said:

For Quicken Subscription you can import a QIF directly into whatever account you want (2004 limitation has been removed), but when they did that they also removed all the processing like renaming rules and memorized payees to get the category.

So the QIF file modification rules no longer apply?  Or am I misunderstanding what you posted?  I just tried to import a QIF file directly into a manual CC account without making any of the file modifications and Quicken wouldn't let me do that.

Chris_QPW

Boatnmaniac said:

Chris_QPW said:

For Quicken Subscription you can import a QIF directly into whatever account you want (2004 limitation has been removed), but when they did that they also removed all the processing like renaming rules and memorized payees to get the category.

So the QIF file modification rules no longer apply?  Or am I misunderstanding what you posted?  I just tried to import a QIF file directly into a manual CC account without making any of the file modifications and Quicken wouldn't let me do that.

With Quicken Subscription they gave and took at the same time.

Up until Quicken 2017 if you wanted to import into an account type other than an asset, cash or liability account you had to ensure that the account name and type is in the QIF file.  You could do that manually or have ImportQIF do that for you.  This was a "GUI block" as in the GUI for QIF import wouldn't allow you to select an account with the other account types.

Starting with Quicken 2018/Subscription they removed the "GUI block" allowing a user to select any account/type, but they removed most of the processing one would expect on an import of transactions.

First of the renaming rules haven't been applied to QIF imports for a very long time, but using the memorized payee to pick up the category, and matching to existing transactions in the register were there in Quicken 2017 and below.  Also the transactions went through the Downloaded Transactions tab (even if the user set the register for automatic transaction entry mode.  That is no longer the case, none of this is done now.  The transactions go directly into the register, and this isn't like "automatic transaction entry mode", there isn't any status indication for new transactions.

The one saving grace with the QIF format is that the category (and tags) can be put in, and as such will go into Quicken with those categories.  But this has to be done to the QIF file before it is imported into Quicken.  ImportQIF has "Map Payees" (Like renaming rules in Quicken, but more flexible matching including doing it based on the account name.) and "Map Categories" which is like like Quicken using the Memorized payees to fill in the categories.

Boatnmaniac

@Chris_QPW - Thanks for the additional information.  I was not aware of all those changes.  BTW, I tried to download that QIF file from Cap One directly into Quicken and, again, it did not download.  But then I tried saving the QIF file first (not opening the downloaded file with Quicken) and then imported the saved QIF file and it imported correctly with 3 data points:  Payee name, Memo, Amount.  I'll edit my original post to reflect this.

Chris_QPW

I just tried opening the QIF file directly with QIF and it did work for me as long as I already had Quicken open (with a data file loaded).  I tried it with Quicken not running and started Quicken, but never imported the QIF file.

Note you do have to select the right account, not <All Accounts>.

That something else I should mention about the Quicken 2017 and below.  Whereas they still register Quicken as the program to open QIF by default they actually blocked that code and Quicken 2017 through 2004 will think it is a Quicken data file, and fail to open (throws an error).




I should also mention that not all financial institution put out good QIF files any more.  Chase being known as one that doesn't.  Chase leaves off the ^ that is suppose to be after every transaction, and as such Quicken ignores the transactions.  Using the CSV format with ImportQIF to convert it is a way around that if you have such problems.

Boatnmaniac

Chris_QPW said:

I just tried opening the QIF file directly with QIF and it did work for me as long as I already had Quicken open (with a data file loaded).  I tried it with Quicken not running and started Quicken, but never imported the QIF file.

Note you do have to select the right account, not <All Accounts>.

In all of my attempts today to import a QIF file, I already had Quicken open with a data file loaded.  I tried 3 times to download and import directly from Cap One but Quicken would not accept the file.  But as I said earlier, as long as I saved the file first and then manually imported that into Quicken it worked fine for me.  There must be something different between our settings or how we did that but the fact remains we both were successful importing downloaded QIF files.

When I used to import QIF files on a regular basis it was from 2012-2015.  The investment company that managed my employer's 401K did not support Quicken.  I used that old process of inserting the 4 lines of data into the QIF file via Notepad and then Quicken would import it and correctly match the file with my 401K account in Quicken.  Seems like a lot has changed since then regarding QIF import but like you said it is a bit of mixed bag.

Chris_QPW

Actually now that I think of it there is something different, but I didn't think it mattered.  You opened the QIF file in your web browser, I opened mine from Windows File Explorer.  I don't have any financial institution that I can download a QIF file from, except for Chase, and their is broken.