Does updating accounts via QFX files require a subscription?

Itanium

I use Quicken because the information is exchanged exclusively between myself and my financial institution. I don't want my information to go through Quicken and who knows which contractors. This is why I never use anything but Direct Connect. If an institution does not support Direct Connect, I revert to manually downloading QFX files for that one.
Now Quicken is, one by one, moving all financial institutions from the trusty Direct Connect to EWC+. With the upcoming transition for Amex, I'll go over the tipping point of doing more manual downloading than auto update, at which point Quicken won't be much more than Excel to me.
So, does QFX manual import require subscription? Will Quicken refuse to import manually downloaded QFX files if I don't have an active subscription anymore?

Jon

Itanium said:

So, does QFX manual import require subscription? Will Quicken refuse to import manually downloaded QFX files if I don't have an active subscription anymore?

I believe so, yes. AIUI, without a subscription you can only enter transactions by typing them in by hand.

Greg_the_Geek

FWIW, it's the FI's that are moving away from DC, Quicken has no choice. Also, I believe you can import .QIF files without an active subscription.

splasher

If you let your subscription expire, there is still .QIF file imports.  You could use ImportQIF (free from  QuicknPerlWiz), download the .QFX file, pass it thru ImportQIF to convert it to a QIF and then import it.  It is all very automatic.  You do the download.  Click on the .QFX file while in the browser (or double click in File Manager), ImportQIF pops up, you tell it which predefined (by you, easy setup) Account in should be imported into, and poof, it is converted and imported.

The one downside to QIF imports is that when Quicken changed to subscription, they auto-enter the QIF file imports into the register, so you can't preview them and accept one by one from the Download Transactions tab. 

ImportQIF can filter (using unique IDs) duplicates from the imported transactions in case your downloads having overlapping transactions in them.

I use it and it works great.  I also run Quicken 2013 in parallel to my subscription Quicken and successfully do all of my importing into it via QIF imports.

NOTE: For those Mac users who might be reading this, Quicken for Mac does NOT do QIF imports, so this is for Windows users only.