FORCED Quicken account logon to download from broker?!?!

There is no way to import a QFX without being connected to the Internet.

Importing a QIF file isn't importing a QFX file, they are completely different.

You can either open a QFX file in Windows File Explorer or your Web Browser or use this menu item:

Quicken doesn't use the FIDIR file to verify the financial institution locally. It uses it for setting up accounts.

Quicken ALWAYS connects to their server before importing a ~~QXF~~ QFX file.

The whole point of putting the financial institution's Id into a QFX file is for blocking a QFX import for expired/unsupported versions and for financial institutions that don't have an agreement with Intuit.

[Edited Screenshots][fixed typo]

All comments

Quicken Levetta

Thank you, @Wayne Cole , for expressing your concerns about having to log into your Quicken account to download transactions from your broker.

There has not been a change in policy. When downloading transactions from your broker or any acccount you must be signed in to Quicken. However, you can always manage and access your accounts offline.

You can reach out the Quicken Support for aditional help.

Boatnmaniac

Until today (8/31/26) on the Windows Classic version R68.31, I could log in to my brokerage account, select to download X days of account activity and holdings to Quicken, and not have Quicken's online services involved.

Manually downloading and importing a transactions data file in QFX format (also sometimes referred to by some financial institutions as Quicken format or Web Connect format) is called the Web Connect (WC) connection method and it is an online service. It is an online service because Quicken needs to verify that the financial institution is supported. This is done via the software's connection to Quicken's servers and this requires the software to be connected to Quicken's servers before we can download into Quicken, whether the download is done by the software or it is manually done by the user.

Financial data in the WC file is not uploaded anywhere. It remains solely in your data file on your computer's HDD or SSD. So there is nothing for Quicken to "sell" to anyone.

When first installing Quicken we are prompted to enter our Quicken ID and PW, without which the software will not work. That sign in connection typically remains open even after closing Quicken. When we then open Quicken the next time the software connection to Quicken is still intact so we don't need to sign in, again.

However, every once is a while (not very often), that sign-in connection is broken which then requires us to sign-in, again, before we can use the software. When we do need to sign-in, again, the software will communicate with Quicken's servers (i.e., syncing) on such basic things like validity of license, subscription status, installed software edition and version, etc. But, unless one has Express Web Connect (EWC) or Express Web Connect+ (EWC+) enabled so Quicken can download financial data for us or has enabled Quicken Mobile and/or Quicken on the Web there is no financial data shared by the Quicken installation with Quicken's servers.

As mentioned by @Quicken Levetta, there have been no substantive changes regarding this matter at least since Quicken became a subscription software (maybe even before that when Quicken was still owned by Intuit). What has changed, is that in the past all of this initial syncing happened in the background so we really did not know it was happening. Over the last couple of years we have been getting notified when this initial sign-in syncing is occurring.

@Wayne Cole Quicken can be used offline, but users often think it cannot because Quicken periodically requires a Quicken ID sign‑in to validate the software license. This is not cloud storage, not online dependency, and not a requirement for daily use — it’s simply a periodic authentication check.

Also if you use the same Quicken ID for Quicken as well as the Community Forum, the "sync my account" may have been just a coincidence, or another authentication check. I don't think there is anthing nefarious going on.

But by @Wayne Cole own statement he isn't using Quicken offline.

I could log in to my brokerage account, select to download X days of account activity and holdings to Quicken, and not have Quicken's online services involved.

People tend to believe that Web Connect/QFX files are "offline" it is not.

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Try disabling your network and importing a QFX file and see what you get (hint it will not import the QFX file).

As @Quicken Levetta said this isn't new, it has always been that Quicken Inc and Intuit before them have considered a QFX import as "online". On a technical level one might argue that it isn't necessary, but that has always been the case. This is like arguing about the policy of putting up ads if you choose to run Quicken Subscription with an expired subscription.

In fact, this is one reason Quicken is around and MS Money isn't. Intuit purposely created the "participating partner" and modified the OFX protocol to put in information that they can verify for this purpose. This is the whole reason it is called QFX and not OFX.

Importing a QIF file on the other hand is offline. And on Quicken Mac the only time you can import a QIF file is to create a new data file, and you can't export it. Intuit and Quicken Inc have been actively trying to get rid of QIF for this very reason. This is all about running a business, not about technical details.

Just as the cost of Quicken is. They aren't trying to please everyone. The goal is to please enough people that they make a profit, and if that means some of the people stop using it, but they get enough to make up for them from the remaining ones, they are going to do it.

And I wouldn't be so sure about "not cloud storage".

Since Quicken Windows 2014 you have the Quicken ID, which is connected to a "Quicken Cloud dataset". So, there is "cloud storage". The only question is "how much is stored". Clearly as you use more online services more will be stored in the "cloud storage" but Quicken Inc and Intuit before them have never said exactly how much is stored for each level of use.

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Have you tried it?

I certainly have. I'm not guessing here, my program can create QFX files, I know very well how they work.

[Edited Screenshots]

Are you able to upload the QFX file by using "File Import"?

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No. The above was done with Windows "open QFX file", but it doesn't matter.

And with my network enabled:

[Edited Screenshots]

There is no way to import a QFX without being connected to the Internet.

Importing a QIF file isn't importing a QFX file, they are completely different.

You can either open a QFX file in Windows File Explorer or your Web Browser or use this menu item:

Quicken doesn't use the FIDIR file to verify the financial institution locally. It uses it for setting up accounts.

Quicken ALWAYS connects to their server before importing a ~~QXF~~ QFX file.

[Edited Screenshots][fixed typo]

Boatnmaniac

I downloaded a QFX file from one of the banks that is in a data file that I manage for a family member.

Then I disabled my wi-fi Internet connection, opened that data file and tried to use "File Import" to import the data from that QFX file. The process failed because there was no Internet connection and I got this popup:

When I closed this popup I got the following popup error message:

Once I enabled the wi-fi Internet connection, the file import process worked correctly.

As I mentioned above, the WC process is an online services connection method and it requires an Internet connection to work so the software can confirm the FI in the QFX file is supported…and that there is an active subscription for the software.

This is not just my personal opinion. Quicken Support Articles make it pretty clear that financial data cannot be imported into Quicken by any Quicken connection method unless there is a valid Internet connection and an active subscription. It is also something Quicken itself shows. Go to Account Details and click on the Online Services tab. When WC is used to download and import financial data it will be listed there as the Online Services connection method.

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Have you tried it?

Import to create the account and import some transactions while online:

Disable network and try to import the exact same QFX file. Expect behavior it is working, no errors, no just import and ignore all the existing transactions:

You are just not going to be able to get around the fact that they do not want you to import a QFX file without connecting to their server and verify this information.

[Edited Screeshots]

@Chris_QPW you are absolutely right. I did remember that at one point I was able to upload a QFX file offline, but after doing some current research, things must have changed since then.

@Wayne Cole I appologize that I had gotten into the weeds with this, but hopefully you found some of pertinent and interesting. Bottom line, anytime you upload a QFX file,

It validates:

Your subscription
The financial institution
The INTU.BID
The file signature
The Web Connect contract status

Without internet, QFX import fails.

I think it would be very easy to fool oneself into thinking that it doesn't require an Internet connection. After all who actually downloads a QFX file from their financial institution and then disables their network?

Just to do this and give the screenshots was a pain because I couldn't paste the screenshots as I got them into the comment while being offline. I had to save them to disk and then later when reconnected past them in.

Sorry to have made you do that, but thank you for taking the extra effort. I can be stubborn at times. It's on me. I should have doublechecked before relying on memory.