CSV file import issues

jdparker225
jdparker225 Member ✭✭✭✭
edited April 13 in Download, Add/Update Accounts (Windows)

I can't do OSU for my VISA card or download a QFX file but I can download the transactions to a CSV file. Unfortunately it is not in the format that Quicken requires. However it is possible to download the CSV file, open it as an Excel spread sheet and rearrange it into the proper format and then save-as CSV file. I can do that using Open Office Calc. I was able to import the transactions successfully, however….

  1. They were directly imported into the transaction register rather than imported into the downloaded transaction register as they would if I were importing a QFX file, and
  2. There was no attempt or ability to match the imported transactions to transactions already in the transaction register (uncleared). These already existing transactions are transfers from another account that can be downloaded via OSU and thus do show up in the VISA account. The result was duplicated transactions.

Is there any way to get the CSV file transactions imported into the downloaded transaction register, where I could match the transfers to the existing transactions and then accept them?

Without a way to do that, the CSV file import is useless.

Thanks

Jim

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  • Quicken Laura
    Quicken Laura Quicken Windows Subscription Moderator mod
    edited 5:16AM

    Hi @jdparker225,

    Thank you for reaching out. I understand how this can be confusing.

    CSV imports in Quicken don’t work the same way as Web Connect (QFX) imports. When you import a CSV file, the transactions are added directly to the register and won’t match existing transactions, even if the details are identical.

    As a workaround, you can import the CSV into a separate account and then move only the transactions you want to keep into your main account.

    To do this:

    1.Create a new account

    1. Click the + Add Account button at the top of the sidebar.
    2. Scroll down and select Offline Account.
    3. Choose the same account type as the old account (e.g., Checking).
    4. Enter the Account Name and Start Date. Leave the Ending Balance blank.

    2.Import your CSV into the new account

    3. Move transactions to the main account

    1. Open the new account register.
    2. Highlight all transactions (click the first, hold Shift, click the last).
    3. Right-click and select Move transactions.
    4. Choose the main account and click OK.

    I hope this helps!

    Quicken Laura

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  • jdparker225
    jdparker225 Member ✭✭✭✭

    @Quicken Laura Thanks for the info. But why wouldn’t step 3 be move transactions to old account (after reviewing transactions in new account)?

  • splasher
    splasher Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 13

    @jdparker225

    I use a free program called ImportQIF to to convert my .CSV file downloads into QIF files for import into Quicken. See this post on how to acquire it.

    https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20545077#Comment_20545077

    It has several very handy features. It prevents duplicates of the transactions that it has imported. It will do renaming and assigning categories to name a couple.

    Yes, as you found out, Quicken auto enters transactions that are imported from a QIF or CSV file, there is no way around that process since Quicken crippled those imports in 2018 with the introduction of subscription Quicken.

    The way I have gotten around the issues of transfers that you described is this. In the transfer transaction that is downloaded by normal means (non CSV or QIF), I leave the category blank so that the matching transaction is not created in the CSV/QIF account. Then, when the CSV/QIF import is done, those transactions are created with the proper category and Quicken then asks if the transaction is a "match" for the transaction in the first account. Works for me every month with my Discover Card and Target RedCard.

    Since I use my CU's bill pay system to pay my credit cards, when I create the transaction at the CU, I manually create a transaction in the checking account with the category blank. When it is finally downloaded from the CU, it matches up to the manual transaction, but the category is still blank. It gets filled in when the CSV/QIF file import happens and I am asked if it is the matching transfer to the checking account transaction.

    -splasher using Q continuously since 1996
    - Subscription Quicken - Win11 and QW2013 - Win11
    -Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • jdparker225
    jdparker225 Member ✭✭✭✭

    @splasher interesting. There are also converters that convert CSV to QFX. If I were to use a converter, why would I use a CSV to QIF converter instead of a CSV to QFX converter? (I do know the financial institution information that I’d have to supply to convert to QFX.) E.g.: Does QIF have a way to prevent duplicates that the converted-to QFX would not have?

    What is a bit interesting is that my credit card FI also provides an OFX file download. It has the transaction ID that would prevent duplicates and it would be trivial to convert to QFX but it is missing a memo field that contains the last 4 digits of the credit card (mine or my wife’s) making the charge and I really want that. The CSV file has that info. What I really want is to smush the OFX and CSV into a QFX.

    Well, what I really want is to convince the FI to provide OSU for its credit card accounts like it does for its checking and savings accounts but so far I am not getting anywhere.

    Thanks

    Jim

  • splasher
    splasher Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Quicken's QIF import is basically stupid, it just jams them into the register without any filtering. ImportQIF does all the filtering and editing for me.

    If the FI is not a participating Quicken partner in downloads for an account, it probably is not going to allow you to import your own fabricated QFX file otherwise users could create their own QFX files for any FI (partner or not). Quicken has to follow the rules of their aggregator (Intuit) and Intuit makes money from the FIs & Quicken by providing that service.

    -splasher using Q continuously since 1996
    - Subscription Quicken - Win11 and QW2013 - Win11
    -Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • jdparker225
    jdparker225 Member ✭✭✭✭

    @splasher My FI is a participating Quicken partner and has valid entries in fidir.txt. For some reason it stopped providing QFX files for its credit card accounts in Feb 2023 but continued to support QFX files for other accounts. Prior to that they stopped supporting OSU for the credit card accounts but for a while continued to supply QFX downloads. It still supports OSU for checking, savings, and money market accounts. So it is weird. I have converted the OFX files to QFX and successfully imported them into Quicken but, as I said, it is missing the memo I want. The point is I am not worried about Quicken not allowing the import of QFX…for now.

    I did check out ImportQIF and it does convert to QFX as well.

    What I am now looking into is converting the OFX files to XLS so I can combine it with the XLS from CSV data and save as CSV and import or save as XML and convert that to OFX/QFX for import.

    I’ll probably get it all working and the FI will fix its problems. But if I don’t get it working, they won’t fix their problems. 😊

    Thanks

    Jim

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