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Importing QIF file

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Callum Paterson

22 Apr, 2026 08:38 AM

Hi,

I imported a QIF file generated by my bank (Santander in the UK). The format of which is unix file ending (not DOS/Windows). I am using the Windows version of Moneydance and when I imported the file (after selecting the account I wanted it to import to) it:
a) imported NO transaction (there were 8 in the file)
b) it created two new bacnk accounts: a blank (no Name account) and one called Imported liability
I then deleted the new accounts - noted that the file was a Unix format andchanged it to DOS and imported and it all worked fine.
However I cannot repeat this! I have tried serveral times. The only thing I haven't done is uninstall Moneydancer! Programmes behaving inconsitantly corncern me.

Regards Callum

• zzpersonal.qif 701 Bytes

1. 1 Posted by dwg on 22 Apr, 2026 11:43 AM

   

   I've imported the file a couple of times without problem.

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2. 2 Posted by Callum Paterson on 09 May, 2026 05:00 PM

   

   Hi,

   That wasn't the full 8,000 transactions wthat was only the transaction either side of the one that had the error. I have imported the full QIF file several times, as I said, and have had the problem each time. Only spotted because the balance was wrong and disappeared when the hit Enter twice on the transaction. I could do you a video of me doing that if you like?

   Regards

   Callum

   • Edit

3. 3 Posted by Callum Paterson on 11 May, 2026 05:39 PM

   

   OK, I have whittled the QIF file down to one account (the file is called: moneydance-trial.qif) and 9 transactions - the 8th transaction is the problematic one. The transaction is for 11.29. The balance before is 0.00 the balce when the amount is 11.29 become 22.58 (ie twice the amount).

   The steps to reproduce the problem:

   1) create new moneydance file with British Pound as currency and Minimal Account set
   2) Delete the two accounts created and delete all the categories that are created
   3) Import the attached QIF file
   4) View the register for the account "zzVanguard Investments" - view the balance - it should be 11.29
   5) If I select the transaction with amount 11.29, press Enter to edit it and press Enter again to finish editting it the balance is corrected.

   I assume it is not meant to do this - or is this expected behaviour - if expected why does it do this? ANd can I expect other transactions in my much bigger imported file to be similarly affected?

   Regards

   Callum

   • moneydance-trial.qif 1.21 KB
   • Edit

4. 4 Posted by dwg on 12 May, 2026 12:23 AM

   

   Moneydance will struggle with this transaction, it may be an idea to pull it apart.

   D6/4/22
   NIntIncX
   CR
   U11.29
   T11.29
   MTransaction that goes wrong
   L[Money]
   $11.29

   This QIF transactions looks to be quite Quicken centric and the way Quicken works.

   D is date and is fine

   N is the action type.

   Moneydance does not have an IntIncX action, it works the same as DivXfr however, so potentially this could be used in its place, but from a Moneydance perspective there cannot be enough information in the transaction to complete it's posting .

   C is the reconciliation status and that is fine too

   U & T can be ignored, I have never seen them used for anything

   L is either the transfer account OR the category.

   I expect you have an account named Money

   $ is the amount transferred

   How Quicken would see this is it would transfer the funds to the Money account and would categorise it as Interest, Quicken forces a category based on the Action, it is hard coded, Moneydance does not. Quicken would not associate the income with any specific investment.

   A DivXfr transaction would need the following:

   - A Category to assign the transaction to, as I said these are not hardcoded in Moneydance and you can add/delete categories at will, so Interest may not even exist, or may be split up. I have quite a number of Interest sub categories that roll up.

   - A security that the income event relates to

   There is no provision in QIF to provide this data, there are no separate Transfer and Category fields.

   The only transaction that does not require an action is Xfr so the "Quicken" action could be replaced by this but would lead to a negative balance in the investment account as there are no funds coming into the account.

   With QIF the way it is what is needed for Moneydance to be able to understand it is two transactions, an income transaction and a transfer transaction. The Income transaction would need at least a security to record the income against or a category to draw the funds on, depending on what action is used Div/MiscInc or Xfr.

   The transaction that is in the QIF file is basically fine for the transfer to an account

   So in short, for Moneydance you only have one transaction, the transfer out, and it needs two, it is missing the transfer in.

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