Quicken Import
This is a nightmare. Looks like you have a decent program. However it doesn't seem that a QIF import, as far as investments are concerned, is viable. Perhaps I just didn't find the proper thread.
i looked in your various help areas and did not find enough information to correct the massive errors created by the import.
Is there anyone who has actually document what and how to make a transition from Quicken to MD?? Sure would be useful !
MD created several transactions in an investment account that will not allow editing. Example: Purchased shares in EquityA and EquityB. When I try to sell shares in EquityB MD magically changes the sell to EquityA. Double entry not withstanding this is NOT correct. Before you ask, I re-entered the sales several times and remove the incorrect ones and still I could only sell EquityA.
Question. How often are major updates of MD released?
Is there ever going to be a better way to import from Quicken?
When I used import MD offered several file formats, but choosing .QFX resulted in an unknown file error.
Oh well, I'm pretty persistent, so I may take you up on a 45 day trail period, just trying to decide if I should buy a copy or rent for $5.00/month.
Hopefully there is documentation for making this transition that I didn't find. If so, point me in the right direction please!
Have a good day, Bob
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1 Posted by dtd on 20 Feb, 2023 09:29 PM
just a user - personally, I find the $49.99 purchase followed by $2/month (if you want MD+) to be the way to go.- the "rental" adds $36/year which is extremely close to the purchase price - and if you purchase direct, you get the next year free, and the year after that (if you want to keep upgrading, I do) for half price. Unless you think you will have to "bolt" (i.e. it doesn't work for you), rental might be ok, but even if you purchase, you have 90 days to change your mind.
2 Posted by dtd on 20 Feb, 2023 09:38 PM
just a user again - now to partially address your conversion issues. I converted 35 years of data about 3 years ago - and indeed ran into your "investment account" problems. Converting Quicken IRAs were the worst! (ContribX just would not come over properly at all). You probably wouldn't have tolerance to read a novella, but you did ask for a "proper thread", so search for the word "Vicissitudes". I do not recommend reading it all, but it does explore all the investment account issues on QIF import, but it is more of a conversation between myself and fellow user dwg. A scan might be informative, or start near the end where I come up with a "quick and dirty" solution, as well as discussing how I had to "do it all" - which indeed was about 80 hours of work over two months.
I'd start at post 98 versus reading the first 97 at this point:
https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/switching-from-another-personal-finance-program/15012-the-vicissitudes-of-quicken-to-moneydance#comment_55678262
As to your EquityA and EquityB issue, I cannot respond to that as I did not experience anything like that - but maybe you have interlinked securities? Someone else would have to chime in there.
3 Posted by dtd on 20 Feb, 2023 09:44 PM
just a user - Major updates are released "whenever", but usually about 5 a year, there is also a "preview" area where minor "updates" are released, but they are often beta quality, so it's best to let users who like to experiment (i.e. free beta testers) play with it and declare it "good enough" or report bugs to get another preview.
You can look at such at moneydance.com/preview , then click the text link for an overview of changes over time. As for QIF import improving - hmmm - well it hasn't changed in three years.
QFX resulting in a file error might be related to your system versus MD in particular, but that would have to be looked into.
Hope this all helps.
4 Posted by dtd on 20 Feb, 2023 09:48 PM
just a user - oh, and finally, my frankness might drive you away, but I did convert 35 years of data 3 years ago successfully, and your "This is a nightmare. Looks like you have a decent program." is accurate.
Still, I'm glad I did it, and Moneydance is a decent program. My two cents after three years.
5 Posted by dwg on 20 Feb, 2023 10:26 PM
There is no definitive guide to importing Investment data, simply because every import seems to raise it is own set of problems, we have all been through it and we have all seen various issues with no two users sharing the same issues.
There are no set schedules relating to Moneydance releases, major releases come out every year or two with minor releases in between.
As to better way to import, highly unlikely, Quicken data is in a proprietary format. I do not see anyone going to create an interchange format for migration purposes, and even if they did I would not be expecting vendors to support it for export, although I expect some would be keen to support it for imports.
Direct support in Moneydance for more action types would help, but not completely solve the problems we see, Quicken for example does some pretty dodgy things transaction wise that could never be allowed for in a valid way.
If you tell Moneydance to import a QFX file then the file had better be in QFX format, QFX is in any case is just OFX with a Quicken specific section and is not a useful format for migrations as it contains no category information, it is only useful for importing downloaded information from financial institutions.
In trial mode there is no time limit just a 100 manually entered transaction limit.
I cannot make any comment on your Equity issue except to say that I would think it has something to do with the imported data itself. The Moneydance QIF import works pretty well, especially compared to some others, but the format was never designed for the purpose of migration, it is a format used in a support environment so it can be quite ambiguous and it is also incomplete for what Moneydance and indeed other vendors are using it for, but it is the best that is available.
We would have to see a lot more about the securities, the investment account(s) and transactions to try to piece together what is happening, with your security transactions, I'm not sure where we would start.
6 Posted by Lisa on 30 Mar, 2023 09:18 PM
Current system is OS 10.15.7 Catalina. Laptop is soon to be replaced with new machine and OS Ventura. I have decades of Quicken files and my most recent version is Quicken 2016--which I believe will not work on the new machine. So, should I update current Quicken with subscription (bleh!) temporarily with current OS so as to migrate Quicken 2023 data to most recent MD on new machine? Or attempt the import to MD with Quicken 2016 on current machine and then get the new machine and OS? Not sure what is QIF and what is not. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.
7 Posted by dtd on 30 Mar, 2023 10:48 PM
just a user - here's what I would suggest:
Download the trial version of MD, don't purchase yet.
Stick with Quicken 2016, and do this on your old machine if you think it will not work with your new machine. "This" is to export all your data into QIF files (hopefully you can just do one). Click every box, and include every account, and if some are closed, reopen them first.
So yes - "attempt the import to MD with Quicken 2016 on current machine".
If you have mostly Bank and Credit Cards, this should go fairly well. If you have decades of investment accounts, there may be issues with cash balances, but securities usually move over fairly well. You may have to set initial balances as those don't tend to be put into the QIF files.
QIF is not intended to be a conversion format, but it is all that is available.
Give it a shot, and do it now before the new machine causes yet more complexity.
Hope that helps.
System closed this discussion on 29 Jun, 2023 10:50 PM.