Transferring from Money 2004 outside USA version
Hi, I am using Microsoft money 2004 (outside USA) version and like to know whether 1) my money files and details can be transferred to Moneydance on my PC windows 2) After I transfer all files successfully to Moneydance, can I switch over to Macbook version as I plan eventually to move to Apple Macbook. Many thanks
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1 Posted by dwg on 20 Apr, 2024 05:15 AM
I'm a fellow user.
The Money files are proprietary so Moneydance cannot read them directly, you can migrate from Money to other applications with some effort, how much effort is data dependent.
The Knowledge base has some information on this so that is a good place to start
https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb/importing-data-from-other-programs/importing-from-microsoft-money
Another user who is a frequent contributor to the forums has done this migration so is likely to respond a little later on.
It is simple to move the Moneydance data between systems, I do it frequently between Windows and Linux.
2 Posted by sam on 20 Apr, 2024 06:30 AM
Very kind of you for your response and guidance. Yes, my data went back as early as 2002 so would have quite a bit of data and accounts to transfer. I am still using MS money 2004 on my PC but am at crossroads of switching over from PC which I have been using close to 40 years to a Macbook.
3 Posted by derekkent23 on 20 Apr, 2024 07:13 AM
I am not support staff, just a user.
Hi Sam
I transferred my MS Money data to Moneydance back in 2016.
Try it out for yourself.
The downloaded version of Moneydance is a full working version with the only limit being a maximum of 100 manually entered transactions, with no time limit. Imported files from other financial programs and your bank have no limit on imports, provided that you do not confirm them. If you decided to purchase you are sent a key by email that unlocks the 100-manual transaction limit. If after testing with this free trial version you purchase and change your mind see the 90 day money back guaranty at https://infinitekind.com/refunds
For the future Moneydance never sunsets the version it releases. So, you don’t have to upgrade. If you won’t to upgrade the next version is free (say 2023 to 2024) and from then on you get a 50% discount. All upgrades within a version are free.
Make sure you are running this build of Moneydance https://infinitekind.com/preview
Unfortunately, the support article at https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb/importing-data-from-other-pro... is a little out of date, so I put together the following set of notes. The support article can help when importing investment accounts as they are not covered in detail below.
You need to use your old program to export your data in a QIF file type, one QIF file for each account, including any closed account that have transfers to any open accounts, re-open these accounts if necessary. If you are exporting from MS Money you should use loose as the QIF export format
Open one of the QIF files in a text editor. You are looking for the date format used in the file e.g. D25/03'2019 Day Month Year or D5/ 17'19 or D05/31/2017 Month Day Year etc. You will need this information later. If you get this wrong it will be apparent as the dates in Moneydance will be all over the place and you will need to start again creating a new data set.
QIF files were never meant for transferring data from one program to another, but it’s all that is available, you will need to spend time cleaning thing up when import is complete.
When you first start Moneydance it opens in the Welcome window click on “Create a new account set”. If you have opened Moneydance before create a new data set under FILE (MONEYDANCE on Mac) – NEW.
Select “Create New File” (Data Set) and click NEXT. Type in an Account Set Name (Data Set) and click NEXT. Change Primary Currency (base currency), if required. File Type, leave at “Standard Account set”, click FINISH.
In the Side Bar (list on left) under BANK deleted the two default Bank accounts, highlighting them in turn and using ACCOUNT – DELETE ACCOUNT.
NOTE: If you have accounts with currencies that are not in your base currency (foreign currencies) perform the steps under NOTE 1 before importing your QIF file as follows.
Select one of your QIF account files, the one with the most transfers to other accounts.
1. If in step 3 you don’t see the name of the account you are importing click CANCEL and setup the account. ACCOUNT – NEW ACCOUNT - select account type – NEXT – Enter the name of the account exactly as it appears in your old program under “Account Name” – OK.
2. Drag and dropped the QIF file into the Side Bar (list on left).
3. Wait for the Analyzing data window to close. This may happen so fast you don’t even see the window or nothing may appear to happen until the Import window opens.
IMPORTANT Checked all listed accounts are of the correct type and currency and changed if required. Find the name of the account you are importing in the list and highlight it, so it is ticked.
4. The “Date Format” should be set to the date format used in the QIF file not the date format you want to use in Moneydance. Select the correct Decimal Character. Later Builds of Moneydance may also include a Text Encoding dropdown, leave at default selection. Do not tick “File was downloaded”.
5. Click Import and wait, the process can take some time. Again, nothing may appear to be happening until the process is complete, indicated by the Merging data window closing.
Some or all of the accounts maybe hidden in the Side Bar, list on left. To make accounts visible click the “+” at the bottom of the Side Bar. If this does not help try closing and re-opening Moneydance.
Account that have transfer within the QIF file you imported will be automatically created. Don’t worry that their balances are incorrect, as you import the other QIF account files thing will sort themselves out.
Repeat the process steps 1 to 5 for each QIF account file.
Any accounts that are inactive (closed) should be made inactive. This will remove them from the Summary Page, two columns on the right, in the Account Section as well as reports. There are two methods to accomplish this:
1. By highlighting the account in the Side Bar and clicking ACCOUNT – EDIT ACCOUNT and ticking the inactive box – OK.
2. Click TOOLS – ACCOUNTS and in the windows that opens double click on the Account Name and in the window that opens tick the inactive box - OK. In the list of Account names Accounts in lighter text are inactive. After make the required changes click DONE.
To remove them from the side bar right, click and select REMOVE FROM SIDE BAR.
For investment accounts QIF file don’t always carry security prices other than buy sell prices, so investment account balances maybe wrong until you update with current security prices. Also, not all QIF Investment Account files carry all the data related to a Securities.
On the Summary Page, two columns on right, if you have Investment Securities they will be shown in a section STOCK PRICES. This may include securities in which you no longer have holdings. To remove these from the list double click on Security Name – EDIT and then untick SHOW ON SUMMARY PAGE box – OK – X. You can also use this window to correct missing/wrong data imported, e.g Ticker Symbol, Value Suffix.
Some QIF files don’t include initial account balances. If you think this is the case you can add initial balance to affected accounts as follows.
Highlighting an account, then click ACCOUNT – EDIT ACCOUNT and add an Initial Balance.
The NET WORTH value on the Summary page is the addition of selected account values. To see the breakdown click on NET WORTH. The accounts that are included are those selected under GRAPHS & REPORTS – REPORTS – NET WORTH - EDIT
Bills (Reminder) are not included in QIF files.
Now the real work starts to check balances and tidy thing up. This is especially true of investment accounts as not all action types are supported. But worth it in the end.
Note 1: This section only applies if you have accounts with currencies that are not in your base currency. For these currencies ensure “Show on summary page” box is ticked under TOOLS – CURRENCIES – highlight subject currency and double click – EDIT.
Note: QIF file do not contain exchange rates. To overcome this QIF file shortcoming the Currency/Security History window must have current and dated exchange rates filled in which cover the date range of transactions in non-base currency account. As well as manually adding exchange rates you can import CSV exchange rate files downloaded from sites on the web. Use IMPORT button in the Currency/Security History window. If you have investment account their balances will probably be incorrect. This is due to the fact that the currency set in the security history windows will be in the Moneydance base currency. You can change to the correct security currency and provided exchange rates exist the values will be converted. As you do this re-calculation occurs, but I think the results should to be correct. No guarantees the section will work correctly.
For information on how to use Moneydance see https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/kb
Hope this helps
4 Posted by sam on 20 Apr, 2024 08:02 AM
Many thanks for the meticulous guidance on file transfer using the trial version and dealing with obsolete data. I will certainly try to transfer of files to a trial version of Moneydance PC version and after this is successful, migrate the same data to a paid version on the Macbook. Once again, thank you.
System closed this discussion on 20 Jul, 2024 08:10 AM.