Importing From Microsoft Money

Microsoft Money will not export an account you have closed in Microsoft Money to a QIF file.
You should re-open any closed accounts that you want to export before following the steps.

Exporting data

In MS Money open the file that you want to export.

• Select File > Export.

• Choose "Loose QIF", then click OK.

• In the "File Name" field, type a name for the account that you want to export.
  Give the files descriptive names so that you don't get confused later.

  • Investment accounts will require two files, one for the investment transactions and one for the cash transactions - this is because MS Money treats them as two separate accounts internally.
  • Loan accounts cannot be exported. That's okay. You'll work around that limitation later.

• Select the account type you want to export when prompted.
  Choose Regular or Investment, then click OK.

• In the "Account List" box, select the account that you want to export, then click Continue.

• When MS Money is finished exporting the account, click OK.

You must repeat the steps above for each account you want to export.

Importing Data

• 1) Create the accounts in Moneydance before you begin importing the files.
  This is an important step.
  You can create the accounts by selecting Account > New Account.

  • Make sure you name the accounts with the exact spelling used in MS Money.
  • Make sure the currencies of your accounts are correctly set, especially if you are using multiple currencies.

Investment - You'll need to create two accounts in Moneydance for each investment account.
One account should be an "Investment" account, and the other will be a "Bank" account.
The bank account will contain the cash transactions from the investment from MSMoney. This is just a temporary account used for correctly importing the data. You will combine the transactions and delete this account later.

Loan - Create your loan accounts in Moneydance. Remember to use exact spelling or your data may not import correctly.

• 2) Import the QIF files.
  Make sure you choose to import into the correct, corresponding account in Moneydance that you created in the previous step.

  • From Moneydance, navigate to File > Import.
  • Then navigate to and select a QIF file.
  • You'll then see the import window and a list of all accounts you've created in Moneydance.
  • Select the corresponding account for the QIF file you're importing, and choose "Import".

Investment - Remember to select the "Bank" account when importing the cash portion of the investment accounts (rather than the "Investment" account).

If you make a mistake (like importing into the wrong account) you'll probably need to start over so be extra careful. That's why you should give the QIF files descriptive names when exporting from MS Money.

If done correctly every account will get populated with the correct transactions...even the loan accounts. There shouldn't be any accounts or categories named "Imported Account" - if there are then you've made a mistake.

Importing Investment Data

By following the previous steps, you'll have imported the cash portion of your investment accounts into bank accounts.

• Move all transactions from the temporary "Bank" accounts you created as placeholders for the cash portion of the investment account, into the one and only corresponding investment account in Moneydance.

  • To move transactions, open the "Bank" account, and select the first transaction.
    
  • Press the keys Ctrl and A to highlight all transactions in the account.
    
  • Then right-click (or press Ctrl and click) to view the context menu.
  • In this menu, choose Batch Change > Account.
  • Specify the Investment account as the destination.
    This will move all transactions from the "Bank" account, into the "Investment" account.

At this point, Moneydance should contain the cash transactions in the investment account, as it should be.

You can then delete the temporary "Bank" account in Moneydance (which should now be empty).
To do this, select the account and choose Account > Delete Account.

Importing Loan Data

Access the loan account in Moneydance, so you can edit it.
To do this, select the Loan account and choose Account > Edit Account.

Amend the "Principal" amount and APR, then click OK.
Moneydance will then ask if you want to transfer the loan balance to another account.
Select 'Yes' and choose the account that received the loan proceeds.

This may be a checking account if it was an unsecured loan, or it may be an asset account if there was an asset that was acquired.

You may need to modify the transaction later to account for closing costs, etc.

Re-organizing and adjusting data

You may need to make a few balancing entries in some of the accounts to get things balanced correctly. That's because Microsoft Money is not a double-entry system, so things aren't required to balance there.

You can enter transactions to do this, or select the account and choose Account > Edit Account.
In this window, you can enter an amount into the "Balance Adjustment" field.

Then organize your accounts and categories the way you want.

The Find and Replace extension can be very useful in changing the categories of a lot of transactions at once. This is available by selecting Extensions > Manage Extensions. You can find information about this extension in this article.