tag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:/discussions/switching-from-another-personal-finance-program/21943-attachmentsInfinite Kind: Discussion 2023-02-26T07:20:19Ztag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T01:56:45Z2022-11-27T01:56:46ZAttachments...<div><p>I have been a Quicken user since their first version on DOS!</p>
<p>At this point, I have a number of data files, so that no one file gets too large. However, a very important feature to me is the ability to scan in a receipt and attach it to a transaction.</p>
<p>That creates two questions:<br>
1. Can you read Quicken files? If you can, can you also read in the attachments?<br>
2. Do you have the capability of attaching scanned documents (i.e., receipts) to any transaction?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your help.</p></div>Bob McIntyretag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T02:11:58Z2022-11-27T02:11:58ZAttachments...<div><p>I'm a fellow customer.</p>
<p>Quicken files are in a proprietary format. As far as I am aware no other software vendor can read these files (QDF). It is necessary to export raw transactions information using Quicken into one (preferably) or more QIF files which can be imported. The QIF format is a text format and does not support attachments.</p>
<p>Moneydance supports attaching documents, scanned images, PDFs etc to<br>
transactions.</p>
<p>I would suggest you download. install and try out Moneydance in trial mode for yourself, the software is fully functional in trial mode with the only restriction being 100 manually entered transactions, purchasing and entering a license key removes this limit.</p></div>dwgtag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T02:25:54Z2022-11-27T02:25:54ZAttachments...<div><p>Apparently, Quicken cannot export attachments in bulk, only<br>
individually. So, I'm faced with the daunting task of saving out at<br>
least the most important ones, like car purchase, appliances, etc. I<br>
guess I've learned my lesson about proprietary formats and captive<br>
audiences! :slightly_frowning::sob:</p>
<p>Are you saying that MD can import the data from via QIF? Can I then put<br>
receipts into a specific folder, or at least a series of folders and<br>
link them to MD? That way I can keep the receipts outside of the program<br>
but have a link to each one per transaction. (Did I explain that clearly?)</p>
<p>Thanks for engaging me...</p>
<p>...and a happy gobble gobble to you and yours...</p></div>BobMactag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T02:43:55Z2022-11-27T02:43:55ZAttachments...<div><p>QIF files contain raw transaction data and Moneydance can import this. Most of us that have come from other programs used QIF to bring over what data we could.</p>
<p>Moneydance does store attachments in a separate folder, but within its folder structure, it also encrypts them. Encryption is necessary as Moneydance supports syncing between machines over the public network hence having clear data is unacceptable.</p></div>dwgtag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T02:48:42Z2022-11-27T02:50:10ZAttachments...<div><p>just a user - your potential "solution" to the attachment issue (keep only the most important, export them (individually, sigh), and then relink them to MD sounds intriguing, and logical. Now, I've never used attachments, so all <em>I</em> can say is it sounds like it would work.</p>
<p>So, I'll move to a comment on another thing you mentioned - number of files. With attachments, I can see your concern about file size, even in this current world where file size is not nearly as significant as it was.</p>
<p>When I moved to MD from quicken about 2-3 years ago, the QIF export/import went quite well (export EVERYTHING, and reactivate all files), except for investment cash balances (stock values were fine). Credit cards and banks were fine.</p>
<p>BUT - after massaging things, I started moving 1990-1994, 1995-1999, and 2000-2004. (My file separations, which I abandoned separating out after 2005.) That also worked, but cash balances got really wonky, as they had been separated from each other over time (also, and this was a good thing - INACTIVE in Moneydance is your friend, but REACTIVATE everything in Quicken - THEN make them inactive in Moneydance - or you will never reconcile all of the combinations.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>As dwg said:</p>
<p>I would suggest you download. install and try out Moneydance in trial mode for yourself, the software is fully functional in trial mode with the only restriction being 100 manually entered transactions, purchasing and entering a license key removes this limit.</p>
<p>Importing a QIF file does not invoke any manually entered transactions, but I have a feeling editing and attaching would invoke at least a count of 1 toward that 100.</p></div>dtdtag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T02:54:19Z2022-11-27T02:54:19ZAttachments...<div><p>Oh, and if you do recombine all your files over time, and get them to work - leave them alone - don't try to re separate them. With most of the attachments gone, they will definitely not be too large. I have 37 years of data (I go back to Managing Your Money in DOS), and the file is barely over 100mb in Moneydance after using the Toolbox extension to shrink it after all that manipulation.</p></div>dtdtag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T03:08:11Z2022-11-27T03:09:40ZAttachments...<div><p>Finally, I'd think you could save out your important attachments to a folder, then once you have MD imported (and then massaged), then you could re-attach your saved attachments to the proper transactions, and MD would create the encrypted folder with those important attachments (and yes, that would again be one-by-one... sigh)</p>
<p>Or just keep them separate and saved, with a folder title of Important Receipts before 2023... but that may not be very satisfying....</p></div>dtdtag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T03:08:51Z2022-11-27T03:08:51ZAttachments...<div><p>Moneydance will not link to attachments outside of the dataset. When you attach a file Moneydance encrypts it and saves that copy in the internal store for that data, leaving the original copy intact and untouched.</p>
<p>By default you data is stored in a folder you name in the location c:\users<username>.moneydance\Documents</p>
<p>The attachments are then stored in a folder underneath this.</p>
<p>Editing an imported transaction I believe makes it then count as a manual transaction.</p></div>dwgtag:infinitekind.tenderapp.com,2009-01-14:Comment/569162922022-11-27T07:15:03Z2022-11-27T07:15:03ZAttachments...<div><p>A few technical comments..<br>
- The info above is all correct - When you attach a file to a txn, MD 'imports' (copies) the file into it's internal storage, encrypts it, and links that new file name to the record. - Attachments can be decrypted / exported in bulk using Toolbox - Attachments can dramatically increase the size of your dataset... Small 100k ones are fine, but of course, lots of 1MB+ attachments will make a big difference if you have 100s of them. (be selective). - QIF cannot import attachments - BUT, MD can be programmatically coded using Python scripts, and you could create a script to import your attachments as long as you had some way of programmatically matching up the imported txns to the external set of attachments...</p></div>Stuart Beesley (Mr Toolbox)