OIF import errors
Just purchased Moneydance and imported data from my 2002 Quicken using a .QIF file. Some of the balance are right to the penny, and some of them are wrong by huge amounts! I tried importing just the QIF file for those accounts, one at a time, and that did not work. I then started over with a new import of the original and still have the same issue. Advice???
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1 Posted by dwg on 11 Feb, 2024 09:29 PM
I'm a fellow user.
One of the most common issues is that QIF files often do not include an Opening balance when there is one. Check in Quicken for the account that are off to see if there is an initial balance there, if there is you will need to manually enter that balance on the Account Information page in Moneydance.
2 Posted by Rosie on 11 Feb, 2024 10:57 PM
Thank you for that suggestion. It's not creating my issue as both Quicken and MD are showing zero as opening balances. What I did just discover is that some transactions are doubled; like a deposit showing it's coming in from 2 different accounts. In my checking, I've been able to identify those and get the balance to be right!
3 Posted by dwg on 11 Feb, 2024 11:35 PM
This can happen with QIF files.
It is more common if you have separate QIF files for each account, another possibility is if the transactions in the two accounts have differences, even slight, as the importer will then not be able to match them because they are not identical.
4 Posted by dwg on 11 Feb, 2024 11:43 PM
Just to round this out a bit. QIF files was never intended to be a format used to migrate data between finance applications, there is no such format. The format was developed for use in support by Intuit.
But QIF is the best format we have available so it is used for the task, it is incomplete and does have ambiguities so we do see some problems occurring due to the limitations of the format.
In non-investment accounts the problems are generally fairly easily identified and fixed, so they are more of a nuisance in this instance. We see a lot of problems with Investment accounts for various reasons, not only due to QIF's limitations but also limitation in software, transaction interpretation, some creative transactions by some vendors etc.
5 Posted by Rosie on 11 Feb, 2024 11:50 PM
You are right! I've gotten all the bugs fixed in the non-investment accounts. I think I will just enter the investment balance data as of 12/31/23 and then the 2024 transactions. Losing that history is a small price to pay for getting a software that works. My 2002 Quicken was totally dead. Thanks for your help!
6 Posted by dwg on 12 Feb, 2024 12:09 AM
All of my funds have been put in place since I started using computer software, but before I started using Moneydance, so I have have had to deal with the issue of migrating this data. They were not too bad to migrate as only limited data is available/provided.
Shares were another issue, there is so much interaction with my bank accounts, that I had to migrate those and work through the issues, since by having such entries in the bank account it meant that the other side of the entry was placed in the investment account by the importer, it has to go somewhere. I did get the basics done at the time and after that revisited the accounts and corrected any issues found.
I do have some shares that I have owned before I used any software, I made sure that I recorded the purchase transactions (since I still own those shares) so that I have the long term records I need.
I have found that I now have much better records than when I used Quicken/Reckon but I do use a combination of Moneydance and spreadsheets. I have found that the data/reports provided by Quicken would not have provided the data need to comply with local tax laws, and could not do so. Moneydance cannot do this either hence the combination of tools.
It is not that different to accounting where you usually have to keep multiple records, in order to comply with standards, rules and legislation, it is just on a smaller scale.
7 Posted by dtd on 12 Feb, 2024 06:05 AM
Note: I will just enter the investment data since 12/31/2023.
"Losing that history is a small price to pay"...
realize that your investment accounts are almost certainly tied to your non investment accounts, and deleting that history will take all that non-investment data you fixed and mess it up again, as deleting the investment account data will also delete the link to your non investment account data.
So proper move forward solution? Leave the investment history data there.
Look over the security data, you will find it probably mostly correct. If not, do fake buys or sells. all directed toward a "fixthisQIFissuestuff" catgory.
Look over the balance and sigh. Yes it can even be 100,000s off. Do a similar adjustment to a fake (maybe the same category). Everything is cool, and ignore that category forevermore.
8 Posted by dtd on 12 Feb, 2024 06:08 AM
I've done more complicated things, since I wanted my almost 40 years of data to be "perfect", but most people don't want to spend the (yes hundreds of hours) to make it perfect - what I suggested in my previous message is a "quick and dirty" but does work solution, and you can move into 2024 with correct data, and just sort of ignore the balances before then in the investment accounts.
But don't delete the history. It will mess things up again.
9 Posted by Rosie on 12 Feb, 2024 06:05 PM
Thanks for the very good tip to not delete what is there. For 3 of the accounts, almost no transactions were imported.
System closed this discussion on 13 May, 2024 06:10 PM.