Archive - Getting Started - Online Banking and Bill Pay
This is an archived document. Please refer to the more recent knowledge base articles on this page
Moneydance supports direct connections to many banks and financial institutions. Moneydance uses a direct OFX connection to communicate securely across the Internet with properly equipped institutions. You can download information through direct connections into bank, credit card, and investment accounts.
Can I automatically download transactions from my financial institution?
Using ‘Direct Connect’ allows Moneydance to connect to a server at your bank (instead of their website) and usually requires different login credentials than you would use to log into your banks site. You can view this article to see if your bank supports this feature.
What should I know before using a Direct Connection for the first time?
The first time you connect to your bank through Moneydance, Moneydance will download all transactions available on your bank's server. This may result in duplicate transactions, especially if you have transferred data from another personal finance program. First, try to run through the Confirmation process to merge the duplicates, then delete any undesirable transactions.
Most banks only offer the most recent 30-90 days of transactions on their direct OFX connection server. To get transactions prior to this point you'll need to download and import files from your bank's website. Moneydance is able to import OFX, QFX, OFC, and QIF files, which are sometimes referred to by banks as “Quicken” or “Microsoft Money™” files.
Special information regarding Investment Accounts: Regardless of which method you choose for entering your holdings, it is important to remember that Moneydance will only download transactions from your account when you import or download from your financial institution. Therefore, unless the initial purchase of the security is in the download, you will not have the complete information for your security. You may need to manually enter transactions for the account to reflect your current holdings. To so do, please see the User Guide, specifically Chapter 7, Page 35.
How can I recognise Downloaded or Imported Transactions?
When you have transactions in an account which need to be confirmed, you will see a blue dot next to that account's name in your sidebar.
Downloaded and imported transactions are placed according to the current sort order of your account's register and so may be dispersed throughout the register. You can easily identify these transactions by using the “Unconfirmed” filter at the top of the register, or by looking for the “blue dot” in the description field.
Once a transaction has been confirmed in the register, this is signified by change from the "blue dot" to the "blue circle"
How can I confirm Downloaded or Imported Transactions?
Once you have downloaded or imported new transactions you will review and accept them (or “confirm” them) into your register. To begin the confirmation process, click on the first transaction in your account register with a blue dot. After you confirm a transaction Moneydance will “look” for and select the next unconfirmed transaction. Moneydance attempts to recognise and auto-categorise transactions with similar payees and amounts, so once you have manually assigned a category to a transaction or changed it's description you can expect Moneydance to suggest the same category and/or description for similar transactions.
When you highlight an unconfirmed transaction a matching panel will pop up on the right side of the screen which will contain suggested options for you to choose how to handle the transaction.
Current Transaction - Accept the transaction in it's current form as displayed in the register.
Transaction as Downloaded -Accept the transaction in it's original format as Moneydance has received it. This option will reverse any changes you've made to the downloaded transaction.
Merge Choices - Merges the downloaded transaction with the duplicate in the register.
Similar Payees - Changes the Description and Category to match the similar transaction.
Select and click the desired option to process your transaction and click “Confirm” or “Merge”.
Once you have accepted the transaction into the register the blue dot disappears, and the blue circle signifying the transaction has been imported remains.
Can Moneydance automatically merge my downloaded transactions?
You may choose to have Moneydance automatically merge downloaded transactions instead of going through the confirmation process. To enable this option, click File → Preferences → Network, and select “Automatically Merge Downloaded Transactions”.
Within the same menu, you can also specify 'Only match downloaded transactions when they are at most 'X' days apart' at the bottom of the screen.
Does Moneydance support Online bill payment?
Online bill payment is only available if your bank supports this type of connection through personal finance programs. Not every financial institution which Moneydance supports for online banking will allow application-based online bill payment, so you may receive an error message if you attempt to set up bill payment with an institution that doesn't allow it.
How can I setup Online Bill Payment?
Setting up Online Bill Payment uses the same procedure as setting up regular online banking. Go to Online --> Setup Online Bill Payment, then follow the steps and enter the relevant information.
You can find further information about using Online Bill Payment in this article.
Didn't find the information you were looking for? You can find more information on the Moneydance online banking features in the articles here and here.
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Purchasing and Upgrading
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Accounts and Categories
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Register and Transactions
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Budgeting
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Online Banking and Bill Pay
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Moneydance+
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Reminders
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Graphs and Reports
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General
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Investment Accounts
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Loan Accounts
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Syncing and Sharing Data
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Currency and VAT/GST
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Backups and Exporting
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Importing Data from Other Programs
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Customizing and Preferences
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File Locations and Changes
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Foresight
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Extensions
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Moneydance 2017
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Linux
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Older Versions
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ARCHIVE - Getting Started
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ARCHIVE - Moneydance 2017
- Archive - Moneydance 2017 license keys and upgrade policy
- Archive - Upgrading to Moneydance 2017 from Moneydance 2012, 2014 and 2015
- Archive - Upgrading to Moneydance 2017 from Moneydance 2011 or earlier
- Archive - Changing colours and theme in Moneydance 2017
- Archive - Sharing data using the Moneydance 2017 syncing engine
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ARCHIVE - Moneydance 2014 and 2015
- Archive - Moneydance 2015 license keys and upgrade policy
- Archive - Upgrading to Moneydance 2015 from Moneydance 2012 and 2014
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- Archive - Opening a backup file in Moneydance 2015
- Archive - How to restore from a checkpoint in Moneydance 2012 and 2014
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ARCHIVE - Program Basics
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ARCHIVE - Account Basics
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ARCHIVE - Entering Transactions
- Archive - Does Moneydance allow for assigning 'classes' to transactions?
- Archive - How do I get the Register to auto fill todays date instead of the last entered date?
- Archive - How do I move a transaction to a different account?
- Archive - How do I enter my Paycheck?
- Archive - How do I create a split transaction?
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ARCHIVE - Online Banking
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ARCHIVE - Mobile
- Archive - Syncing Moneydance 2015 with your Mobile Device
- Archive - Syncing Moneydance 2012 and 2014 with your Mobile Device
- Archive - How to sync with Moneydance 2008, 2010, and 2011
- Archive - How do I delete a transaction on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch?
- Archive - How to sync one data file with multiple iOS devices using different Dropbox accounts
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ARCHIVE - Budgeting and Reminders
- Archive - Creating reminders (automatic repeating transactions or notes)
- Archive - Creating a budget using the 'Newer' format
- Archive - Creating a budget using the 'Mixed Interval' (Older) format
- Archive - What's the difference between a General and Transaction reminder?
- Archive - How do I have a reminder automatically entered into my register?
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ARCHIVE - International Tools
- Archive - Setting up VAT/GST
- Archive - Can you change the word "Check" to "Cheque" anywhere in the programme?
- Archive - How can I enter the exact amounts on both sides of a foreign currency transfer?
- Archive - My household/country/company uses a fiscal year instead of a calendar year. Can I do this in Moneydance?
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ARCHIVE - Investments
- Archive - How do I add Securities to a new Investment Account?
- Archive - How can I import security, stock or mutual fund prices?
- Archive - Entering your current holdings
- Archive - Creating a new investment subtype
- Archive - Downloading security, stock or mutual fund prices from non-US stock exchanges
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ARCHIVE - Extensions
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ARCHIVE - Everything Else