I'm trying to chase a problem with a friend's Quicken setup. There's something wrong with her Vanguard IRA account. So, I decided to export it, create a new account, and import the data. File>Export says it will write a QIF file. File>Import says it no longer can read QIF files!
Can someone tell me how to get the existing transactions into the new account? Thanks.
> I'm trying to chase a problem with a friend's Quicken setup. There's > something wrong with her Vanguard IRA account. So, I decided to export > it, create a new account, and import the data. File>Export says it will > write a QIF file. File>Import says it no longer can read QIF files!
> Can someone tell me how to get the existing transactions into the new > account? Thanks.
On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 03:03:51 GMT, "Jim" <j...@nospam.com> wrote: >Intuit thinks you don't need to do this. Why would you evern want to import >your owen data into Quicken. Sillyness.
Contact Quicken support. They have some "magic" to help you out here.
>"William W. Plummer" <William.Plummer-NO-SP...@alum.mit.edu> wrote in >message news:HGXAd.828268$8_6.654257@attbi_s04... >> I'm trying to chase a problem with a friend's Quicken setup. There's >> something wrong with her Vanguard IRA account. So, I decided to export >> it, create a new account, and import the data. File>Export says it will >> write a QIF file. File>Import says it no longer can read QIF files!
>> Can someone tell me how to get the existing transactions into the new >> account? Thanks.
>>I'm trying to chase a problem with a friend's Quicken setup. >>There's >>something wrong with her Vanguard IRA account. So, I decided >>to >>export it, create a new account, and import the data. >>File>Export >>says it will write a QIF file. File>Import says it no longer >>can >>read QIF files! >>Can someone tell me how to get the existing transactions into >>the new >>account? Thanks.
> Wow, you sure don't read this group much, or even Intuit's long > stated intention to eliminate QIF file imports to Q2005 (except > for credit-cards - to be removed in Q2006, cash, asset, and > liability accounts).
> You can try importing into a dummy cash account, then copy/paste > the transactions from the dummy cash account into the desired > account. Q2005 is the first version of Quicken to allow the > selection of multiple transactions for cut/copy/paste.
> Or you can try just copying the transactions from the old > account, and pasting into the new account. This approach might > copy any corruption from the original account, so might not be > as good a choice.
Regardless, Quicken needs an export format that it can import. If it can read only OFX, then it needs to be able to write OFX.
I'll experiment with your multiple copy/paste suggestion. The problem she has is, even though she has only two securitys ("A" and "B"), she can only input transactions dealing with A. B is grayed out on pick lists and I don't see any obvious reason why. But more experimenting is needed.
Thanks for your assistance. I hope your New Year is prosperous and happy.
What a brilliant idea. Hopefully somone at Intuit is reading. You'd think some product manager with an MBA could figure this out without customer input.
> The problem > she has is, even though she has only two securitys ("A" and "B"), she > can only input transactions dealing with A. B is grayed out on pick > lists and I don't see any obvious reason why. But more experimenting is > needed.
Does she by any chance have a single mutual fund account set up? Have you tried making a new account?
For reasons I don't remember, I have single mutfud accounts like Fidelity Puritan *and* Fidelity Magellan, althoug they are both the same account number at Fidelity.
>> Regardless, Quicken needs an export format that it can >> import. If >> it can read only OFX, then it needs to be able to write OFX. > What a brilliant idea. Hopefully somone at Intuit is reading. > You'd > think some product manager with an MBA could figure this out > without > customer input.
Or maybe not.
In the first place, Intuit has already made it clear that they have no current plans to permit plain vanilla OFX imports; that is why your web-connect file has a "QFX" extension and not an OFX extension. Whether or not Intuit could construct a QFX export/import that would not intefere with their existing plans for downloads is debatable and if doable, may not be such a trivial exercise.
Secondly, as far as I know, OFX currently has no facility for such things as Categories, Classes, (possibly, transaction splits), Reimbursable business expense flags, Loan Schedules, Memorized or Scheduled transactions, Alerts, Asset Allocation, Tax Planning, Home Inventory and possibly more that I have not thought of.
OFX was not designed for the exchange of data between user data files, it was designed for the download of data from financial institutions to user data files. Whether it could be expanded to accomplish file-to-file exchange of data remains to be seen, even if for no other reason than that there are now a lot of players involved in the standard and I doubt that all those players have the exact same set of priorities, and some are actually competitors.
-- John Pollard First Last at Bellsouth dot net Please reply to newsgroup
>> The problem >> she has is, even though she has only two securitys ("A" and >> "B"), she >> can only input transactions dealing with A. B is grayed out >> on pick >> lists and I don't see any obvious reason why. But more >> experimenting is needed.
> Does she by any chance have a single mutual fund account set > up?
I think you have hit the nail on the head.
> Have you tried making a new account?
Should not be necessary; you can change a single mutual fund account to an account capable of holding multiple securities by clicking the word "Yes" in the Single Mutual Fund field in the Account Attributes on the account Overview screen.
> For reasons I don't remember, I have single mutfud accounts > like > Fidelity Puritan *and* Fidelity Magellan, althoug they are > both the > same account number at Fidelity.
I think it is *possible* that some fi's will want you to have single mutual fund accounts in Quicken if you have certain account arrangements with the fi. Might be one reason not to switch from a single mutual fund account; though a user should be able to verify this with the fi.
-- John Pollard First Last at Bellsouth dot net Please reply to newsgroup
>>> The problem >>>she has is, even though she has only two securitys ("A" and >>>"B"), she >>>can only input transactions dealing with A. B is grayed out >>>on pick >>>lists and I don't see any obvious reason why. But more >>>experimenting is needed.
>>Does she by any chance have a single mutual fund account set >>up?
You've got it, John. QIF is a full-blown file interchange format and QFX/OFX are strictly for transactions.
I guess the trouble from the bean-counters' perspective at Intuit is that you can use the QIF format equally well for transactions only. It's not quite as "intelligent" for that as the OFX format, but for customers and financial institutions who don't want to be constantly digging into their own pockets to enrichen Intuit for services that are mainly funded and supported by the financial institutions anyway, it gets the job done just fine.
Unfortunately by dropping support for QIF import in Q2005 Intuit has managed to toss the baby out with the bathwater. No more ability to share data files or do an export/import to clean up and salvage a file. At least with the ability to export QIF you still have the option to bail out to an alternative program without leaving all your data behind. I'm sure they'll correct that oversight in 2006.
...ken...
"John Pollard" <johnpoll...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
>>> Regardless, Quicken needs an export format that it can import. If >>> it can read only OFX, then it needs to be able to write OFX.
>> What a brilliant idea. Hopefully somone at Intuit is reading. You'd >> think some product manager with an MBA could figure this out without >> customer input.
> Or maybe not.
> In the first place, Intuit has already made it clear that they have no > current plans to permit plain vanilla OFX imports; that is why your > web-connect file has a "QFX" extension and not an OFX extension. Whether > or not Intuit could construct a QFX export/import that would not intefere > with their existing plans for downloads is debatable and if doable, may > not be such a trivial exercise.
> Secondly, as far as I know, OFX currently has no facility for such things > as Categories, Classes, (possibly, transaction splits), Reimbursable > business expense flags, Loan Schedules, Memorized or Scheduled > transactions, Alerts, Asset Allocation, Tax Planning, Home Inventory and > possibly more that I have not thought of.
> OFX was not designed for the exchange of data between user data files, it > was designed for the download of data from financial institutions to user > data files. Whether it could be expanded to accomplish file-to-file > exchange of data remains to be seen, even if for no other reason than that > there are now a lot of players involved in the standard and I doubt that > all those players have the exact same set of priorities, and some are > actually competitors.
> -- > John Pollard > First Last at Bellsouth dot net > Please reply to newsgroup
>>>I'm trying to chase a problem with a friend's Quicken setup. There's >>>something wrong with her Vanguard IRA account. So, I decided to >>>export it, create a new account, and import the data. File>Export >>>says it will write a QIF file. File>Import says it no longer can >>>read QIF files! >>>Can someone tell me how to get the existing transactions into the new >>>account? Thanks.
>> Wow, you sure don't read this group much, or even Intuit's long stated >> intention to eliminate QIF file imports to Q2005 (except for >> credit-cards - to be removed in Q2006, cash, asset, and liability >> accounts).
>> You can try importing into a dummy cash account, then copy/paste the >> transactions from the dummy cash account into the desired account. Q2005 >> is the first version of Quicken to allow the selection of multiple >> transactions for cut/copy/paste.
>> Or you can try just copying the transactions from the old account, and >> pasting into the new account. This approach might copy any corruption >> from the original account, so might not be as good a choice.
> Regardless, Quicken needs an export format that it can import. If it can > read only OFX, then it needs to be able to write OFX.
> I'll experiment with your multiple copy/paste suggestion. The problem > she has is, even though she has only two securitys ("A" and "B"), she can > only input transactions dealing with A. B is grayed out on pick lists > and I don't see any obvious reason why. But more experimenting is needed.
> Thanks for your assistance. I hope your New Year is prosperous and happy.
dw wrote: >>>Or you can try just copying the transactions from the old account, and >>>pasting into the new account. This approach might copy any corruption >>>from the original account, so might not be as good a choice.
>>Regardless, Quicken needs an export format that it can import. If it can >>read only OFX, then it needs to be able to write OFX.
Can Quicken, in fact, import OFX files? I had read on the web somewhere that Q2005 uses proprietary QFX which is Intuit's own slant on OFX.
I'm still using Q2004 because my bank works only with QIF format which is unavailable in Q2005.
Also the date format in QFX is shorter than in OFX but I tend to doubt that Quicken cares about this (and I can't figure out why they used a short date without the time.)
Here would be an interesting test for someone who has Q2005. Go to your bank's web site for your checking account and download BOTH the OFX file and the QFX file (assuming of course that your bank has both. Mine does so I suppose many do.)
Open the QFX file in Notepad, Word PAD or any text editor (not MS Word). Copy the (above) FI tags and the <INTU.BID> tag (with your "numbers" in them, obviously). Then open the OFX file and past them in the same spot. Then open up a test account in your Quicken 2005 and see if the OFX will import. I'll bet you a Krispy Cream doughnut that it will! If it doesn't than it must be the date format. Those could easily be change as well.
I would post my <FI> tags here but it might be a security violation OR maybe Intuit might consider it proprietary and would sue my ass off (which I sort of wish they would do as we'd get a ton of publicity for our Jaya123 web-service ( http://www.jaya123.com ) that kind of competes against their Quickbooks On The Web service (which is not a bad system but often not a great fit for our target market... the small to mid-size biz that does not need or want full-bore accounting. )
If anyone has the time/interest to do this test, please report back here and let us know what you found out. (Or contact me directly if you can figure out the mungled address and don't mind the challange/response we use (SpamArrest)).
Al. C <no.spam.acan...@take.out.adams-blake.no.spam.com> wrote: > Open the QFX file in Notepad, Word PAD or any text editor (not MS > Word). Copy the (above) FI tags and the <INTU.BID> tag (with your > "numbers" in them, obviously). Then open the OFX file and past them > in the same spot. Then open up a test account in your Quicken 2005 > and see if the OFX will import. I'll bet you a Krispy Cream doughnut > that it will! If it doesn't than it must be the date format. Those > could easily be change as well.
On the three different QFX files I can download, from two different banks, the YYYY and ZZZZ values you have above are always the same. The value for the ORG tag seems to be the name (text) of your FI. The value for FID and INTU.BID is a 4 digit numeric value.
Thus difference between OFX and QFX is then:
<FI> <ORG> Financial Institution name <FID> Intuit's ID for above, 4 digit value </FI> <INTU.BID> Same as <FID> above
On Quicken 2004, the name of the Financial Institution is irrelevant, i.e. I changed to a bank that doesn't exist, left the ID intact, and Quicken swallowed the file with problem.
I guess it may have been said here, and it may be kind of obvious, but let me point out that if you download the QFX from the bank, shut off the internet connection, and then try to import the file, Quicken refuses to do it and complains of no internet connectivity. Interestingly enough you don't need to re-import after connecting to the internet again, upon restart Quicken will validate the import, which is probably just pending, like those other ones that fail once in a while and Quicken insists in resuming next time up.
When the internet connection is up, Quicken establishes a SSL enabled connection with ofx-prod-brand.intuit.com (206.154.105.121) and then sends a couple of packets (in a test case, of length 269 and 936 bytes) and receives about four packets (of length 1460 bytes each).
> I guess it may have been said here, and it may be kind of obvious, but let > me point out that if you download the QFX from the bank, shut off the > internet connection, and then try to import the file, Quicken refuses to do > it and complains of no internet connectivity. Interestingly enough you > don't need to re-import after connecting to the internet again, upon > restart Quicken will validate the import, which is probably just pending, > like those other ones that fail once in a while and Quicken insists in > resuming next time up.
Thanks for the excellent analysis. So then, the way Intuit's engineers implemetned the import is via a "call home" to check the <INTU.BID> against a table of valid FIs.
I don't want to start a conspiracy theory, but you kind of wonder what OTHER information Intuit is collecting on you. I'm not sure I want Intuit to know my bank balance as well as all the stuff I spent money on. What if they tell my wife about all those payments I made to the porn sites ! :-)
Al, there are two things Quicken checks when it calls home. First, as mentioned, and recorded in the OFXLOG.TXT, is the financial institution check, to verify that it's dutifully paying for the priviledge of providing your download. The other thing it checks, and does not record anywhere, is the activation server to see if your personal copy of Quicken is still allowed to perform such services for you.
...ken...
"Al. C" <no.spam.acan...@take.out.adams-blake.no.spam.com> wrote in message
>> I guess it may have been said here, and it may be kind of obvious, but >> let >> me point out that if you download the QFX from the bank, shut off the >> internet connection, and then try to import the file, Quicken refuses to >> do >> it and complains of no internet connectivity. Interestingly enough you >> don't need to re-import after connecting to the internet again, upon >> restart Quicken will validate the import, which is probably just pending, >> like those other ones that fail once in a while and Quicken insists in >> resuming next time up.
> Thanks for the excellent analysis. So then, the way Intuit's engineers > implemetned the import is via a "call home" to check the <INTU.BID> > against > a table of valid FIs.
> I don't want to start a conspiracy theory, but you kind of wonder what > OTHER > information Intuit is collecting on you. I'm not sure I want Intuit to > know > my bank balance as well as all the stuff I spent money on. What if they > tell > my wife about all those payments I made to the porn sites ! :-)
Ken G wrote: > Al, there are two things Quicken checks when it calls home. First, as > mentioned, and recorded in the OFXLOG.TXT, is the financial institution > check, to verify that it's dutifully paying for the privilege of providing > your download. The other thing it checks, and does not record anywhere, is > the activation server to see if your personal copy of Quicken is still > allowed to perform such services for you.
Thanks for providing this info, Ken. BTW, does Intuit disclose the above anywhere? Have they documented exactly what they are sending and receiving? Maybe in a privacy policy or someplace where the print is too small for my 57 year old eyes?
I didn't know about the activation server deal. Hmmm. That implies that they could easily turn-off your "privilege". Maybe the strategy is to move Quicken to a yearly "rental" where instead of updating the software, you just pay them a fee and they re-activate you via the server.
I wonder if anyone has put a "sniffer" on the line to pick up EXACTLY what Quicken is sending when it calls home. I guess I don't have to spell it out to any of you exactly how valuable to others the info you have in Quicken is. They can transmit info on everything you bought, how much you paid, how much you are probably worth, and your basic demographics. Until some respected third party did the "sniffer" test, I don't think I'd be to eager to use Q2005. Sorry to say, but Intuit is just not a company I have a lot of trust in these days.
"Al. C" <no.spam.acan...@take.out.adams-blake.no.spam.com> writes: > I wonder if anyone has put a "sniffer" on the line to pick up EXACTLY what > Quicken is sending when it calls home.
Hard to do, as all the stuff is encrypted. Just get ethereal/pcap and try it yourself.
> Until some respected third party did the "sniffer" test, I don't think > I'd be to eager to use Q2005.
Q2004 probably does the same tests. Did the FI pay them this years' fee? Did you pay them this year's fee? (Or this year - whatever expiry period.) No, let's disable your product from doing what it used to do all along.
I already enter all my transactions manually and just use QFX for reconciles. When 2004 stops accepting web connect files, I'll go back to manual reconciles, or MoneyDance, or GnuCash as Quicken is about the only Windows application I run regularly (the other being Excel, but there's plenty of replacements for my level of use.)
>> I wonder if anyone has put a "sniffer" on the line to pick up EXACTLY what >> Quicken is sending when it calls home.
> Hard to do, as all the stuff is encrypted. Just get ethereal/pcap and try > it yourself.
Hmm. Are you sure it is encrypted? The OFX and QFX files are just XML. I wonder if Intuit encrypted the rest of the transactions.
I would try to sniff it but we don't have Q2005. Don't laugh but we run Quicken 99. Our small business is on the Linux platform. We stopped running Windows about 3 years ago when one of the viruses (or maybe it was a worm) reduced our hardware to paperweight status! It took us forever to backup and restore. We gave it up and went to Mandrake Linux (we now run Slackware Linux). I'm not here to preach. Windows is fine for those who have the time and energy to put into it. We don't. Linux just runs and runs... I think I've got one or two workstations that have been up for almost a year now. Linux is not perfect, but we value stability and security more than most (Windows) users do. If they ever make it secure, I'm sure we would go back. We're not zealots!
Anyway, we run Quicken via Crossover Office (www.codeweavers.com). Runs fine. We just use it for reporting purposes. We use our bank's web-based bill-payer system and download the payables from there. From Jaya123 (http:/ www.jaya123.com) we get our receipts. We throw the whole mess into Quicken so we can do the P&L, cash flow, etc.
That said, it looks like my bookkeeper person wants to switch to Moneydance so we will go with that. We run the whole biz on Jaya.... and the bookeeping system (Q99) is simply not mission-critical to us.
As I said in another thread, we're telling all our customers (and everyone else too) that Q2005 may not be the best fit for their needs, especially if they use Jaya123 or any other system that exports to .QIF.
It looks to me that Inuit is putting everything into place in order to make Quicken a subscription service, much like our Jaya123 (we charge $14.95 a month.) I believe that as "always on" broadband becomes something every business has and can't be without that a lot of software will go this route and become a renewable subscription. It won't be long until you see Word and Excel "call home" to see if you've paid your fee... and if you haven't, the program is disabled.
Al C. __________________________________________________________ Adams-Blake Company, Inc. *** JAYA123 - the web-based total-office system for the small biz. Order entry, billing, bookkeeping, etc. for $14.95 a month. Perfect for the small business or start-up. See demo at: http://www.jaya123.com ***
> Thanks for the excellent analysis. So then, the way Intuit's engineers > implemetned the import is via a "call home" to check the <INTU.BID> > against a table of valid FIs.
> Al C.
I imagine that is indeed what happens.
Just for fun, I downloaded an OFX file for my credit card at Target National Bank (they don't offer QFX). When I looked at it in Notepad, the fields you identify as unique to QFX were present even though this was an OFX file. <ORG> was "B1", <FID> and <INTU.BID> were the same 4 digit number.
I renamed the file to change the extension from .ofx to .qfx, and then imported it to Quicken (Q2004 Premier - US version) using "File|Import|Web Connect File". Quicken automatically changed the account I was importing into to show the financial institution as "First USA" and show Transaction Download as "Activated". The transactions imported OK.
> Also the date format in QFX is shorter than in OFX but I tend to doubt that > Quicken cares about this (and I can't figure out why they used a short date > without the time.)
> Here would be an interesting test for someone who has Q2005. Go to your bank's > web site for your checking account and download BOTH the OFX file and the QFX > file (assuming of course that your bank has both. Mine does so I suppose many > do.)
> Open the QFX file in Notepad, Word PAD or any text editor (not MS Word). Copy > the (above) FI tags and the <INTU.BID> tag (with your "numbers" in them, > obviously). Then open the OFX file and past them in the same spot. Then open > up a test account in your Quicken 2005 and see if the OFX will import. I'll > bet you a Krispy Cream doughnut that it will! If it doesn't than it must be > the date format. Those could easily be change as well.
> I would post my <FI> tags here but it might be a security violation OR maybe > Intuit might consider it proprietary and would sue my ass off (which I sort > of wish they would do as we'd get a ton of publicity for our Jaya123 > web-service ( http://www.jaya123.com ) that kind of competes against their > Quickbooks On The Web service (which is not a bad system but often not a > great fit for our target market... the small to mid-size biz that does not > need or want full-bore accounting. )
> If anyone has the time/interest to do this test, please report back here and > let us know what you found out. (Or contact me directly if you can figure out > the mungled address and don't mind the challange/response we use > (SpamArrest)).
If anyone can do this, and provide me with a dummy QFX and OFX I could play around developing a program to convert QIF to QFX. I would be willing to release this for free under the GNU foundation.
I am just so frustrated that my bank will not upgrade to support the changes in Q2005 and Intuit refuses to have retro compatibility to QIF.
I am a cross platform developer with nearly 20 years experience, but I could not find the definition structure of QFX anywhere on Intuit's site. Because, Q2005 is at this point useless to me, I have not upgraded to further explore the structure of QFX.
> If anyone can do this, and provide me with a dummy QFX and OFX I could > play around developing a program to convert QIF to QFX. I would be > willing to release this for free under the GNU foundation.
> I am just so frustrated that my bank will not upgrade to support the > changes in Q2005 and Intuit refuses to have retro compatibility to QIF.
> I am a cross platform developer with nearly 20 years experience, but I > could not find the definition structure of QFX anywhere on Intuit's > site. Because, Q2005 is at this point useless to me, I have not > upgraded to further explore the structure of QFX.
> Thanks, > Ross
Such a program exists (for Windows) - check out http://www.mt2ofx.tk/ . I can help you get any information you need INTO the OFX/QFX file, but I can't help with finding the right magic numbers for <INTU.BID> etc.
"Al. C" <no.spam.acan...@take.out.adams-blake.no.spam.com> writes: > Hmm. Are you sure it is encrypted? The OFX and QFX files are just XML. I > wonder if Intuit encrypted the rest of the transactions.
I don't think Quicken encrypts anything, they're just talking back to a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) enabled webserver (i.e. the equivalent of https:// instead of http://) and the encryption is done at that level. Sniffing the packets just gets you the SSL encrypted transaction.
If the SSL layer is not built into Quicken itself but done via a DLL, one could insert a stub DLL in between and trap the unencrypted transaction. If it is built into Quicken, it is a little bit more complicated.
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