[GNC] QIF Import troubles

[Kalpesh Patel]

Steve,

 

I went through this process of converting Quicken data into GNC format in
early 2020 when Quicken 2017 got sunset and Quicken pulled the plug on able
to connect via direct connect before moving on to subscription model. My
data was even more messier (my earliest data file is from end-of-year copy
from 1993 that was upgraded but I believe it is even earlier when I started
using it as I was on 3 year upgrade cycle).

 

For me it was well worth the exercise going to double entry system which
gives me more power to generate reports then Quicken provided. Most of my
transactions did not have “categories” (in quicken they normally were
enclosed in square brackets in the memo field – so called quicken
“transfer”) as I was liberally using  memos only. As it turns out that in
GNC converted those memos into contra accounts when imported. And then use
the delete account feature of the GNC to “re-position” account transactions
to consolidate them or create parent-child relationship by re-parenting
contra accounts – this is where a bit creativity comes in as its precision
allows you to see how you want this set up for your own use; this capability
does NOT exist in Quicken.

 

This is the general flow that worked great for me in case you want to give a
try to the conversion –

 

§  Get quicken file to be error free (‘file à file operation à validate and
repair’ and then followed by ‘file àfile operation àcopy’; did this at least
three times and when you open it  in next iteration open the copy and
perform the process again; review and fix transactions as necessary until at
least two consecutive runs are error free)

§  Create year end file from the last set of cleaned up files and work with
that to export transactions (‘file àfile operation à year-end copy’)

§  NOTE: Make sure you make a backup copy in GNC before going on to next
file import so if imported transactions doesn’t look right then you can
“roll back” and try import again until you get it right.

§  Export one, and only one, account to a single QIF formatted file at a
time from the year end copy and import that single file only and iterate for
all accounts in Quicken in this manner (this will give you opportunity to
reconcile contra accounts if transactions do not match up as you import one
account at a time)

·         Start with the largest investment account and go down to smallest
investment account until all are imported. (Primary Accounts à Investing and
Retirement in Quicken; this will create the most work as you will have to
create each security if it doesn’t exist – if you want a quick way to import
securities then download a qfx/ofx formatted file from your broker, import
while letting GNC bulk create securities then deleting all transaction from
GNC so that you are only left with securities and no transactions. Do so for
all brokerage accounts before importing very first QIF file)

·         Start with the largest Bank account and go down to smallest bank
account (Primary Accounts à Spending & Savings in Quicken)

·         Start with the largest credit card account and go down to smallest
credit card account  (Primary Accounts à Spending & Savings in Quicken)

 

With this I was able to bring in entire history of investment transactions
and banking account which were the most important transactions for me.
Credit Card and etc. I started with blank with an opening balance entry and
moved forward from there on. If there is any particular account for which
you desire to have longer history then you can export from the pre-year end
copy of the Quicken file as a single QIF file and import.

 

Hope this helps. 

 

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Message: 4

Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2022 00:34:11 +0000 (UTC)

From: Steve Silva <stv_007 at yahoo.com>

To: "gnucash-user at gnucash.org" <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>

Subject: [GNC] QIF Import troubles

Message-ID: <1846355561.5252767.1670978051086 at mail.yahoo.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

 

Hi All,

I am trying out gnucash to replace Quicken.? I have Quicken convert my
accounts into a QIF file and import that to gnucash.? The whole process
seems to go well until I see the result.? It seems like all or most of the
register entries are duplicated, each with a debit and credit of the same
amount.? I have tried various permutations of exporting and importing but
these split transactions keeps showing up.? Is there someone who has seen
this issue and figured out a way around it?

Thanks, Steve

 

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