Import format (QIF/OFX)?

[Eric Poulin]

#3345

Most of the online banks we’ve checked out use OFX as the format for their account exports.  In fact, at least 1 bank, when you ask for a QIF/QFX/MS Money format actually output identical OFX format files, just with a different file extension.

About.com complained that we don’t support QIF format, even though the format is old and discontinued.  Does anyone want us to accept true QIF files?  What other import formats do you want (that you’ll be exporting and trying to import into CalendarBudget)?

[Obelix]

#3631

Would the import be automatic from the bank or would we need to get a QIF/OFX file to import?  My bank allows Quicken and MSMoney to connect and update automatically, but doesn’t allow me to download anything but CSV.  If we have to provide the file ourselves, I would have to include CSV as an option.

[Eric Poulin]

#3632

We’ve decided that, for now, we’re going to go with the approach of exporting the transaction list from your bank account and then importing that file to CalendarBudget.

We chose this course because many (most) banks have a security policy which prevents access your suggesting, where you have to give your user id and password to online banking to a 3rd party.  I don’t want to be liable for any security breach and I don’t think you want that kind of exposure to your money.

Having said that, I’m surprised your bank doesn’t allow you to download in QFX/QIF/MS Money format.  Most credit unions and major banks allow this – although sometimes the option is not readily visible. 

CSVs are not a standardized format, so different institutions could export a different CSV format, which would make parsing the file almost impossible.  OFX is a standard format.  I’m guess that if you investigate you’ll find that you can get it from your online banking site.  If Quicken/MS Money is connecting to your bank – they are getting the OFX format – so its definitely there.

[Obelix]

#3633

yeah I’d rather have that extra security step in there anyway, just as you say.  I’ll have to check with my credit union to see how I can get an OFX file.

[Anonymous]

#3634

New user here – love the program – and just a quick question about this topic.

If I drag and drop an uploaded transaction onto a manually entered & scheduled transaction, will that update all future instances of that transaction (for example, our electric bills are scheduled to repeat, but vary month to month in amount).  Is there something special I need to do to make sure they stay in the calendar, or do I need to delete the repeating transaction?

Sorry if that is a dumb question, but I am not so great with financial software to begin with – I love your system because it is so simple, but I don’t want to screw up what I have already entered.

Thanks!

[Eric Poulin]

#3635

That’s a great question, and I’m glad you like our tool!

In CalendarBudget, whenever you do a drag operation, either dragging an entry from one day to another, or reconciling by dragging something from the bank import list onto an existing entry, you are making an update to only that one entry.  If the item you are dragging (or for bank import – dropping onto) happens to be a repeating entry, this drag operation actually splits that single entry off of the repeating series, leaving it as a lone entry. So – the rest of your repeating series will be unaffected, just that one is affected.  If you make and changes to the repeating series, the entry you dragged will not be affected anymore since its no longer part of the repeating series.

Hope that makes sense.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

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