Importing data from MS Money
Tennille English
via
I'm not sure how to explain it, but I am having so much trouble importing my MS Money data into Moneydance. From what I've read, this app is the most compatible to MS Money. When I export the MS Money qif file, do I do it strict or loose? Could that be affecting my data? Could I be having problems because I am only using the free trial version? Do I have to set up my accounts in MD before entering data? Does MS manage assets such as my car, house, etc?
Please help. I don't have a lot of time to fix this. I have already spent 4 hours trying to find a solution to no more MS Money. What could I be doing wrong.
Thanks
Tennille
2 Posted by uh_ad on 06 Aug, 2009 01:02 AM
Hi Tennile,
Without knowing what the problem is, I'm not sure if the following helps.
I did import most of my 10 years worth of MS Money data 2 month ago.
Make sure you follow the description given in the following link:
http://help.infinitekind.com/faqs/frequently-asked-questions-2/movi...
Use loose qif and remember to select the option "Import from another program".
I hope this helps,
Heiner
3 Posted by Tennille English on 12 Aug, 2009 07:05 PM
I have been able to import my account and creditt card info. I can't figure out how to export my home and car loans from MS Money. They don't show up in the list of accounts, credit cards, assets, etc. Any suggestions? Am I missing something?
Thanks
Tennille
Support Staff 4 Posted by Ben Spencer on 12 Aug, 2009 07:33 PM
Hi Tennille
According to many of the sources I have read it is not possible to export loan accounts from MS Money. However with the help of a user we put together the knowledge base article linked above, that provides a possible work around. I have not personally tried this loan work around though other users have claimed success whe following the instructions in the article.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
5 Posted by Tennille English on 12 Aug, 2009 07:54 PM
So I lose all of the transaction data from MS Money. How do I track how much is owed on the loan?
Support Staff 6 Posted by Ben Spencer on 12 Aug, 2009 08:08 PM
Hi Tennille
It is not clear to me exactly why MS decided to not make it possible to export loan transactions. Here is a quote from the Mircrosoft support site:
"Money cannot export a loan account to a QIF file. "
and here is the link to that site:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/178830
I realise that this must be very frustrating. I too feel frustrated that it is so painfully complicated to move data out of MS Money into any other application. I would certainly prefer if this were not the case and that is what Microsoft has provided for us.
In the article posted above a user describes what they believe to be a work around for this problem. I post it here again for completeness:
http://help.infinitekind.com/faqs/frequently-asked-questions-2/movi...
Have you followed the steps in this article? If you have and you find that the process is not successful. I am afraid I am not sure how I can be of assistance.
In a worse case scenario you would have to recreate the loan accounts in moneydance and re-enter the loan payment transactions.
I am sorry that this is the way it is.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
7 Posted by Tennille English on 12 Aug, 2009 08:18 PM
I followed the instructions as indicated. But it seems like I have to manually enter the payment transactions from MS Money into Moneydance if I want a record of them. Am I correct?
Thanks
Tennille
8 Posted by Tennille English on 12 Aug, 2009 08:21 PM
Ignore my last post. I failed to see your "worst case scenario."
Thanks
Tennille
9 Posted by TFB on 24 Aug, 2009 06:39 PM
In your article about moving from Money, step 10 says:
"Move all transactions from the temporary "Bank" accounts you created for place holders for the cash portion of the investment accounts from MSMoney into the one and only corresponding investment account in Moneydance. Delete the temporary place holder account in Moneydance. Moneydance will contain the cash transactions in the root of the investment account. That's the way it should be."
How exactly do you "move all transactions from the temporary 'Bank' accounts"? In the register, by hand, one at a time? Is there a way to move all of them in one shot?
Will the transfer transactions imported from QIF files create duplicate entries in Moneydance?
There are still too many steps involved. Is Moneydance working on an importing tool that can import the entire Money file seamlessly?
Thanks!
Support Staff 10 Posted by Ben Spencer on 24 Aug, 2009 06:55 PM
Hi TFB
Moving transactions is done by selecting them, press ctrl-A to select them all. And then right clicking on them and selecting "Batch Change"->Account. You can then select the account to move them too.
Transfer transactions may well create duplicate transaction in Moneydance. This is an unfortunate side effect of MS Money only allowing for exporting one account per QIF file. If they allowed multiple accounts to be exported to a single qif file this would not be a problem.
The is no way we can write an importing tool that can import the MS Money file in one go. Microsoft (as they do with so much of their software) have used a closed proprietary file format for their MS Money data files. They have not published any documentation or source code to enable other software developers to read their file format. In the business this is called vendor lock in.
I realise this is incredibly frustrating. I too feel frustrated.
I am sorry for the inconvenience this is causing you.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer.
11 Posted by Tennille English on 24 Aug, 2009 07:47 PM
Tip - for the loans and investment accounts, I just started a new account based on the current balance of the loan or investment account. I have bankstatements, etc, and payments from my checkings/savings accounts if I need any other historical data.
I, too, am very frustrated with Microsoft. They had a good product, but their decision to discontinue their product without any optionsto help paying customers is very disappointing to me.
Thanks
Tennille