qif2csv Convert | Help

Getting Started

QIF2CSV Convert is a single step financial data translator to convert QIF files to standard CSV format suitable for spreadsheets or finance applications. Use QIF2CSV Convert to import transaction data from Quicken® or other finance application into a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel® or Google Docs® to edit or process. QIF2CSV will also process asset and liability accounts, category lists, tag lists, account lists, security lists, stock prices, and memorized transactions.

To get started first export or download your QIF file from your bank, and verify your desired date formats with the Settings menu.

Then use the File menu, Open QIF File to run the conversion and create your CSV file in a single step.

Installation

  • Microsoft Windows® full install
    • Download QIF2CSV.exe for Windows, save the file to your computer, and run the installation program by double clicking the file.
    • If you do not have have Java installed it will be automatically downloaded during the installation.
  • Mac OS X® full install
    • Download QIF2CSV.dmg for Mac OS X, save the file to your computer. Locate the file in the download area, open it by double clicking, then and run the installer.app by double clicking it.
    • If you do not have have Java installed it will be automatically downloaded during the installation.
  • Portable Installation
    • Download QIF2CSV.zip and save the file to your computer.
      • If running on Mac OS X the unzip will be done automatically as part of the download, and QIF2CSVportable.jar should be in your user download folder.
      • If running on other operation systems run zip or winzip on QIF2CSV.zip and extract QIF2CSVportable.jar to a suitable folder such as C:\Program Files\MoneyThumb.
    • Make sure you have Java installed on your computer. If you do not have Java already installed, download it for free at www.java.com.

Entering License Information

On Microsoft Windows, the easiest way to enter the license is to copy the license file QIF2CSV.lic from the product confirmation e-mail to the same folder where you installed QIF2CSV Convert – i.e. C:\Program Files\MoneyThumb\QIF2CSV.

Otherwise enter the license by copying the license string (CTRL-C) from the confirmation e-mail and pasting it (CTRL-V) into the license dialog. To enter the license string manually from within the program select Help, and Enter License, and paste (or type) the full license code into the dialog.

After you enter your license, your license email will be shown in the program title bar, and in Help, About.

Preparation

You need to create a QIF file before running QIF2CSV Convert. This could be created by your financial software such as Quicken, or your bank or brokerage. This is the procedure to create a QIF file with a single account from Quicken.

  • Start Quicken
  • Select the account that you wish to export. Although its possible to output multiple accounts and convert them with QIF2CSV Convert,
    that will generate a CSV file that has many sections and is more advanced.
  • Choose the menu File and select the Export menu entry, and the QIF File sub-menu entry.
  • This will bring up the QIF Export dialog.

QIF Export

The simplest type of output is to generate a QIF file with a single account, and select only the Transactions checkbox. Selecting the Accounts List checkbox will preserve the account name inside the QIF file, but will make the resultant file more complex and somewhat harder to manually edit. It’s easier to just name the QIF file to be the same as the account name. You might instead want to create a QIF file with just Memorized Payees, or just the Security List, or just Categories depending on what data you wish to view or edit. It is also possible to create a QIF with all accounts and have access to the bulk of your Quicken data. QIF files may also be downloaded from a bank, credit card, or brokerage web site. However, since Quicken made importing QIF file more difficult starting with Quicken 2005, QIF is no longer a popular download option at bank or brokerage web sites.

Running QIF2CSV Convert

On Windows or Mac OS X, double click the QIF2CSV Convert icon on your desktop.

You may also run QIF2CSV Convert from the Windows Start Menu, or run QIF2CSV.exe on Windows or QIF2CSV Convert.app on Mac OS X.

If you are running the portable version, run QIF2CSVportable.jar by double clicking it, or starting it as a Java program.


Settings

Date Formats

QIF2CSV Convert can read and write dates either in US format (month-day-year) or European format (day-month-year). Use the Settings menu to select the date format for reading and writing. The read choice reflects what is used in your input QIF file, and the write choice is what format should be created in your CSV file. In most cases the read and write settings will be the same, but it is possible to read dates in one format and write them in the other.

Converting the QIF File

Select the File menu, Open QIF File, and this will bring up a file chooser dialog. Navigate to the folder containing the QIF file, select the file, and then select Open at the bottom of the dialog.

QIF2CSV Convert will run, generating a log and giving some statistics on how many lines were processed and create a CSV file with the same name. If a CSV file with that name already exists you will be prompted to overwrite it. The CSV file can now be read directly into Excel or other spreadsheet program to view or edit the data. Most of the data can also be read back into Quicken with CSV2QIF.

Automation

To run QIF2CSV Convert from the command line or a script simply invoke it on Windows as:

QIF2CSV inputfile.qif

Or for the portable version

QIF2CSVportable.jar inputfile.qif

There is no need to specify an output file name, QIF2CSV Convert will use the same name and an CSV extension. The log will be written to a file with the same name and a .log extension, or ERROR.log if the input file name is invalid.

Note that if the output file already exists, it will be overwritten. And if your input file name has any spaces in it, remember to use quotes – for example:

QIF2CSV “input file.qif”

Saving the QIF2CSV Convert Log

After QIF2CSV Convert has run, you may wish to save the log information to a file. Select the File menu, and the Save Log menu entry. This will bring up a File Save dialog. Simply specify a file name and select Save.