Import QIF files

QIF is a plain-text file format that Intuit created for Quicken. Your AI reads it and sends the transactions to Pennyweight, one account at a time, and nothing is saved until you approve a preview. New to importing? Start with how importing works. To get the file out of Quicken, see moving from Quicken.

What's in a QIF file

Each transaction is a short block of lines, and a line with a single ^ ends it. The first letter of each line says what it holds:

• D is the date, T the amount, P the payee and M a memo.
• L is the category. A name in square brackets, such as [Savings], means a transfer to another account.
• S, E and $ lines repeat once for each part of a split.

The file starts with a header line, such as !Type:Bank for checking or savings and !Type:CCard for a credit card.

How to do it

1. Share the QIF file with your AI and say which account it belongs to.
2. If the dates could be read either way, tell your AI the order: month/day or day/month.
3. If the account doesn't exist yet, ask your AI to add it, with the balance it had just before the first transaction in the file. See add a manual account.
4. Check the preview: the rows found, any that look like duplicates, and the change to the balance. Nothing is saved yet.
5. Say yes to import.

What you'll see

Your AI lists what it found in the file and shows a preview for the account: how many rows are new, how many look like duplicates or need a look, and how the balance would change. After you confirm, it reports how many rows were saved and lists any skipped row with the reason. See reading an import preview.

What carries over

Each transaction brings its date, amount, payee, category text and notes. Split structure, classes as a field of their own, and the link between the two sides of a transfer don't move. See the full list of what doesn't move.

Good to know

• Your AI does the reading. Pennyweight has no QIF importer. Uploading a file straight to Pennyweight works for CSV only.
• Dates. The QIF format doesn't fix the order of month and day. The rows your AI sends to Pennyweight must use YYYY-MM-DD, so your AI converts each one. If every day in the file is 12 or lower, a date such as 03/04 could be either month, so say which order your file uses.
• Amounts. In a QIF file, a payment carries a leading minus sign. Pennyweight stores money out as negative and money in as positive, so check the balance change in the preview before you say yes.
• Splits. An import row holds one amount and one category, so a split doesn't arrive as a Pennyweight split. Ask your AI to import the total, then split the transaction again.
• Transfers. A bracketed category names another of your accounts, so the same transfer can also be in that account's export. Import each side into its own account. If your AI sends those rows with the category Transfer, the import links each pair it can match with clear evidence once both sides are in. Ask your AI to find and link any pair left unlinked.
• Currency. A QIF file can't say which currency it's in. The rows take the account's currency, and nothing is converted.
• Categories. Each row's category is saved as your AI sends it, unless one of your active rules matches the row: then the rule's category wins. To keep every category as sent, ask your AI to import with rules turned off. A QIF category can carry a class after a slash, such as Travel/Client A. Ask your AI to drop the class if you don't want it in the category. Rules you add after the import change rows already saved only when your AI applies them. See rebuild your rules after moving.
• Credit cards and loans. Give the opening balance as the amount you owed, as a positive number.
• Check the balance. After the import, compare the account's balance with your last statement. See after you import.