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Frequently Asked Questions On How to Download, Import, and Solve Common Problems
Many customers have reported problems with the Quicken and/or Money file (the QIF file). These problems are almost always the result of confusion over what the QIF file is.
One Important thing to know is that the Quicken and Money files provided through M&S Bank's Online banking are the same file. Both Quicken and Money support import of a QIF file.
What the QIF file is.
The QIF file is a list of transactions in a simple file format. It is provided as a convenient way of inputting transactions to financial software without having to re-key all the information.
What the QIF file is not.
The QIF file is not the "main" file for your financial software. When you start up Quicken or Money, the program has a central file where it stores all its information. Separate files can be kept for separate people, businesses, or other entities. This central file contains much more than transactions. It contains address, tax, account info, and much more. The QIF file does not replace this file.
How to use the QIF file.
To use the QIF file, the customer should select and list a range of transactions in Online banking that they wish to put into their financial software, then click on "download in [program] format". They should save the file in a location on their hard drive or floppy that they will be able find later.
Then, a customer should import the QIF file into their respective financial software, following the instructions available from the software vendor. Unfortunately, because of the complexities of software packages, we cannot provide direct technical support for another company's products.
Common Problems.
My program says "not a valid Quicken/Money format" or something like that when I try to load the file?
The customer is trying to load the QIF file as the "main" file described above. The file cannot be loaded as the main file, and must be imported. Again, the customer should refer to the financial software support for instructions on how to do this.
To provide a complete "main" file for a financial package would be extremely impractical, as Quicken and money contain much more information than a financial institution can provide. Also, any changes a customer makes would be lost everytime they downloaded a new file. It's just not the way any of the involved programs were designed to work.
I downloaded the file, now I can't find it!
The customer should pay close attention to the "save in" field when they download the file. One easy way to remember where you save a file is to save it to the desktop. The desktop is the "background" for all your open windows, and contains all your shortcuts and icons. It's what you see when the machine finishes booting up and you haven't done anything yet. When saving and loading, you can reach the desktop by clicking the little up arrow to the right of the save in/open field. It usually looks like a little folder with a hooked arrow. This way the customer will not have to search through directories to find the file they just saved. Also, this avoids filling up your harddrive with unneeded files, as the files will sit on the desktop in plain view until they are deleted!
I get funny transcode and "empty set" errors when I try to download the file.
This is a result of transactions that do not have corresponding Transcodes set up in Internet banking. To fix this, the financial institution needs to go to "Transaction Codes" in your maintenance page and ensure that all required codes are present.
I successfully imported the file, now all my transactions are duplicated! What good is that!
Remember, the QIF file is simply a list of transactions. When they are imported, it is the same thing as typing them in manually, without the mind-numbing tedium of data entry. The QIF file is not designed to reconcile! If the customer has already typed the transactions in, it will insert duplicate transactions. If the customer has already imported the QIF file and reimports it, it will insert duplicate transactions. If the customer has overlapped date ranges when downloading the QIF file, it will insert duplicate transactions. In short, if a transaction is in both the QIF file and the financial software, and the QIF file is imported it will result in duplicate transactions.
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