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+--- Thread: Big MoneyDance Mess! (/showthread.php?tid=134167)
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Big MoneyDance Mess! - graylocks - 03-30-2012
inspired by an earlier thread on MoneyDance and finding myself with a bit of open time tonight i decided to finally start my transition from Quicken to MoneyDance.
what a mess! in the interest of expediency i am cutting and pasting the email i just sent off to MD Support:
I am trying to transition from Quicken 2006 to MoneyDance. I followed precisely the directions for importing QIF files. I imported the data as one file. In every account with entries I have masses of duplicate entries. I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to it as not everything is duplicated. I see that you recommend using the Find & Replace extension in cases like this but given how awesomely numerous these dupes are I can't begin to imagine how to do that. My Quicken data goes back to 1992.
has anyone else experienced this? there is no way i could go through all the information and delete the dupes - there's just too much data.
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - Dick Moore - 03-30-2012
Yep, a real mess. I did have to go through and get rid of dupes; fortunately, I only had a few years of data. If you can get some phone help, they may be able to walk you through the process, which would really help. The online instructions are not clear (enough).
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - Robert M - 03-30-2012
Graylocks,
My advice for you would have been to start fresh in Moneydance and not try to important data from other packages. Completely fresh. That way, you're not in a situation where you have to clean up a mess of old data. I'd also keep the most update version of Quicken available in the event you must look at previous data. At some point, long after you've switched, you'll likely not need to reference the old data at all and archive it.
Since you tried importing a bunch of old data and it's a mess, I think you should forget trying to clean it. Instead, get rid of the file and start fresh. Don't try to import data again. Just create a new file, new categories and treat today as your first day ever using a financial app. Or, get inspired and manually enter data from the start of the year. It's only three months worth of data. That way, 1/1/12 is your starting point.
And, update your version of Quicken so it is Lion compatible. It will allow you to access the old Quicken data on an as necessary basis for a long time to come. Don't enter new data into the files - that;s going into Moneydance - just look at the old data when necessary.
Robert
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - raz - 03-30-2012
Sorry to hear that.
When I did the transition a few years back, MoneyDance was the only one that imported 12 years of Quicken data reasonably. There were a few duplicates- all of which centered around transactions where money when to another account.
YMMV of course.
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - graylocks - 03-30-2012
Robert I get where you're coming from but the point was to replace quicken. I'm a bit of a pack rat so I like having access to my complete record. and I'm also not a person of copious means so I can't keep multiple programs. I may wind up getting the latest quicken if this can't be resolved. I tested MD before I bought months ago and didn't see this issue. don't know why it's turned up now.
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - JPK - 03-30-2012
I like having my whole history at my fingertips.
I had several problems converting and it took several times before I got it right. Unfortunately, I can't explain what changed that help make it right.
One thing I did change was bring all accounts over. Initially I wanted to not bring in some obsolete accounts, but I found that there were transactions that were linked to multiple accounts. When I didn;t bring them over, lots of balance discrepancies.
I would say try it again.
I would also say the tech support from Moneydance has been pretty responsive and helpful.
JPK
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - graylocks - 03-30-2012
raz - yes, i was thinking maybe it was entries that involved two accounts but many are dupes of solo entries in accounts.
jpk - i did bring everything over. sigh. when you say try again do you mean do another import?
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - JEBB - 03-30-2012
Before Intuit came out with the fix for Quicken I had tried several such programs. My way of using Quicken had been shaped around its features which none of the alternatives I tried matched. I canned the project when Quicken's fix for Q2007 arrived.
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - LaserKun - 03-30-2012
JEBB wrote:
Before Intuit came out with the fix for Quicken I had tried several such programs. My way of using Quicken had been shaped around its features which none of the alternatives I tried matched. I canned the project when Quicken's fix for Q2007 arrived.
Me too, JEBB. I have about every financial program there is for Macs. And, I came back to Quicken as soon as they came out with a Lion compatible version. As much as many of do not like the way Intuit has treated us Mac users, for me, Quicken is still the best I have used.
Re: Big MoneyDance Mess! - GGD - 03-30-2012
One tip I recall reading, not sure if it was for MoneyDance, but in general it makes sense, to improve importing of large data sets, is to do two exports and two imports. First just export the accounts with no transactions, and import that so that they will all exist before transactions are imported.
Then do the full import of everything.
Not sure if it will make you situation any different, but it's worth a try.