question on QIF structure/format
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From: John Keith on 14 Nov 2009 00:51 I have two questions about the QIF format: 1) I am not clear about the meaning of the presence of "U" in the first column? It seems to be used only in splits but all the cases I have seen it has the same value as the transaction (T). 2) Can items within one transaction be in any order? I think some split items have to be in order (category followed by amount) but what about date (D), memo (M), purchase (P) for example? John Keith kd0gd(a)juno.com
From: John Pollard on 14 Nov 2009 11:19 John Keith wrote: > I have two questions about the QIF format: > > 1) I am not clear about the meaning of the presence of "U" in the > first column? It seems to be used only in splits but all the cases I > have seen it has the same value as the transaction (T). My interpretation, based on the Intuit definition of the "U" record, is that at some point, Intuit determined that they needed to allow for larger amounts in QIF files, so rather than change the definition of the limit on the "T" record, they added the "U" record which - the definition says - can accept larger amounts than the T record. What the original T limit was (is) or what the new U limit is, I can't say (I have successfully imported $999,999,999.99 in both amounts - even though Quicken won't let me enter that large a number directly in my register). > 2) Can items within one transaction be in any order? I think some > split items have to be in order (category followed by amount) but what > about date (D), memo (M), purchase (P) for example? In a very quick test, I switched the date to the last record for a transaction, and the amount to the last record in a different transaction and the qif data imported correctly; I didn't test any split transactions. -- John Pollard
From: John Keith on 14 Nov 2009 13:53 On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:19:49 -0600, "John Pollard" <8plus7isf(a)gmail.com> wrote: John, Thank you for your insight, I suspected you might be the expert who could provide some info. >My interpretation, based on the Intuit definition of the "U" record, is All of the documentation I have found on the internet never made any reference to the "U" record, do you have a pointer to something that is more recent than what I have found? >In a very quick test, I switched the date to the last record This morning after I saw no response to my OP I relalized I could do a quick test and my result matched yours. Thank you again for your response. FYI, I am working on a process to add detail to the QIF files I download for recurring transactions that I have to manually enter after importing the file to Quicken. John Keith kd0gd(a)juno.com
From: John Pollard on 14 Nov 2009 15:44
John Keith wrote: > On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:19:49 -0600, "John Pollard" > <8plus7isf(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > John, > > Thank you for your insight, I suspected you might be the expert who > could provide some info. > >> My interpretation, based on the Intuit definition of the "U" record, >> is > > All of the documentation I have found on the internet never made any > reference to the "U" record, do you have a pointer to something that > is more recent than what I have found? The "documentation" I have was copied to my hard drive from a, now unknown, source back in April 2004 (I strongly suspect that it came from a Quicken Help, or an Intuit knowledge base article, but I can't prove it - though a quick look in the Q2000 Help does show the same definition for the "U" record that I have in my documentation). I do know that I trusted the source at the time I made the copy. I think I even posted my "documentation" here once; I can do it again, if you like. Before your comment, I would have expected Wikipedia to have this well documented, but I see now they don't have anything on the "U" record either. -- John Pollard |