QIF, the Quicken Interchange Format, is an open plain text format for moving financial transactions between programs. Headers name account types, such as bank, credit card or investment, and records carry dates, amounts, payees and categories. Ambiguous values may need confirmation when importing. Klarbon reads and writes QIF bank, credit card and cash accounts in beta.
What is in a QIF file?
| Line | Holds |
|---|---|
Account header |
an optional block naming the account |
Type:Bank, Type:CCard or Type:Cash header |
the account type of the records that follow |
D |
the date |
T |
the amount |
N |
a number or reference |
P |
the payee |
M |
a memo |
L |
the category or transfer account |
^ |
the end of one record |
Header lines start with an exclamation mark; transaction fields use one-letter tags, and a caret ends a record.
Quicken's help describes QIF as plain text with an account type header and transaction records (Quicken). Which accounts accept a QIF import has changed between Quicken products and versions (Quicken).
What goes wrong with QIF?
| Problem | Why |
|---|---|
| Dates | day-month or month-day order is not stated, and years can have two digits |
| Amounts | the decimal separator follows the program that wrote the file |
| Currency | the file does not state one |
| Balances | there is no closing balance to check the transactions against |
What does Klarbon do with QIF?
| Task | Status |
|---|---|
| Read QIF bank, credit card and cash accounts and write CSV, Excel, CAMT.053, MT940 or OFX | beta |
| Write QIF from another bank file Klarbon reads | beta |
| Read investment accounts | no |
When a QIF file leaves something open, Klarbon asks: which account to use, the date order, the century, the decimal separator, the currency and an opening balance where needed. When writing QIF, you choose the date order and decimal separator your program expects. See supported bank statement files, and QFX and OFX for the structured alternatives.
Related
Frequently asked questions
How do I open a QIF file?
A QIF file is plain text, so any text editor shows it. To see it as a table, import it into a finance tool, or convert it to CSV or Excel. Klarbon reads supported QIF accounts in beta and shows the account summary and first transaction rows before payment.
What program opens a QIF file?
Check your importing tool's help. Quicken restricts QIF imports by account type, product and version; a QIF file is not interchangeable with a Quicken Web Connect file.
Why are the dates in my QIF file wrong after import?
QIF does not say whether 03/04 means 3 April or 4 March, and older files write years with two digits. The importer has to be told the order and the century.
What is the difference between QIF and QFX?
QIF is Quicken's older plain text interchange format. QFX is Quicken's variant of OFX, the structured format banks use for downloads to Quicken.