IIF Files not importing/crashing Reckon Premier 2019

Nici Poland
Nici Poland Member Posts: 3
edited April 2020 in Reckon Accounts (Desktop)
I'm trying to import an IIF file Item list. I created a handful of items directly in Reckon, then exported the field to use these items as my "template". I then added 5-6 the other items to the excel, saved, changed extension back to IIF, did a test import - perfect!

So, I export again, repeat this process for the other 150-170 items. Save, change to IIF... and now I get two results.

Result one: I get the Import Successful message, open time list, and find nothing imported other than the original ~10 items from the first test import.

Result two: Reckon loads for a few seconds, and then I get a windows message that the program has stopped working and needs to close.

Does anyone know why this is happening/has anyone encountered this before?

Comments

  • Datarec_ReckonLtd
    Datarec_ReckonLtd Reckon Staff Posts: 1,039 Reckon Staff
    edited April 2020
    Nici,

    Consider using the import from Excel function which allows you to map an Excel CSV file to a format that can be imported.

    Click on File
    Then Utilities
    Then Import
    Then Excel Files


    Review the in-product help for more details.

    Click on Help
    Then Reckon Accounts Help
    Then in the Index tab search for "importing data, Excel file format"


  • Nici Poland
    Nici Poland Member Posts: 3
    edited April 2020
    Thanks, I've tried this, and it is no longer crashing, however it keeps erroring on me, and the log says "Type: Invalid Item Type".

    I've tried mapping "Type" to the header "!INVITEM" (fields all say INVITEM) and to header "INVITEMTYPE" (fields say STOCK), both of which get the same error, even though they're Reckon's headers, and populated exactly the same way as my exported "template items".

    Any chance you know which field I should map TYPE to? I've never had these issues in 8 years of IIF imports, and excel imports/header mapping is totally new to me.
  • Datarec_ReckonLtd
    Datarec_ReckonLtd Reckon Staff Posts: 1,039 Reckon Staff
    edited April 2020
    Hi Nici,


    Are you saying you have been modifying IIF files in order to import new data before?

    If you are more familiar with IIF imports after 8 years then that is probably what you would best continue to use.

    INVITEMTYPE is the correct header. Do not use "INVITEM".

    STOCK represents inventory items.
    SERV represents service items.

    Best way to understand the IIF format, is to:

    1) Create a blank new file
    2) Create using the normal data entry screens, the different types of items that you would want to create.
    3) Then export the Item list and open it in Excel
    4) Look at the examples that get created
    5) Add your new items using the same format in Excel
    6) Save the file as plain text TAB delimited file
    7) Perform a test import into that blank new file to see if it imports successfully

    When importing into your actual file, ensure you make a backup first in case things go wrong.

    You need to ensure that ALL accounts, suppliers EXIST already in the QBW file you are importing the IIF into.




  • Nici Poland
    Nici Poland Member Posts: 3
    edited April 2020
    I figured it out!

    Previously, I was able to export to IIF, change the extension to XLS, edit and save, then change extension back to IIF and import.

    For some reason, this time I had to export to IIF, open excel and then browse to my IIF file, open that, convert to delimited, edit and save, and then it imported perfectly!

    Thanks for your help.

  • Datarec_ReckonLtd
    Datarec_ReckonLtd Reckon Staff Posts: 1,039 Reckon Staff
    edited April 2020
    Hi Nici,

    Glad you got it working.

    Note that Reckon Accounts can only import plain text tab delimited text, not XLS (which is a binary file format)

    It is likely that when you previously changed the extension to XLS it was actually still remaining as a plain txt file.

    Example: "item list.XLS.iif" (if you have 'hide file extensions for known file types, it would appear as "item list.XLS" but actually still have an "iif" extension.

    This would be how it could be changed back to the "iif" file extension without causing a crash during import.