Reckon Accounts Personal Plus 2015 - download Westpac bank data via QIF file

rebecca edwards
rebecca edwards Member Posts: 3 ✭
edited November 2019 in Personal Plus and Home & Business
When I download data from Westpac bank via QIF and import the file into Reckon Accounts Personal Plus 2015, the data does not populate correctly into Reckon. I ma finding the Payee Name is populating into the Memo field rather than the Payee field, which then requires me to manually enter the payee details for every transaction downloaded. Does anyone know how to resolve this?
thanks

Comments

  • John G
    John G Reckon Staff Posts: 1,570 Reckon Staff
    edited November 2019
    Hi Rebbecca,

    Welcome to the Reckon Community.

    Please open your downloaded file from Westpac (***.qif) with Notepad.
    Which format do you see?

    Format 1:

    image


    Format 2:

    image


    The key difference is the line commencing with P (payee) or M (memo).

    There are a number of QIF formats in use, but Reckon products are configured to use Format 1 where the Payee Name appears on a line starting with the letter P.  The letter M will direct the information to the memo field..

    Your bank may offer you a number of formats, so select the one titled Quicken AUS. 

    Please export another file from your Bank and explore other QIF options they present to you.


    regards,
    John



  • rebecca edwards
    rebecca edwards Member Posts: 3 ✭
    edited February 2016
    Thanks so much John, I have found the correct format to download which matches format 1 above.
    My only issue now is that the bank includes all sorts of reference numbers in the Payee Line, so I am unable to get Reckon to memorise these transactions as the reference number changes every time. I have looked for other file formats that may not have this, but I cant see one at my bank, any thoughts?

    Here is an example of the Payee Line, every time I make a payment to HSBC the numbers in the below example change -

    PWITHDRAWAL ONLINE 0657276 BPAY HSBC CARDS

  • John G
    John G Reckon Staff Posts: 1,570 Reckon Staff
    edited February 2017
    Hi Rebecca,

    Unfortunately with the diversification of payment methods over the past couple of decades, Banks have used that payee line to add information about the transaction method and tracers, pushing the more useful accounting information further down the line.  Our programmes have a character limitation on the payee line, so in many cases, depending on the bank and transaction type, the information the programme sees is not very useful.  

    QIF is a format that is no longer supported by its producer, and Australian banks have not been keen on working with its replacement, so there will be no updates to the QIF format.  Our developers this year will be looking at whether the payee field limitation can be increased to show more of the useful accounting information.

    BTW, imports by BankData into Reckon One do not suffer from this limitation.

    regards,
    John

  • rebecca edwards
    rebecca edwards Member Posts: 3 ✭
    edited February 2016
    thank you so much for all your help
    cheers
  • ian_7658767
    ian_7658767 Member Posts: 11 ✭
    edited April 2016
    This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled REckon Accounts premium 2016 wont import QIF from Westpac. just upgraded to REckon Accounts Premier 2016
    I have tried all sorts of date formats for QIF import and nothing works
    I get "No Transactions received on 29/1/2016" the date end for period
    I can view all the qif transactions when I open in wordpad.

    Please help This is very frustrating I have tried different combinations for hours

    I want to export qif from westpac then import qif into qb as I did with 2015

    Customer ID: xxxxxx Ian


    (edited by moderator)
  • ian_7658767
    ian_7658767 Member Posts: 11 ✭
    edited April 2016
    I understand if you select Westpacs QIF Abbreviated option then Westpac drops all their internatl transaction junk - so your just get payee informaiton. So dont select Westpac QIF Selecgt Westpac QIF Abbreviated. Also it appears you now have to match the date format with your computer now dd/mm/yyyy as I did not get all transactions with the dd/mm/yy , some were missing. Also if you import., and cancel, and then try again you get a message nil transactions. So QB internals only lets you do it once. and sets some internal flag somewhere so you cant import that date range again. So my solution restore from backup before the botched attempt, then try again. Just some heads up personal findings after hours or trial and error, that Reckon does not document. So we have to help each other out through experimentation. It is really surpirisng the Reckon does no even know their own prroproduct - and tells you to experiment Ian
  • ian_7658767
    ian_7658767 Member Posts: 11 ✭
    edited April 2016
    Still waiting for answer. If you make a mistake with QIF import - eg select wrong account at bank, then import QIF then cancel. Cant import again. Imports - then says there are no tranactions for date period end. I rang about this before and they reset something to allow me to import. /this is bad as cant import again - even after cancelled. Please help
  • ian_7658767
    ian_7658767 Member Posts: 11 ✭
    edited April 2016
    I got a response from support Leon.Lee@reckon.com Also Westpac QIF is better than QIF abbreviated QIF is M prefix with more information. QIF abbreviated is prefixed by P But is truncated by reckon and you miss important information as the westpac transaction information comes first
  • Michael Dufton
    Michael Dufton Member Posts: 4 ✭
    edited November 2019
    Hi. I had exactly the same problem. I've just tried importing from Westpac using qif abbreviated and it works a treat. There may be a few of my payees that keep changing references, but in the main works fine. Thanks!

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