Personal finance software recommendations?

[ibi]

Last year I read through Meemaw's excellent series on Linux-based personal finance software. I've been using Quicken since the 1990s, and Quicken is really the *only* reason I need to keep Windows XP installed on one of my computers. I would really like to switch to a Linux program and break my final tie with Windows.

I've researched these programs further, and most of them are supposed to be able to import Quicken QIF files. The thing is, my Quicken QIF file is quite large -- 18 years of data with probably tens of thousands of transactions over multiple accounts.
 
Question: Has anyone used any of the Linux-based personal finance programs to successfully import a *large* QIF file from Quicken? Any recommendations based on personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

[The Chief]

I have imported a 10 or 11 year Quicken QIF file into kMyMoney with no problems.  Not sure how big it was.

kMyMoney is close to Quicken, but MoneyDance (http://moneydance.com/ a commercial Linux/Windows/Mac program - around $30, IIRC) is much closer.

[ibi]

Chief,

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I've been looking at MoneyDance, too. Some MoneyDance reviews said there were problems importing QIF files that had split transactions, like part of your paycheck being sent to 401(k) or split paycheck deposits between two bank accounts, which resulted in many duplicate transactions that had to be cleaned up. I can't imagine how long it would take me to clean up 18 years of dupes.

Did you have any split transactions in your ten-year QIF import to kMyMoney and, if so, did it create any duplicate entries?

[craesz]

Don't have a clue about the import situation, but I use gnucash. Not quite as user friendly as the Quicken I remember but it does the checkbook function just as well. I don't and never had a need for the investment tracking portion.... something about not having the money to invest . It does have the online ability but I don't use it so I can't help you with any experience there. Sorry. I avoided kmymoney initially because KDE was going through major changes at the time and I needed stability. Haven't revisited it since. Good luck.

[Just17]

ibi .......  is there a reason not to make a copy of the Quicken info, and then import it into Kmymoney to see how well it does it?

You would then know if it imported your particular data correctly.

[ibi]

Well, at some point I am going to have to experiment with a couple of these programs. But I thought I'd throw the question out there -- if someone knows for a fact that program XYZ cannot accurately import the .qif file, then I'll know not to waste my time on that one. No sense taking on more frustration if someone's already been there/done that.

[The Chief]

Did you have any split transactions in your ten-year QIF import to kMyMoney and, if so, did it create any duplicate entries?

No, never had any need of them.  I only used Quicken for my checking account, as that was all I needed to track with any regularity.  The regular monthly or quarterly statement was all I needed on any other accounts.

[Roc4fun]

Over the holidays I tried to start using KMyMoney, but we didn't get along.  I wasn't interested in the budgeting functions, and it didn't seem to like the quicken type files provided by my financial institutions.  I didn't pursue it further, so it may have been user error ;-)

I've always used a spreadsheet to keep track of these kind of things, but I'm attracted to the dedicated software.  Perhaps I'll give it another try.

Dave

[The Chief]

Over the holidays I tried to start using KMyMoney, but we didn't get along.  I wasn't interested in the budgeting functions, and it didn't seem to like the quicken type files provided by my financial institutions.  I didn't pursue it further, so it may have been user error ;-)

KMyMoney appears to only like the files produced by the later versions of Quicken.  I had to run my Quicken 2004 files through the wife's Quicken 2011 to convert them before KMyMoney would accept them.

Another thing I have discovered is that KMyMoney appears to be excruciatingly slow.  Any item entry ties it up for 8 to 10 seconds before you can do anything else.  May just be my installation, and I haven't investigated any possible causes.

I'll try gnuCash next.  And then maybe spring for MoneyDance (I think they have a free trial period do I can check it out).

But, if I could just get the usb access working in VB, I would just keep using my old Quicken 2004, running it on WinXP in VB.

[jmirles]

Hello

I have been using Moneydance since it came out. I have never tried importing a super huge .qif though. I usually archive my file every year, after taxes.  It keeps my working file small, while providing readily available backups of the past years.

I have tried them all. No Linux financial app can import every .qif file. Since Quicken always make small changes to its file structure, only Quicken will import them all.

 Still MoneyDance is by far my favorite.

[gseaman]

My wife is using an older Quicken with wine. After just a little bit of tweaking, it works fine.

Galen