Moving your Quicken data to CheckBook and CheckBook Pro

Moving from Quicken to CheckBook or CheckBook Pro usually only takes a minute or two and, in case you need to go back for any reason, won’t affect your data in Quicken at all. Here’s a guide to help you get set up. Choose your version of Quicken and off you go!

Which version of Quicken do you have?

Quicken 2007 and earlier

First, you’ll need to get your data out of Quicken and into a QIF or QMTF file.

To export your data from Quicken to QIF or QMTF

1. Open Quicken so you can see your data.
2. Go to the File menu near the top left corner of your screen and down to Export. If you see a submenu, click a menu item that includes “QIF” or “QMTF”. If you don’t see a submenu, click Export.
3. If you see additional options, be sure to tell Quicken to export all of your transactions for the entire date range you’ve been using Quicken.
4. Save the exported file to your Desktop so you’ll have no trouble finding it.

Now that you have a QIF or QMTF file with all your Quicken data in it, let’s bring that file into CheckBook.

To import a QIF or QMTF file into CheckBook

1. Open CheckBook or CheckBook Pro.
2. If you haven’t created a document yet, you should see a small window with three choices. Click the Create a New Accounts Document button and save your new document in your Documents folder.
3. Select an Account to import into. If you need to create a new Account, leave the Starting Balance field set to 0.00.
4. Go to the File menu near the top left corner of your screen, down to the Import submenu, and click the QIF or QMTF… menu item. A window with a file browser will appear.
5. Navigate to your Desktop, select the QIF or QMTF file you exported from Quicken, and click the Import button at the bottom right corner of the window. The Import Options window will appear.
6. At the top of the window, click the Import Account button to reveal a menu of accounts in the QIF or QMTF file, then click the name of the account you want to import.
7. Leave the rest of the options for now and click the OK button at the bottom right corner of the window. A preview of the Entries you’re about to import will appear.
8. Give the preview a look to be sure the details appear just the way you expect. Quicken will only export certain data, so if a column is empty that’s just because the data for that column wasn’t in the QIF or QMTF file. When you’re ready to continue, click the OK button at the bottom right corner of the window. CheckBook will ask if it’s OK to continue. Click the Continue button and your Quicken transactions will now appear as Entries in your CheckBook Account.

Repeat steps 3 through 8 for all the Quicken accounts you want to import and you’re ready for the next step: Your first reconciliation.

After importing

You’ll probably want to reconcile right away. Look in Quicken for the last balance you reconciled, click the Reconcile button at the bottom of the CheckBook document window, and enter that last reconciled balance in the Statement Balance field, in the Statement column at the bottom right. Don’t focus on the Account column for now – you won’t need it yet. As long as you haven’t marked anything as “cleared” in Quicken since your last reconciliation, your Statement Balance should match your Resolved Balance, so your Unreconciled total should now be zero. Click the small Reconcile button below the Unreconciled total, confirm you want to reconcile, and you’ve completed your first CheckBook reconciliation. Hooray! Now click the Entry button at the bottom of the window to get back to managing your Entries.

With any luck, you’re now scrolling through your new Entries in CheckBook, imagining all the possibilities. Feel free to contact Splasm Support at support@splasm.com if you need any help along the way!