Works: Importing Files from Money to Works for Windows (78307)

SUMMARY

There is no direct way to link or transfer files between Microsoft Money and Microsoft Works for Windows. However, you can export Microsoft Money reports by choosing your report, right clicking and selecting Export, typing a filename, and pressing ENTER.

Report files are exported in tab-delimited ASCII format; are given a .TXT extension; and can be opened in Microsoft Works as a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, or Database file. Although Microsoft Money data files can be exported as .QIF files (Quicken interchange format), this format is not directly supported in Microsoft Works.

Because all transactions in Microsoft Money can be placed in reports, the best way to export Microsoft Money data for Microsoft Works use is usually as a report.

MORE INFORMATION

Data files in Microsoft Money can be exported as .QIF by choosing Export from the File menu of Microsoft Money. Because fields in .QIF files are separated with a carriage return, and the .QIF specification includes an extra character at the beginning of each field entry as a descriptor, the files are not directly accessible as Microsoft Works Database or Spreadsheet files. However, once the file is opened as a Works Word Processor file, you can use the Select Replace command to place the data in standard Tab or Comma delimited format.

The process for translating a .QIF file into Tab delimited format is as follows:

Click Open Existing File from the File menu in Microsoft Works. Select the file by changing to the appropriate subdirectory, typing the full filename, and pressing ENTER. Open the file as a Word Processor file.
Press CTRL+HOME to move to the beginning of the file.
The next step involves using the Select Replace command. For each command, type the Find What and Replace With entries as follows, then click Replace All.

NOTE: ^p, ^^, and ^t are special characters used with the Find and Replace commands (^p = paragraph mark, ^^ = caret mark, and ^t = tab character).
```
      Find What                          Replace With
      ---------                          ------------

      ^p^^^p                             &&&
      ^p                                 ^t
      &&&                                ^p
						
```
The file is now in tab delimited format, but will still have the one-letter descriptor at the beginning of each field. For example:
```
      D9/22/91        T1,000.00       N1249   PDeposit
					
```
To remove an entry, for example the "D" before the date, use the Select Replace command. In this example, find ^pD and replace it with ^p. (^p is used in this case because the D is preceded by a paragraph mark.) The "T" before the amount could be removed by finding ^tT and replacing it with ^t, as could the other descriptors, which are preceded by a tab -- N and P in this case.
Delete any extraneous information in the first (header) and last records.
From the File menu, click Save As, select the Text format, and press ENTER. The file is now ready to be opened as a Database or Spreadsheet file. The Windows Recorder could be used to automate the process if you have many Microsoft Money files to import.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.