Using the Compare to Register feature when importing a QIF file in Quicken

When you are importing a QIF file into Quicken, and your Quick Tabs are active, a Quick Tabs will open for the account you are importing into.  There will be a lightning bolt on the Quick Tabs, indicating that there are transactions to be compared to the register.  When you open the register, the register will be at the top and a Compare to Register window at the bottom.

Note: If you receive the message, "There are too many Quick Tabs already open.  Close some and try again," close any unnecessary Quick Tabs in order to complete the import.  For more information, read  how do I resolve the message, "There are too many Quick Tabs already open. Close some and try again" or "There are too many Quicken windows open. Before you can open another window, some of the open windows must be closed?"

The column on the far left of the Compare to Register window shows the status of each transaction.  Each transaction should have a status of either New or Match.  

New Transactions

  • To add a transaction with a status of New to the register, select the transaction in the Compare to Register window.  Make any necessary changes to the transaction in the register portion of the screen and click the Accept button.
  • To match a transaction with a status of New to a transaction that is already in the register, select the transaction in the Compare to Register window and click the Manual Match button. In the Manual Match Transactions window, choose the correct transaction by selecting the check box next to the transaction and then clicking the Accept button.

Matching Transactions

  • If a transaction has a status of Match and matches correctly with the transaction in the register portion of the screen, select the transaction in the Compare to Register window and click the Accept button.
  • If a transaction has a status of Match but does not match correctly with the transaction in the register portion of the screen, select the transaction in the Compare to Register window and click the Unmatch button.  This will change the status of the transaction to either New or Match depending on the list of eligible register transactions. Follow the instructions given previously in this document  for adding new transactions.   
  • In Quicken 2002 there is an additional Make New button. The purpose of this button is to allow you to force the transaction to stay in the New status. This button can be very useful if you have many transactions of the same amount in the list of eligible register transactions (for example, ten $100.00 ATM transactions). If during your QIF Compare to register session, you used the Unmatch button, Quicken would simply pick the next possible match in the list. Using the Make New button will keep this from happening. However, it should be noted. Once Make New is selected, the transaction will not match to any of the list of eligible register transactions. If you select this choice in error, use the Manual Match choice to match this transaction to the appropriate register transaction.

To delete any transaction from the Compare to Register window, select the transaction and click the Delete button.

Once all of the transactions have been either accepted to the register or deleted, click the Done button.

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