Can I import bank account statement every month or few months? will the statement update or duplicate data?
When importing bank statement, Manager will detect already imported transactions and will not create duplicates so no worries.
that is excellent. I really do love this program. thank Lubos
one other related question, can I import .csv files?
If you want to import csv files to Manager, use xl2qif.
You can download this excel add in from XL2QIF
Its free.
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If this is the case, how come transactions can be imported twice?
I’ve just recently experienced duplicate transactions when importing bank statements online. After examining the QBO file from the bank I can find no clue as to why. What is also happening is that another transaction having the same values in , and fields but different values in , and is ignored and not downloaded.
If I delete one of the duplicates and re-import the QBO file, the duplicate re-appears but not the missing transaction. If I delete both duplicates and re-import the QBO file, everything now works correctly. Both transactions are imported (the duplicate is gone and the other now appears in its stead as it should).
I don’t understand the circumstances of how this duplicate was created in the first place except to say it likely happened when two imports were made on the same day and some transactions in the second import file may have not yet appeared in the first import file. Somehow Manager confused the newer transaction having the same date and amount with a previously imported transaction but did not imported it correctly and somehow created a duplicate instead. My lesson here is not to import bank statements until the day is done to avoid duplicates (seems to work) but not happy to have to do this.
Hope this narration helps to solve this bug.
Re above…it seems that QBO field descriptions were removed from my post (special characters). I was referring to TRNTYPE, DTPOSTED, TRNAMT, NAME and MEMO.
The main problem is that when you import bank transactions which include today’s transactions. Descriptions on those transactions might change by tomorrow. Try to export QBO file with today’s transactions, then tomorrow export QBO file again with yesterday’s transactions. Then compare descriptions on those transactions.
Manager is trying to detect this and avoid duplicates but there are edge-cases where it won’t work. Especially if you have multiple transactions with same amounts.
If your bank changes descriptions retrospectively and you suffer from this issue, it’s probably better not to import today’s transactions.
I agree that not importing "today’s transactions is the best course of action. Banks do make corrections to transactions at different times under various circumstances. The point of my post was to point out to others that duplicates can occur under these circumstances and to beware. Also this can lead to missing transactions in Manager as well as I try to describe below.
In my case, I had a transaction in a QBO file a day after the day the duplicate appeared (due to current day import problem and likely description change by the bank). This file contained the transaction with the new description (I assume). I discovered the duplicate because it was supposed to be a transfer to another bank account and didn’t show up there (via a bank rule) resulting in an incorrect balance in that account which sent me looking for the problem. In an attempt to correct the duplicate problem, I tried to delete one of the duplicates in Manager from the day before hoping to replace the duplicate with the corrected one in the new QBO file. I was surprised when Manager re-created the duplicate again. It was only after deleting all similar transactions (4 of them) with the same date, same amounts and similar but different descriptions and re-importing the QBO file that Manager replaced the duplicate with the “missing” transaction.
OK, I get it. Manager is trying to be smart at avoiding duplicates even if description changes. What you have described was an edge case which Manager couldn’t handle properly (it picked incorrect transaction to import out of duplicate candidates). I was able to reproduce this issue and fixed this in the latest version (15.3.62).
this is a great option works a treat, thank you 
Using Version 16.12.56 I find that duplicate transactions are quite often generated from bank file imports, because the bank (NAB) often changes transaction dates by a few days between successive imports. Presumably this is due to a change from the “Date of transaction” near the end of one import, to the “Date processed” near the beginning of the following import). Usually the Description text is unaltered.
Would it be possible for Manager to detect this situation of identical Descriptions and Amounts where the dates differ by no more than 3-4 days, say, and flag the second import as a possible duplicate?
Example QIF entries where the transaction and processing dates differ is:
From bank import covering the dates 08/07/2016-31/07/2016:
D28/07/16
T-26.90
PSEASALT CARLTON CARLTON
and from bank import covering dates 31/07/2016-21/08/2016:
D01/08/16
T-26.90
PSEASALT CARLTON CARLTON
First of all, don’t use overlapping dates - for the above use
08/07/2016-31/07/2016 and 1/08/2016-21/08/2016
By asking for the 31/07 twice, you have asked for that dates data twice.
31/8 goes to midnight 1/8 starts after midnight
Any time you empower the program to make judgments that similar entries are identical, you risk missing entries. That would be a bigger problem.
I choose the end/start dates to be on a Sunday, when no new transactions are generally recorded. The solution seems to be more patient, and don’t import anything less than a week old!