Re:- Migration from Money 2004 to MMEX running on iMac

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AlanF
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Re:- Migration from Money 2004 to MMEX running on iMac

Post by AlanF »

Good afternoon everyone

I am new to MMEX and this Forum and I apologise in advance for the naivety of my questions, but I am searching for a solution and from all the reviews I have read and some posts on this Forum I feel confident I am in good hands, as I am a relative novice compared to many of your contributors!
The background is I have built up 25 years of data in Microsoft Money 2004 version 14.0.120.1105 initially on a dedicated Windows Desktop, but for the last 5 years I have been running this programme on an iMac using VMware to view through a Windows 10 operating system. However as this is no longer supported my fear (along with many other people) is that one day it will fail to operate and I need to move on before this happens.

Consequently through the various reviews I have read lead me to believe MMEX would replace the above and run directly on the Mac Operating system, which currently is Mac OS Monterey version 12.3.1.

So to my questions:-
A) I have read the user manual which is very good and I hoped you would have a similar document regarding installation of your programme and how to go about importing the data I have in Money which tells me I can export in QIF form, however I cannot find a document in the Forum?

B) Alternatively has anyone made this transition who could guide/advise the best procedure to follow?

C) In the Money 2004 programme you have a choice of either Loose QIF or Strict QIF when exporting, which do I use and do I need to prepare Money in anyway before exporting (i.e open closed Accounts)?

I could go on but very conscious that this is approaching an essay and mindful of taking up the time of anyone to read this post, but wanted to include sufficient detail and hopefully through this Forum I can receive the help I need to make this move.

Finally I would wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the Development of this product and would just add that I feel as many do that whilst this is offered as a free download, I would wish to make a small donation to help in some small way to the continuation of this Development
MartinArmstrong
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Re: Re:- Migration from Money 2004 to MMEX running on iMac

Post by MartinArmstrong »

I'd strongly suggest that you don't import your 25 years of data into MMEX straight away.

It would be much better to explore MMEX and become completely comfortable with it's main capabilities by using it with a small amount of your current data first. Then you can start again with a new database and import your historical data with no risk of making a mistake.

You can easily try out the QIF import into MMEX yourself by exporting just a few transactions from Money 2004 and work out whether Loose QIF or Strict QIF is the right option.

Basically, what I'm recommending is start small and experiment... and only then do the big transfer of your 25 years of data.

Going forward, how are you intending updating MMEX with new transactions? Will you be periodically exporting CSV files from your bank and then importing into MMEX? If so, then I'd experiment with this now, and move onto your QIF transfer afterwards.

Be aware that the manual, although good in many respects, is not up to date with several new capabilities of MMEX and lots of changes to existing functionality. So, experiment, learn, and if needed, ask here in the forum.
AlanF
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Re: Re:- Migration from Money 2004 to MMEX running on iMac

Post by AlanF »

Thank you Martin for your reply to my post, as an experienced user of MMEX I will certainly take your advice to do a trial to acquaint myself with the programme before making a full commitment to transfer.

Perhaps if I may just add a little more background to my situation, I was heavily influenced by the glowing reviews attached to the webpages of Jiosoft and Mi-Shop to look at what I now know is MMEX software to replace Money 2004. As I am sure you know these imply that the transition from Money is "easy and straightforward" and many of the reviews describe MMEX as as close to Money as you can get. I almost "bought" this software from them believing what I was reading (just like some of the contributors to this Forum) but I too believe this money should go towards the Developers of the programme.

With regards to QIF exports I have not even selected either option in Money so don't know what the next screen/screens will say but from your reply it appears that I can just select individual Accounts rather than everything held in Money.

Additionally now being retired the way I use Money (and indeed always have) is to manually input everything from paper receipts and reconcile Bank Statements so have never imported anything from an external source. I realise to some this is painstakingly slow but its what I have always done and therefore now is almost a hobby just keeping up with general household finances.

Consequently the past data which I have built up is almost a reference to everything financial which has happened over the years and I have found really useful to search using the report facilities in Money, and would wish to do so going forward.

So my use of Money is really rather basic compared to many and if Microsoft had not discontinued the product I would have just bought Money 2022!

However if I could make another appeal to anyone on this Forum who has successfully done what I am looking to do I would value their input.

In the meantime I will experiment and explore the points you have made.

Thanks again and kind regards
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