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Modern Alternatives to MS Money RRS feed

  • Question

  • As much as I've loved Microsoft Money since the 1990s, it's now EIGHT years past my 2007 version.  I know that Microsoft no longer supports the software, so it's only a matter of time before we can't get in at all anymore.

    What do all of YOU recommend as an alternative?

    The most important requirement is that I need to be able to import my MNY file (or I need Microsoft Money to be able to export the MNY into a format that the new software can recognize) since I don't want to lose 25 years of financial history.

    I then need to be able to manually input the latest transactions (and then balance them later via the monthly statements).  It seems that a lot of newer programs only sync with bank accounts, but that's no good for keeping track of handwritten checks and other transactions that aren't instant.

    Any suggestions?

    Thank you,

    Scott Trimble

    Los Angeles, CA

    Monday, November 23, 2015 5:17 PM

All replies

  • I like Microsoft Money, with PocketSense downloading OFX statements. Free. The OFX files from investment accounts generally include quote information for a holding.  I use a batch file invoked by the Windows task scheduler. MSMoneyQuotes is very nicely integrated to bring in quotes at any time of day. It can feed quotes to any money file you specify, even if the file is closed. Cheap one-time purchase.

    Quicken is the only choice to import your Money file. It is very full featured. It can access QFX (like OFX) servers. Many financial institutions that do not provide such servers can be accessed via a screen scraping service. The interface is tightly integrated from the user point of view, but I would feel uncomfortable having my bank login credentials passed on to an aggregator. With Quicken it is possible to distinguish which financial institutions provide servers vs those that get aggregated by a banker. There is some thought that banks may offer a new non-OFX API (I presume read-only) to get data without you having to provide the same credentials that you use to have checks mailed out. http://www.americanbanker.com/news/technology/is-it-time-to-end-screen-scraping-1071118-1.html


    This search will turn up people talking about various alternatives: <http://www.bing.com/search?q=quicken+kmymoney+gnucash+windows+%22acemoney%22+mint&qs=n&form=QBLH&pq=quicken+kmymoney+gnucash+windows+%22acemoney%22+mint>
    Note that Mint is all online, so those who don't want their financial data aggregated would not want to use that.

    But really, Money still has a lot to offer. By not having the periodic updates to add features, it avoids having to relearn the interface.

    Tuesday, November 24, 2015 3:26 PM
    Moderator
  • I like Microsoft Money, with PocketSense downloading OFX statements. Free. The OFX files from investment accounts generally include quote information for a holding.  I use a batch file invoked by the Windows task scheduler.

    Hi Cal,

    How did you create the batch file?  I can run the Getdata.py, but it then requests input with a prompt to download transactions.  Is there a bypass to this, or just a way of entering the data?

    Thursday, November 26, 2015 7:13 PM
  • How did you create the batch file?  I can run the Getdata.py, but it then requests input with a prompt to download transactions.  Is there a bypass to this, or just a way of entering the data?

    Here is my batch file for running manually:
    =====================================
    C:
    cd C:\Users\username\Documents\mn\psense

    start c:\utils\popdown2.py
    getdata.py < lines.txt

    ==========================================
    ===============================================
    Other info:

    lines.txt is a text file that contains just 4 or more blank lines. That causes the default action to be chosen for each thing that getdata.py asks--just as getdata would do if you hit the enter key at teach step. So it will proceed without needing manual interaction. You can make that file in Notepad. That is the trick you were looking for. ****

    I have a longer version that I use for my scheduled batch file, but it is harder to follow. It has logging, and it will pause if the expected Money file is not open. It tries to open Money in that case, but does not then succeed with feeding the statements to Money in that case for some reason.

    PopDown2.py automates pressing the button(s) within Money. I have made the Python version available at http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=81678647177766123499
    The *.exe version is at   http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=92738622155260551108 The "start" lets the PopDown2.py run in parallel instead of sequentially. The *.exe version does not need Python installed, although to run PocketSense you need Python installed anyway. The MD5 for the exe version is 2ddf39fe5e47aa25464736cba2b0973f for anybody who checks such stuff.

    I would be glad to explain any part.





    Friday, November 27, 2015 1:09 AM
    Moderator
  • Thanks Cal!

    Everything made sense, and it worked just as I had hoped.  The file downloaded as an exe file, so I just had to change the extension to py, and everything worked well.  Now if only Canada allowed this to work... oh well!

    Thanks again, and that popdown program also works for my Canadian program downloads, since I can run it, and not have to worry about hitting enter when going through bank after bank.

    Saturday, November 28, 2015 5:31 AM
  • I made a mistake and had uploaded the exe version (compiled from C) by mistake. It works fine. It would run faster than the Python version, but speed is not important for that job. :-)   Some advantages to the .py version are that it could be inspected better for funny business, and it could be easily modified if the delays or some other aspect are not to your liking.  I am surprised and shocked that the exe version still launched after being renamed as *.py.

    Here is a link to the actual Python version in case you or somebody wanted that:
    http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=81678647177766123499

    I edited the earlier post to correct things.


    Saturday, November 28, 2015 4:05 PM
    Moderator