Need help with creating IIFs for importing purchase orders and invoices

[djbuffyluv]

I have been trying for months to figure out how to make IIF files that
work. I tried the software from bigredconsulting.com, but I have a
custom field and they wouldn't answer my queries about how to modify
the program. I've read all the help files but since I'm not a
programmer I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Can anybody
suggest a resource I haven't tried? My boss is too cheap to hire a
developer, but I'm willing to pay a little myself so I don't lose my
job. I think I might be able to figure it out if I was able to have a
clean copy of my company profile to mess around with - is that possible?

 

[Karl Irvin]

Use Windows explorer to make a copy of your QuickBooks file. Its usually
named
your company name.qbw

Open this copy and click Company>Company Information and change the company
name to boldly say its a copy. Use this copy for testing purposes.

Where is teh data to be imported coming from?

 

[Larry Stinson]

IIF files are nothing more than tab delimited text files. You can get
examples of IIF files for various transactions from Intuit's web site.

But, I don't think it's possible to add values to a custom field using IIF
files. If you are familiar with Visual Basic or C++, you can use the
Quickbooks SDK (available for free download) to transfer the PO and invoice
information from the data source directly into your Quickbooks company file.

Hope this helps.

Larry Stinson
Stinson Solutions Inc.
www.geocities.com/llstinson
Specializing in Quickbooks Helper Applications

 

[L]

I have been trying for months to figure out how to make IIF files that
work. I tried the software from bigredconsulting.com, but I have a
custom field and they wouldn't answer my queries about how to modify
the program. I've read all the help files but since I'm not a
programmer I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Can anybody
suggest a resource I haven't tried? My boss is too cheap to hire a
developer, but I'm willing to pay a little myself so I don't lose my
job. I think I might be able to figure it out if I was able to have a
clean copy of my company profile to mess around with - is that possible?

You didn't state your version of QB -- yes, it does make a difference!
The Intuit website has sample iif files for download. Here is a link
http://search.intuit.com/KCS/search...ntractor-117503html&sliceId=&dialogID=8237668

 

[djbuffyluv]

Right now I'm just copying things by hand from an .html page, but the
webmaster will make it so I can get the data in a tab-delimited text
file as soon as I know what format it needs to be in.

 

[djbuffyluv]

Actually, while messing around with .iif, I found out that it was
possible to put a value in the OTHER2 field...which then ends up in the
OTHER1 field once it's imported!

I feel like I'm *this close* to figuring it out, but it seems like the
first import goes fine but the subsequent ones have a lot of "can't
import invalid transaction" errors.

 

[djbuffyluv]

My version is Quickbooks Pro 2005.

I will dig back into the sample IIF files, now that I have a copy of
the company file to work from.

 

[Mike]

I was just playing around with this the other day with Item Lists. If
you export an IIF file from your current test company, you can open it
and see what the format looks like. I prefer to use Excel to view the
file as it breaks the tabs up in to the columns. You might even be able
to edit it right from there an import it back in. As someone else
mentioned, make sure you make a test company file, then you can play
around with it all you want.

The only field I wasn't sure about messing with was the TIMESTAMP
field.

Thanks,

Mike
(e-mail address removed)

 

[djbuffyluv]

Lists are the only things that can be exported in IIF format from QB,
which doesn't help me.