# iBank



## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

I've been dyed-in-the-wool Quicken for many years so when I switched to Apple I installed Parallels to keep running the Windows version. I looked at Apple alternatives for our personal accounting with investments but wasn't happy with OS alternatives and did not want to use a cloud service. Now iBank 5 is out I decided to download the trial version and give it a try alongside Quicken. Has a 30-day free trial. 

Off to a great start: simply exported a QIF version from Quicken and imported that QIF file into iBank. Even the investment cost basis and history is dead on. Need to go back and do a separate export/import for the US$ account to get it in US$.

Canadian banks apparently do not support the direct download software so I will give the web download method a trial run to see how cumbersome it is.

But I see a comment on a forum from a year ago that iBank does not update Canadian securities, but Quicken does. That would be a deal-breaker.


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

Update:
1. Several Canadian securities were automatically updated. Those that did not I simply had to edit the ticker symbol and hit Tools/Download Quotes.
2. Web connect is exactly the same process I used in Quicken, just within iBank's browser. I've always done it that way. Worked fine.
3. Looks like there are ample reporting utilities for my needs.
4. Easily added the US$ account.
5. Overall I think I like the user interface better than Quicken, which is a lot busier to my eye.
6. Drag and drop reports to Word and Excel for Mac works slick. Just need to do a little Word formatting after.
7. Reconciliation data does not import from Quicken to iBank, but very easy to set all the previously reconciled transactions to "reconciled" after importing them. Took my five minutes to square that up.
8. Version 5 not yet in App Store, if that is important. But it is coming I gather. 

Would be nice to have an Apple app instead of having to maintain Windows on my iMac for this one last function. Looking good so far, still need to check out a few more details.


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## Wally434 (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks for the review of iBank. I am in a similar situation - trying to end my relationship with Windows, with Quicken being the last holdout.

Looks like the conversion process is relatively seemless and most of the same functionality is available in iBank. A couple of questions for you:

1. Do any reports that you have created in Quicken move over to iBank, or do you have to re-create them?

2. To download bank transactions, can you go to the bank website and download from there, rather than have iBank initiate the transaction? If so, what format do you choose for the download?

Up until now, this last feature has been a show stopper for me. Most financial software requires you to provide them with your bank passwords to initiate the downloads from within the software. I don't want to give my bank passwords to anyone.


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

Wally434 said:


> Looks like the conversion process is relatively seemless and most of the same functionality is available in iBank. A couple of questions for you:
> 1. Do any reports that you have created in Quicken move over to iBank, or do you have to re-create them?
> 2. To download bank transactions, can you go to the bank website and download from there, rather than have iBank initiate the transaction? If so, what format do you choose for the download?


1. No, the reports do not come over, but iBank's report generator so far seems much nicer than Quicken's. Still checking it out in the trial period, but so far I like the report process. Seems easier to adjust a report to cover a new situation.
2. I used iBank's browser. It feels like going to Safari, logging into my bank, selecting the Quicken download and voila, the transactions appeared in iBank. I don't want to try that from Safari outside iBank because I am still running Quicken and I don't want to risk breaking the link between Internet Explorer and Quicken. It worked very nicely.

It is very easy to download the iBank trial and give it a 30-day spin. I updated Quicken then exported to QIF, then imported that QIF file into iBank. Running them in parallel for the trial period.


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## Wally434 (Jan 7, 2009)

Sounds good. I guess I should take the trial version for a spin too. I am so anxious to retire my Windows machine.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

Wally434 said:


> 2. To download bank transactions, can you go to the bank website and download from there, rather than have iBank initiate the transaction? If so, what format do you choose for the download?


This is also a deal breaker for me. I still wouldn't use the browser within iBank but I will give this version a try and see if it is better than version 4


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## Wally434 (Jan 7, 2009)

Happy to see that I am not the only one concerned about giving bank passwords to a third party. If your bank account was ever compromised (even if not by the iBank software), I wonder if the bank would cover your losses, knowing that sharing your password is against their rules.

I also wrote to the folks at Quicken voicing my concern that the only way to add transactions to Mint was by giving them your bank password. They couldn't understand what all the fuss was about and said I was the only person who had ever mentioned this.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

Ya I just don't understand how someone can pass that type of information over to a 3rd party.

When I tried iBank 4 awhile back and imported via exported csv file from TD Canada Trust at the time it was a huge pain because TD Canada Trust put the transaction verification code into each transaction name and iBank would think it’s a different payee each and every time to the same payee. I would have to spend a full year in there just to clean up. I don't bank with TD anymore so that wouldn't be an issue.

There was also an issue in how it dealt with credit cards. I don't remember exactly what it was but I decided not to use it because of it.


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

Joker Eh said:


> This is also a deal breaker for me. I still wouldn't use the browser within iBank but I will give this version a try and see if it is better than version 4


Good point. This is deal breaker for me now too, unless there is a way to download outside iBank. Should be able download a QFX (OFX, QIF?) file from the bank's website, then do a manual import of that file to iBank. Need to run a test to see whether iBank will parse out the multiple accounts in one export/import, or whether I will have to do a separate export/import for each account. Either way, these are more steps than using Quicken, but worth it if I can stop maintaining Windows on the Mac.


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

Still evaluating with test data.

Easy to download transactions for iBank directly from the bank's website, instead of via iBank's internal browser. I just downloaded the Quicken statement.qfx to the Downloads folder, then imported it into iBank, one account at a time. Need to be careful because this is a manual procedure, whereas Quicken automatically associated the downloaded transactions with each account.

Need to train iBank to associate payees with categories again. Just a matter of creating a transaction template, which iBank does automatically when I enter a category for a payee for which it does not have a transaction template. Can modify that template to create an import rule to convert the name of the payee to something more understandable than the name downloaded from the bank, but I won't need to do that very often.


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

Just reconciled our accounts from the bank's paper statement for the first time. Very slick. Actually like it better than Quicken's method., I think.

I had to edit some imported investment transactions. For some reason, during the import from Quicken, the amounts were added as deposits instead of withdrawals. Easy to fix though. Only took half an hour to clean it up.

Can't schedule transactions on a specific day or date each month, just monthly, weekly, etc. That's a fairly minor problem for me though. Judging by the forums, users have been asking for that function in iBank for some time. Not a deal-breaker.

I haven't found an address book yet in iBank. Cheque printing is very slick in Quicken and much less so in iBank. I did not have to change the default template for my 3/page cheque blanks, but they don't print addresses I don't think. No matter, I very rarely print and snail mail cheques any more. Not a deal-breaker.
UPDATE: Apparently iBank uses Apple's Contacts app. Haven't tried that yet. 

I'm getting closer to turning off Quicken and staying with iBank, but want see how year-end goes first. Every user will have to do this kind of parallel run to carefully evaluate whether it is right for them, since there are so many varied needs for home office financial software.


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## slipstream (May 9, 2011)

Well, in case anyone is interested, I confirmed iBank 5 will work fine for our needs and archived Quicken. Takes same amount of time now for me to download transactions directly from our bank's website to the hard drive, and then upload them from the hard drive to iBank manually, outside iBank. Great no longer having to fuss with Windows. I installed their iPad and iPhone apps. Not using them iDevice -> iMac, only to carry around the iMac's state. Wifi syncing is slick and so far has been painless. For up to date information on the go I just long into our bank's website through iDevice. The iPhone app shows investment account transactions but does not show security names. The iPad app shows much more detail. Overall: happy camper so far.


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