data transfer from Money Central

[thinkright]

I am currently using Toolbox under Money Central's Portfolio. It will be changed Nov 1 and I wish to transfer all my data to Fund Manager. How do I do this without going direct to each broker (I do not wish to display my broker access codes).

[Mark]

Hi thinkright,

Does this method have any sort of export capability? If you can export to any sort of standard file, like an OFX, QIF, or CSV file, you can then import that into Fund Manager. I'm not familiar with their product to tell you whether or not it can export. Hopefully it can...

[DavidJ]

Hi, thinkright!

I'm also an MSN "Investment Toolbox" (aka Deluxe Portfolio Manager) user.

If you want to export your current portfolio, that's easy enough, but I suppose that what you want to export is your transactions. It can be done, but it will probably be a pain in the [DELETED], since the MSN Portfolio Manager has a gadget for printing transactions, but not for transporting them directly to any conventional format.

First, you'll have to install some kind of printing software which persuades Windows that it's a printer driver. I use an old version of FinePrint. There are free trial copies of the latest versions at http://www.fineprint.com/ . On the left of the MSN Portfolio Manager, you then go into Other Tasks|More|Print|Transaction Report . You then let the Portfolio Manager 'print' into your pseudo-printer. There you will find some option somewhere to save the print job as a .txt file. When you do that, you'll find that you're the proud owner of a text file where each transaction has 7 fields: Date, Investment Name, Transaction Type, Quantity of units, Price, Commission, and Total. You then use a scriptable text editor to convert this text file either into a .qif or into some format which FM10 can handle through its generic Generic Transaction Import Dialog. You'll have to find the symbols elsewhere, but unless you've traded vast numbers of stocks that shouldn't be a problem.

This looks exhausting, but I think that it's the only way to get transaction information out of MSN toolbox. That's one of the many reasons I started using FM many years ago.

If all you want to export is your current holdings, that's much simpler: Just go to More|File Options|Export, and then export and import the text file as above.

Good luck.
David.