This is our general FAQ page where we’ve included the most common questions we received. Many of the answers apply to several of our tools.
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Question |
Answer |
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General |
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What is the latest version of the tool I purchased? |
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What is IIF? |
IIF stands for Intuit Interchange Format, a file format for importing
data into financial software. QuickBooks will export IIF files that contain lists
& will import IIF files that contain both lists & transactions. The
format is daunting for many non-programmer types. Several of our tools make
it easier, including the IIF Transaction Creator
and the QuickBooks List Importer. |
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What is OFX? |
OFX stands for Open Financial Exchange. It is an XML format used to
import financial transactions into Quicken, Money, & QuickBooks for
reconciliation purposes. Our QIF to OFX
Converter can help if you need to create an OFX file. It creates
“statement download” files locally (on your machine) which can be imported by
these applications. |
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What is QIF? |
QIF stands for Quicken Interchange Format, and is a text-file-based
standard for importing data into financial software. Many applications
support QIF, including Quicken and MS Money. Notably, QuickBooks does not
import QIF files. Our QIF to IIF
Converter can help if you need to import QIF files into QuickBooks. |
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How do I load an Add-in in Excel? |
Here’s a video
tutorial for Excel 97 - 2003 Here’s a video
tutorial for Excel 2007 |
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Excel/OS Questions |
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Why do I get a prompt for a “BRConsulting” password when closing Excel
or taking some other action in Excel? |
This is an Excel bug that happens to some Excel uses at different
points, sometimes (it is no longer very common.) We’ve setup a page to review what to try if
you get the message. See this page. |
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I just started using Excel 2007.
Help! |
“Help!!” is often user’s reaction to Excel 2007. We’ve written a
special FAQ for this: Excel 2007 . |
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After I load the Add-in, no menu appears |
Some relatively unusual settings can impact loading add-in: Excel 2003: Choose Tools | Macro | Security | Trusted Publishers and
then make sure the two available check-boxes are checked. Excel 2007: To see this setting, go to Excel Options from the Office
button in the upper-left corner of Excel, then Trust Center, Trust Center
Settings, Add-ins, then make sure all three of the options there are
unchecked. |
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What version of Excel do I need? |
Most of our tools are Excel Add-ins. The tools are supported under
various versions of Excel, from Excel 97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, and 2010 for
Windows. Several are also supported
with Excel for OSX. Not all tools are supported (will work) when using all of these Excel
versions. Some require features only available in newer Excel versions. Each
tool’s home page indicates the supported versions of Excel. Excel 2008 for Mac is not supported as Microsoft removed support for
add-ins (and other important feature) from Office 2008 on the Mac. They have indicated in some postings that
they will bring this back in future office versions. |
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Are your tools supported on the Mac? |
Several tools are supported on Mac OSX. The supported Operating
Systems are noted in the Quick Facts section of the left navigation bar of
each tool’s home page. See the Product List
to navigate to the tool’s home pages. |
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Can I use MS Works spreadsheet or other spreadsheet programs with
these tools? |
For tools that are Excel add-ins, MS Excel is required. MS Works is
not Excel and does not support add-ins. Excel can be purchased for about $90
at a software stores or online. |
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Privacy & Security |
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Do you sell your customer list? |
No. We don’t use your purchase information for any purpose except to
process your order & to send you information (such as update notices)
about the tool or tools you purchased. Note if you get an update notice and want to opt out of them, just
reply and indicate that. |
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Trying & Buying |
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How do I know the tool will work? |
All of our tools offer a free trial period. This means you can
download the tool and install it without charge, review the included
documentation & examples, & use the tool in trial mode before you
make your purchase decision. If you have questions, we are available to help. Please email us using our support page. |
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Are the tools limited when in trial mode? |
Each is limited in some way. For example the IIF Transaction creator
will create up to 100 transactions during its trial. |
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What payment options do you offer? |
We accept major credit cards on our site. We also accept Google Checkout and PayPal
payments. See purchase information
for more information. |
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After I purchase a tool, what should I expect? |
When purchasing via our site or PayPal, you will immediately receive a
purchase confirmation & temporary product key. If you use Google Checkout, the temporary key is issued as soon as
your card is charged, and is stored in your checkout history for your
reference. Later, we fill finalize your order and create a permanent product key
for you using your name or email address. You’ll receive a receipt & your
final product key via email, usually within a business day. After receiving
your key code, please print & save the email confirmation and your
product key. |
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I purchased but did not receive my product key. |
Spam blockers are the
most common reason key codes aren’t received via email. If you have a junk email
folder, check that for the confirmation email. Also, to make sure you
can receive email from customersupport@bigredconsulting.com, add the email to your
spam-blocker’s white list or to your address book. If you need a replacement
key, start
here. |
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I receive an error when entering my product key. |
This is caused by entering the key into the wrong tool or mistyping
the key. The key is alpha-numeric & will contain both your name and a
number. Be sure to enter the entire key. If the key is still not accepted,
make sure you are entering it into the About dialog of the product you
purchased. Note you can use Ctrl-C to copy the key from your email notification
and Ctrl-V to paste it into the About dialog (on Windows.) |
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I lost my product key. What can I do? |
We will replace your key or free for up to one year after purchase. You may request a
replacement key online. After a year, there is a $10 fee to research your
account & to locate or regenerate your key. The $10 fee is not refundable
in cases where we cannot locate your account based on information you’ve
provided, but can be used as a credit toward purchase of one of our tools. If you purchased preferred support, we’ll replace your key for up to
two years from your original purchase. |
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I’d like to share your tool with a friend or co-worker. May I do that? |
You may send a copy of the tool to anyone for trial use. Or, send a
link to our site. However, please do not share
your product key. A product key is issued for each product purchased and
is intended for one user. If you need multiple users to have access to the
tools purchased, please purchase multiple copies. See the End User License
Agreements (EULA) within each tool for specifics. |
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Can I download the new version of my purchased tool for free? |
New versions of our tools are currently offered free of charge to
existing customers of that tool. This policy may change. To update your tool, download the latest version from its home page and install it on top of the older
version of the tool while Excel is not running. Note that your product key & preferences are not lost during the update,
but for some tools any data imported into the tool (like your QuickBooks
lists) will need to be re-imported. |
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Quicken Questions |
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Can newer versions of Quicken import QIF files? |
Yes. While there have been many claims that Quicken can’t import QIF
files, or the import is limited to cash accounts, this is not true. When
using our Excel
to QIF Converter, you can import transactions into most any account type
including Checking and Credit Card accounts. |
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Can I create OFX Files that Quicken will import |
Yes, using our QIF to OFX
Converter, you can create OFX files for Quicken. |
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Can I include Category and |
No. The OFX file format doesn’t contain any fields for a category or
for split detail information. However, you can use the QIF file format to
include this information. |
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Can I import security price history information into Quicken? |
Yes, our Excel to QIF
Converter, now support security price history details (as well as
security account transactions.) |
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Will your tools for Quicken work with the latest versions of Quicken? |
Yes, we’ve tested them with Quicken through 2010 and they fully
support the latest versions. |
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QuickBooks Questions |
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In QuickBooks terms, what is a list and what is a transaction? |
List items include Accounts, Customers, Vendors, Sales Items, and so
on. Transactions use list items as well as currency amounts to track
financial activity involving money.
These include things like Invoices, Checks, and Bills. |
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Can QuickBooks import transactions? |
Yes! QuickBooks can import transactions using the IIF file standard.
Generally, this can be quite complicated to setup and is considered
‘programming’ by Intuit, and they don’t support questions about IIF. Our
tools can help with this task, allowing you to convert relatively simple
spreadsheets into IIF files. |
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Can QuickBooks export
transactions? |
Not directly as an IIF file. However, QuickBooks can export reports to Excel & those reports can be used to
create IIF files containing transactions for import into QuickBooks! Our Transaction Copier takes advantage of this
capability and allows you to ‘copy’ transactions from one QuickBooks file to
another. |
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Can QuickBooks import opening balances for lists? |
Yes. Opening balances for lists are created by importing transactions
in combination with lists. For import, this means both a new list item &
an accompanying transaction must be imported. Setting this up manually is rather cumbersome, though it’s easy when
using our List Importer. All you have to do
is specify the opening balance amount for each account or name and the rest
is taken care of. |
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How can I import my Online Banking data into QuickBooks? QuickBooks
doesn’t support my bank or credit card for online banking. |
The IIF Transaction Creator will import
CSV and other text files into Excel, and help you reformat this data for
conversion to IIF files. Then the IIF files can be imported into QuickBooks.
Use this tool if you want to import new data based on your banking data. The QIF to OFX Converter will import
QIF files or use CSV files downloaded from your bank. It will then create OFX
(QBO) files you can import into the online banking center in QuickBooks to
match against existing data you have entered. |
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Getting help |
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I’m trying to use a tool, but things just aren’t working out. What
should I do? |
Please be sure you’ve reviewed the in-product instructions and
available examples. Together, these resources create a picture of what the
tool does, what it expects, & what to do in some specific cases. If none of this works, please email us using our contact info page.
We usually respond to email within 12 hours. |
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I’ve encountered a bug! What should I do? |
This happens from time to time. To date, we’ve fixed nearly everything
ever reported. We will work with you to resolve any product errors. Please send an email using the contact info page.
If your issue seems related to your specific data, please also include email
attachments with your IIF files and/or Excel spreadsheet. |
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I have a suggestion. Where do I send it? |
Please send an email using the contact info page. |
MS
Excel and MS Money are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. QuickBooks
& Quicken are registered trademarks of Intuit, Inc.