IIF to Excel Converter

What an IIF file is

IIF stands for Intuit Interchange Format. It's a plain text file, separated by tabs, that QuickBooks Desktop uses to import and export lists such as the chart of accounts, customers, vendors and items, and to bring in transactions from other software.

Inside, a line starting with an exclamation mark names the columns for one kind of record, for example !ACCNT for accounts or !TRNS for transactions. The rows of that kind follow underneath. One file can hold several kinds of record, each with its own columns, and every transaction is a block: a TRNS line, one or more SPL (split) lines, then ENDTRNS.

Why it looks wrong when you open it in Excel

Excel will open an .iif file as text, but it has no idea how the file is organized. Everything lands on one sheet: account rows, customer rows and transaction lines are stacked on top of each other, with a new header row wherever the record type changes, so the same column means one thing in the accounts section and something else further down.

Dates are read using your computer's regional settings, so a date written month first can end up as text, or as the wrong day, on a computer set up for day first. Account numbers lose their leading zeros as well, so 01000 turns into 1000.

What the converter gives you

• A sheet for each list in the file, named in plain English (Accounts, Customers, Vendors, Items, Employees, Classes and so on) and using the same column names the IIF uses. If you edit a list in Excel, the columns still line up with the IIF layout.
• A Transactions sheet with one row per line. Each row carries its transaction number and says whether it's the main line or a split, so a journal entry with five splits stays together and you can filter on it.
• A balance check. QuickBooks won't import a transaction whose lines don't add up to zero. The converter adds them up and marks every transaction "Balanced" or "Off by" the difference, so you can fix a file before you try to import it.
• Real dates and amounts. Dates come out as Excel dates and amounts as numbers, so you can sort, total and build pivot tables straight away. Account numbers, reference numbers and IDs stay as text, so their leading zeros are kept.
• A Summary sheet showing what was in the file, which version of QuickBooks exported it (when the file says), how the dates were read and which transactions didn't balance.

Who uses it

Bookkeepers check an IIF file from a payroll service, point of sale system or online store before importing it, because QuickBooks has no undo for an IIF import; the way back is restoring a backup. Accountants use it to read a client's chart of accounts or customer list without opening the client's company file. And people moving off QuickBooks Desktop use it to get their lists into a spreadsheet that other software can take.

Getting an IIF file out of QuickBooks Desktop

1. Go to File > Utilities > Export > Lists to IIF Files.
2. Tick the lists you want, such as Chart of Accounts, Customer List or Item List, and click OK.
3. Choose where to save the file, then upload it here.

QuickBooks Desktop only exports lists this way. IIF files with transactions in them usually come from other software that writes them for QuickBooks to import, and those convert here in the same way.

About the dates

An IIF file doesn't say how its dates are written. They follow the regional settings of the computer that saved it, so 03/04/2024 could be 4 March from a US computer or 3 April from a UK one. The converter looks at every date in the file before it reads any of them. If one has a day above 12, that settles it. If none do, it reads them month first, the way US editions of QuickBooks write them, and says so on screen so you can switch to day first and convert again.