Category hack for importing?

reebs26

I have thousands of transactions to import from M*nt, but you guys don't support category imports (which is bizarre).

Would it work to set up my categories in Simplifi exactly as I want, then download all my M*nt data, and then tag each entry with the name of the relevant Simplifi category? Once it's imported to Simplifi, I'd sort by tags and select all the matching tags, and then transfer into the appropriate category.

Is this a crazy idea or will it work? Or, is there an easier way to do this?

Coach Natalie

Hello @reebs26,

Thanks for posting your inquiry to the Community!

When importing from Mint, as long as the Categories match exactly and the CSV file is not altered in any way, you should be able to import the Categories. We have a discussion available here that goes over this. 

Please let us know how it goes!

-Coach Natalie

reebs26

@Coach Natalie I just went to read the link you sent, and ironically I had posted in it back in August when thinking about making the change to Simplifi. You responded to me that, "At this time, Categories will not be imported into Simplifi, so you'll need to categorize your transactions manually after importing them. More details on this can be found here."

If I import a Mint .csv file that has not been altered in any way, are you saying that the categories will come over with it? B/c I keep reading that categories won't come over. (In that same post, @bcrossman  tried to import an unaltered mint file and it didn’t bring in the categories. @Bcrossman — did you delete your simplifi account and start over, since it seems to screw things up if the program recognizes things that have been imported previously?) 

Also, could anyone give me more insight on why a Mint file can't be altered in any way? I mean, if it's just a CSV file, why would it make any difference?

My apologies if I'm totally misunderstanding the situation!

DannyB

@reebs26 my interpretation of what @Coach Natalie is saying is that if you create categories in Simplifi exactly as they are in your M*nt account BEFORE you import and then as long as you don’t make any changes to the downloaded M*nt csv file everything should line up and sort out appropriately in Simplifi. Again, I THINK that’s what she means… I’ll watch to see if I interpreted her correctly.

Coach Natalie

Hello @reebs26,

What @Flopbot stated is correct -- the Categories must match exactly and the Mint file cannot be altered in any way; you must also select the 'Mint' import option in Simplifi. If these criteria are met for Mint imports specifically, you should be able to import Categories. 

I believe @bcrossman was having a hard time importing the Categories from Mint due to being unable to make the Categories match exactly. At least, that's what I'm gathering from the discussion as well as what I recall occurring. 

Fingers crossed it works for you!

-Coach Natalie

bcrossman

@Flopbot 's suggestion from the post linked above is what I tried and it worked pretty well. It is still a bit labor-intensive, so query whether it is worth the time for you.

Basically, I created a new manual account within Simplifi (e.g., "Mint Import") and added my transactional categories from Mint to Simplifi. Then I uploaded the CSV file to my new manual account. Once uploaded, I could batch edit categorized transactions to the correct Simplifi categories. Like I said, not perfect and time consuming, but it is the best solution I'm aware of.

Also, could anyone give me more insight on why a Mint file can't be altered in any way? I mean, if it's just a CSV file, why would it make any difference?

I am not smart enough to know why the CSV file can't be altered, but it doesn't make sense to me either.

Secure_User

I have imported some transactions from an account that currently has a broken automatic download connection. I am able to import "tags", but not category - which is odd. Also, in what ways can the CSV file not be altered? Obviously you have to add transaction data, but if you resize the column headers, is the too "altered"? I have inconsistent results importing transactions via CSV.