Downloading Paypal activity as IIF and Importing into QB 2019

[clubhistorian]

I'm running QB accountant desktop 2019.  Ever since I converted over to QB 2019, I can't import IIF files created through Paypal. 

Everything seems normal on the Paypal side, but when I import on the QB side, I get a "File Not Imported" popup window.  The reason is:

 [ERROR] Missing mandatory field TRNSTYPE in header. [15102]

The header & first transaction:

!TRNS    DATE    ACCNT    NAME    CLASS    AMOUNT    MEMO
!SPL    DATE    ACCNT    NAME    AMOUNT    MEMO
!ENDTRNS
TRNS    "09/24/2018"    "PayPal"    "Lyudmila <Removed>"    "eBay Auction Payment"    -80.14    "RARE LIONEL PREWAR # 2613  O GAUGE GREEN WITH DARK GREEN ROOF PASSENGER CAR"
SPL    "09/24/2018"    "Other expenses"    "Lyudmila <Removed>"    80.14
ENDTRNS

What's going on?  I never had any issues with QB 2018 - is anyone else having these problems?  Thanks!

[KarlMCC]

Hey I had a similar problem (same error message, but in my case the TRNSTYPE header was actually present in the IIF file. Also perhaps more importantly the IIF exports were not from PayPal but a different program.)

Since older IIF files generated in the same way had been working fine before the QB 2019 update, I simply bypassed the data validation in the Import IIF QB dialog box.

At the bottom of the IIF import dialog box there is a link that says "Import for me. I will fix it later." - this link allows you to attempt the import without data validation. In my case, the IIF imported just fine.

[mklopotic]

I just converted QB 2018 Pro to QB 2019 Pro and the IIF import failed on importing Paypal transactions (when it had worked for 2 years without problems). So I did what this person suggested - "import and I'll fix later" - and it worked perfectly. All the data was imported the same. Great workaround. Thanks! P.S. I did have a backup from the night before in case things didn't work...

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@KarlMCC wrote:

Hey I had a similar problem (same error message, but in my case the TRNSTYPE header was actually present in the IIF file. Also perhaps more importantly the IIF exports were not from PayPal but a different program.)

Since older IIF files generated in the same way had been working fine before the QB 2019 update, I simply bypassed the data validation in the Import IIF QB dialog box.

At the bottom of the IIF import dialog box there is a link that says "Import for me. I will fix it later." - this link allows you to attempt the import without data validation. In my case, the IIF imported just fine.

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[PinchasMeyer]

I tried to import it, the popup message was "Import Successfully", but in the inside it was a total mess up. 

[jphoto]

Same issues as above, ever since updating to Qkbks 2019 I am not able to successfully import my IIF files.  Why can't these companies get their acts together and fix the issue without requiring numerous hours of our time?  I have reached out to Pay pal and the person I spoke with didn't even know what Quickbooks was!  I have called Quickbooks twice and they still can't seem to solve the problem after hours of my time.  The service is not good!

[treeology]

I have been fighting with Paypal over this for a year now.  Only to be treated like I am the one with the problem.  I have been using them as my merchant account for over 12 years now - I have such a mess on my hands now I thought I would call one more time. I have "hundreds" of transactions since 12/06/2018 (the last time I was successfully able to download my iif history)  No luck, they are clueless over there.   Actually I can download with no problem, it just does not upload correctly.  I have insight that would help them, but they won't allow me to talk to technical support. 

I DO NOT want to convert to online;  I think they are trying to force people to go that way.   This no longer works for me 😞 

So now I am paying over $100 for a year subscription to convert CSV to IIF.  Even after the cost,  it will take me countless hours.  I let it go on too long; hoping Paypal will get it resolved. Clearly not the case.  I run about $100,000 in credit card transactions and debit purchases. I guess I am not a big enough customer to matter.   I am leaving Paypal and going with a "real" bank. 

[Zarepheth]

After reading the previous replies to this thread, I kept searching for better answers until I came across this article at Big Red Consulting: 

https://bigredconsulting.com/quickbooks-2019-iif-import/

This confirms the recommendation to use the "Import it for me. I'll fix it later." option hidden at the bottom of the first IIF import screen.

Following that advice still got me a new account in my Chart of Accounts (I guess making "PayPal" a sub-account changes its name for IIF imports). And many transactions were doubled - not all, but most. Still, deleting extra transactions is easier than typing new transactions by hand... 😒 

Note: I'm using QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2020.

[Zarepheth]

One more point about the error - I also had to change the IIF dates to match the short date format on my computer. Since I prefer a non-standard date format for my region, and QuickBooks is using that format for parsing dates. So, even after following the "Import it for me. I'll fix it later." recommendation, I still got import errors - until I fixed the dates.