“The QIF went into the wrong account”
Transactions arrive intact but in the wrong place. QIF is the reason: unlike OFX it carries no reliable account binding, so the destination is decided by the import dialog and by an optional header most exports omit.
Symptoms
Everything imported, into an account you did not choose Transactions split across two accounts with no pattern The importer never asked which account to use
What actually causes it
QIF has no account identifier
The format describes transactions and nothing about where they belong. Whichever account is selected in the dialog receives them, so an unnoticed default sends a year of history to the wrong ledger.
An !Account block redirected them
QIF can carry !Account blocks that switch the destination mid-file. A file exported from another program may contain several, scattering your transactions across accounts you did not pick.
The type header does not match the account
A file declaring !Type:Bank imported into a credit-card account can be redirected or refused depending on the software, because the declared type and the destination disagree.
How to fix it
- Undo the import before anything else — moving transactions afterwards is far slower than redoing it.
- Drop the file into the fixer below: it is section-aware and reports the type headers and account blocks the file contains.
- If it contains !Account blocks, split the file so each account is imported separately and deliberately.
- Re-import, choosing the destination account explicitly rather than accepting the default.
Related import problems
Skip the manual edit — fix it automatically
The fixer distinguishes transaction sections from account and category blocks, which is what tells you whether the file is redirecting itself. Free, no signup, no upload.
Open the fixer