Reference guide to import files (IIF)

QuickBooks can import and export IIF (Intuit Interchange Format) text files. The best way to view an export or import file is to open it from a spreadsheet program — that way, you'll see the data laid out into rows and columns. If you don't have a spreadsheet program, you can also view an export file in a word processor.

When you view the file, you'll see keywords in capital letters that serve as row and column headings. The keywords that appear at the beginning of each row identify the type of information in that row. For example, the keyword CUST indicates that the row contains data about a customer on your Customer:Job list.

Rows that begin with the same keyword are grouped together. For example, all of the CUST entries from your Customer:Job list appear as a single block of rows in the file. Each block, in turn, has its own column headings that appear in capital letters in the cells of the first row in the block. The column headings identify the type of information that each column in the block contains.

For details about the column headings that belong to a particular block of information, click the keyword for that block in the list below:

ACCNT (chart of accounts) PAYMETH (Payment Method list)
BUD (budgets) SHIPMETH (Ship Via list)
CLASS (Class list) SPL (Distribution lines)
CTYPE (Customer Type list) TERMS (Terms list)
CUST (Customer:Job list) TODO (To Do list)
EMP (Employee list) TRNS (Transactions)
HDR (header information) VENDOR (Vendor list)
INVITEM (Item list) VTYPE (Vendor Type list)
INVMEMO (Customer Message list)
OTHER (Other Names list)