Even though I have Online services until August 2010, I’ve turned them off because these OFFLINE scripts actually perform better than Online updates!
See https://microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/version2/
If you would like to be able to run your Offline update scripts (PocketSense) from within your Microsoft Money program, I’m sharing the new page (along with easy installation instructions) that I’ve developed for just this purpose. Since the Money GUI is really just a customized browser, this is probably the only way modules can be added to the program without hacking into the source code.
And remember, the OFX servers are serving up a “Quicken request”, so in theory, even if the banks deactivate Money requests, the scripts should perform for quite awhile yet.
[UPDATE 3/31/2010] I’m working on V2 of the webpage add-in for those that find the installation too geeky. It will also have some enhancements – read more (and provide feedback!) here.
[UPDATE 3/13/2010] Since Windows7 (and perhaps Windows Vista) creates shortcuts differently, I’ve created Windows7 version of my add-in to complement my original add-in, which was written for Windows XP (that is what I’m still using).
I have published updates (3/16/2010) to this add-in via the link below, based on the enhanced version of PocketSense 🙂
To install…
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Go to the folder on your hard drive that you’ve installed PocketSense into
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Download my webage add-in (this isn’t V2 yet) and extract all of the files (currently only 2) into this same folder as the scripts (if you have Windows Vista or Windows7 use this webpage add-in for Win7 )
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Right click on getdata.py and select Create Shortcut
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Right click on setup.py and select Create Shortcut
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Open Money, type the full path to the htm file into the address bar ( as an example, my path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Dan’s\My Documents\Microsoft Money\Python Scripts\GetOfxData.htm ) and hit Enter (or the GoTo button). If you downloaded the Win7 version, you will type the full path to GetOfxData7.htm
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Select Favorites, Add to Favorites, and OK
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You’re done; whenever you wish to access the scripts from within Money – either click on Favorites, Favorite Web Sites, and then GetOfxData.htm OR select the file in the address bar and hit Enter (or the GoTo button)
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ENJOY Microsoft Money OFFLINE!!
[UPDATE 3/19/2010] I’ve tried to develop this package for the easiest & least restrictive installation (that is why you create the shortcuts rather than download them) but apparently there are still enough differences in user’s settings and IE browser versions that can’t all be accomodated without minor modifications for some. 😦
If you open GetOfxData.htm with Internet Explorer (that is the browser that Money uses) and hover over Setup & Test your Accounts, on an Windows XP PC you should see a path like mine file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Dan’s/My%20Documents/Microsoft%20Money/Python%20Scripts/Shortcut%20to%20setup.py.lnk in the lower left corner of the browser to know that the webpage will work properly (or file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Dan’s/My%20Documents/Microsoft%20Money/Python%20Scripts/Shortcut%20to%20setup.lnk if you have file extensions disabled, in which case you’ll need to right click on the shortcut, select Properties/General and add the .py to the name to match the webpage).
If you open GetOfxData7.htm with Internet Explorer and hover over Setup & Test your Accounts, on an Windows7 PC you should see a path like mine file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Dan’s/My%20Documents/Microsoft%20Money/Python%20Scripts/setup%20-%20Shortcut.lnk in the lower left corner of the browser to know that the webpage will work properly (or file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Dan’s/My%20Documents/Microsoft%20Money/Python%20Scripts/setup.py%20-%20Shortcut.lnk if you have file extensions enabled, in which case you’ll need to right click on the shortcut, select Properties/General and remove the .py from the name to match the webpage). If your browser is not translating the path properly, you could also manually edit it to reflect your actual path in the <a href> with a html editor to look like the samples above. You may find useful information here as well.
I also just learned that although IE8 works properly, apparently IE7 may have a bug in not translating the <a href> into an absolute host path:
...that being said, if the hyperlink to file:/c:/test.txt is present in a document located at file:///tryit.htm, then IE should correctly combine the relative path with the absolute host ("//") and end up with the URL file:///c:/test.txt. IE7 may not do that today, and we [Microsoft] have a bug on that.
-ameridan
MICROSOFT MONEY OFFLINE 🔴 Ameridan's Blog 
Too bad that this solution uses Python to run, I will need a better solution.
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James,
I installed ActivePython 2.6.4.10 from http://www.activestate.com/activepython/downloads/ with absolutely no issues during or afterwards. Not knowing why you are negative towards Python, my guess is you installed the regular Python and it didn’t register .py files in Windows?
Bobby has this on his website:
It is also very easy to add accounts, banks, etc. without having to recompile the package. Until I see something better, I am very pleased with the Python scripts – especially the PocketSense package!
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I downloaded and unzipped the files today (3/13), but it isn’t working as expected. This, by the way, is a Win/7 installation.
1. Downloaded & unzipped the files into a folder (I did, btw, use the Win7 version of WebAddin
2. Created shortcuts for GetData.py and Setup.py in the same folder
3. Started MS Money and typed the URL into the address bar
4. The html file displays within MS Money, but clicking on the links does absolutely nothing.
5. One thing I noticed is that the properties on the HTML links show, for instance, setup.py%20-%20.lnk. However, the actual shortcuts produced by Wind7 does not include the “.py” extension. I renamed the shortcuts to match the HTML link properties, but clicking those links from within MS Money still does zilch.
6. My main interest is stock quotes, and I’m able to get that to work by using the runtime version of Setup.
The investment of your time in putting this together is much appreciated. Thanks!
John
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Thanks for your inquiry John!
Not having Win7, it’s great to work with someone who does, as I know shortcuts are created differently. I was so pleased with myself to have stumbled on this simple solution and the webpage works great for me on my XP PC (I do have IE8 though), so I thought I’d try to accomodate everyone.
I think what would have been preferred would be to take the .py out of the html link. If you could do that (let me know if you can’t and I’ll upload a revision with that change), delete the shortcuts that you renamed, and try again – I’m hoping that will resolve for you. If so I’ll revise the package. When you say the “runtime version of setup”, you activate that by double clicking setup.py right? The webpage is designed to work with ActivePython and doesn’t work where you have to use a command prompt.
You don’t have a iTunes account, do you? Googled Windows 7 .LNK and it seems iTunes messes LNK files up…
By the way, Bobby revised his scripts so that you will be able to just download the stock quotes using the getdata.py – you may have been the person that asked for that feature.
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Dan: I’m running XP Pro at the house (where Money resides). I tried it myself (creating a link, etc.), but clicking on the links didn’t work… same as John describes. So, it’s not just Win7… more likely a setting in Money itself or in Explorer (since Money uses Explorer html interactions).
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Thanks for the feedback Bobby,
I doubt that this has anything to do with Money, for in reality you can just double-click on the webpage to open it with your browser independent of Money. I’ll do some more research.
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I followed all your instructions.
I typed the full path as you recomend in item 5, but I do not have the GetOfxData.htm, so Money Plus does not find this path.
Could you give some advice?
Thanks a lot,
Pablo
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Pablo,
The path you type is your path to your file. My path is there as an example only. IF you extracted the file to your PC, use THAT path to your file 🙂
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Thanks for your fast answer. I have windows 7, I extracted the file to my PC, but nothing is working.
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Pablo,
I was waiting for John to answer back. Although it works great for me, I’m starting to wonder if my IE settings are unique, as others haven’t been successful, like yourself . Perhaps you can try my suggestions in my reply to John. I’m also working with Bobby to try and figure this out.
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I will wait your reply to John, I am a patient man, don’t forget that I have Money Plus.
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Pablo – If you’re using Win7, be sure you downloaded the correct zip file. After confirming you have the correct version, be aware that you need to edit GetOFXData7.htm and modify the links to remove the .py. Depending on the editor you use, the file will be saved as GetOFXData7.html, not GetOFXData.htm. After creating the shortcuts and editing the HTM file, you simply type the entire path to GetOFXData7.html in the address field within MS Money Plus. On my PC, the path & filename is: C:\Users\John\Downloads\Pocketsense\GetOfxData7.html.
By the way, if you don’t have an HTML editor, you can download the CoffeeCup HTML editor for free.
[edited for clarity by ameridan 3/16]
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Thank you for testing and replying back John!!!
Pablo,
Based on John’s comments, and feedback from Bobby via email, I have clarified the instructions and I’ve uploaded an updated Win7 package. It appears everything works afterall now. 🙂 🙂
ENJOY!!
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Dan:
First of all, thanks for making this info available.
This is not working for me in Win7 at all.
When I right click on setup.py and select Create Shortcut, the resulting shortcut is named “Setup.py – Shortcut”
I edited the html file to match this file name.
In Firefox I get “Firefox can’t find the file at /C:/Moneysense/Setup.py – Shortcut.”
In IE8, I get nothing.
I have downloaded the most recent html file.
Thanks
John
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John, Ameridan
I have done what you suggested, my path is C:\Backup\Disco C\Pablo\Personal\Money\GetOfxData7.html, now I see the picture Microsoft Money offline, but when I hit download nothing happens.
Moreover, where do I have to write the password to enter in my Charles Schwab account?
Thanks a lot,
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ALL,
Another John,
The version I corrected had .py in it, but based on the comment from John, I removed it and republished. Apparently it has to do with your File Properties settings as to whether you want file extensions shown or not. In your case, i would right click on the shortcut, select Properties/General and remove the .py from the name to match the webpage (that you should re-download). If you edit the webpage instead, you have to make sure you use the right type of editor and also not remove any occurences of “%20” in the shortcut.
Pablo,
You may have the same settings as Another John? As far as your Schwab password goes, you have to run SETUP to setup your accounts first before you try to download your data; perhaps that is the reason Download doesn’t work. Also the path is GetOfxData7.htm not GetOfxData.html
Please review the configuration section of PocketSense – you insert the account #, username and password when you ADD ACCOUNT in setup.py
-Dan
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Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that Yahoo appears to have changed the URL required to download quotes. I’ve provided the updated URL below — update the line starting with url; the function is getQuote under the Security class; the line where you can find this will vary depending on how many stocks/funds you have.
andrew.
def getQuote(self):
“””
Get name, price quote, and the as-of date and time for the price quote from Yahoo! Finance.
“””
url = “http://download.finance.yahoo.com/d/quotes.csv?s=%s&e=.csv&f=nl1d1t1” % self.ticker
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Thanks Andrew, but the scripts are still working, so we’ll need to investigate further to see what actually changed.
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Interesting; I wonder if it was a temporary problem on their (Yahoo’s) end — when I tried from home last night (via comcast) it would result in a 404 being returned; changing the domain from finance.yahoo.com to download.finance.yahoo.com (which I found on their quotes page itself) resolved it. Trying it from my office, it seems to be working on the original domain.
If things continue to work, then don’t mind me 🙂 Thanks!
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UPDATE
For those wondering when V2 (version #2) of the webpage is going to be published, I’m holding off as Bobby intends to modify PocketSense such that when it produces quotes.ofx it will also produce an html file with quote data and links to the Yahoo! Finance page for each investment. My webpage will display that page in addition to a GUI to the scripts.
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I could never get the above HTML page to work; kept running into the same issues others were reporting. Here’s a quick workaround inspired by ameridan’s solution, though:
1) Right click on the Getdata.py file and make a shortcut. Do the same for Setup.py and sites.dat.
2) Drop the three shortcuts in a folder
3) Copy the path of the folder and paste it into Money’s little URL bar at the top of the screen. Hit ‘Enter’ and Money’s browser will navigate to the folder. You should see the three shortcuts.
4) From the Money main menu, hit ‘Favorites>Add to Favorites’ to add the folder o’ shortcuts to your Favorites. I named my favorite ‘PocketSense Shortcuts’.
5) Now, when you want to update your accounts, or set up an account or site definition, just go to ‘Favorites>Favorite Web Sites>PocketSense Shortcuts’ and double-click on the shortcut for the script or DAT you want to work with.
Not as pretty as ameridan’s solution, but it works!
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Thanks Scott,
As you said, another alternative to allow updating from within the Money program. Originally, I thought that Microsoft had disallowed any means of doing so, and then I thought this method up, but your shortcuts are more likely to work for everyone 🙂
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John,
I have downloaded your ad on last year (please see my coments in this blog in march), and everything was fine. Then I decided to buy a new license of Microsoft Money, knowing that the 1/31/2011 they stop the sincronization.
Now I tried to use again your ad on,(today I have windows 7), but it does not work. I have an account in Schwab, do you have any tips? Regards.
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Pablo,
The add-on worked for me right away and that is why I blogged about it. Later on I realized that variations in OS and file extension settings could cause a lot of confusion and since then IE9 has been released. Since I am still on Windows XP, I haven’t been able to even play around with these variations, so I would try Scott’s tips for now or simply fire up the script from your desktop instead – after starting Money so you don’t get thirty prompts to start Money up 🙂
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May be you can help me, with your scripts I can enter in my Schwab account, but then I receive and error.
Do you know if I have to change one or all of these fields?
Thanks a lot,
Pablo
SiteName : Charles Schwab Co., INC.
AcctType : INVSTMT
fiorg : ISC
fid : 101
url : https://ofx.schwab.com/cgi_dev/ofx_server
bankID : 121202211
brokerid :
appid : QWIN
appver : 1800
mininterval: 30
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Pablo,
I think you are asking this question on the wrong thread as this has nothing to do with the webpage add-on. There is a little organization in my blog 🙂
If you look in the thread where you asked the question last time in March 2010 https://microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/charles-schwab-brokerage-ofx-downloads/#comment-44 I stated that you should **NOT** have values for fid or bankID if you are trying to download Schwab OFX data from the brokerage side. Your question leads me to believe that perhaps you are trying to get to Schwab Bank instead which is completely seperate from Charles Schwab & Co. Site name really shouldn’t have commas and periods either.
Please just follow my March 24th answer to your question. Since I don’t have a Schwab Bank account, I can’t verify what works, if that is in fact where you are trying to download your data from, but Moneydance reports the following settings:
If you reply, please do so in the thread I mention above, so others can follow along and find answers. I’ll add in this comment afterwards so it flows. Thx.
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same issue with the WEB page – the URLs do nothing. However, if I right-click them, “copy shortcut”, and run that from the browser, it works. So the URLs on the WEB page are correct, but for some reason they do not run when clicked on.
WIN7 x64 here as well.
I also thought to add these shortcuts to Money explicitly and that should be handy enough.
I am also not getting updated stock values from Fidelity – not sure what that is about, but transactions work fine.
You guys are great for creating all of this!
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If the links do not work when you click on them in the web page, another thing to try is to right click the htm files and select Properties. Look at the bottom to see if it says “This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect your computer.” If it does, click the unblock button. The same may apply to the py scripts in that directory.
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I’m using Windows 7 64-Bit and it wasn’t working for me either. If I clicked the link nothing happened.
What I did was go into Internet Explorer, opened Favorites, Financial Links, right clicked on GetOfxData7 htm, Properties and changed the URL to file:///C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Money Plus/OFX Scripts/Getdata.py – Shortcut.lnk
Works fine now. Thanks for all of your work on this. I love MS Money.
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steve & joe,
Thanks for the comments re Win 7 (64-bit). I’m still using WinXP and therefore had no way of actually testing the Win7 pages, but based on feedback, they did work for the 32-bit versions. Now that I’ve published Version 2 of the Money add-in (see https://microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/version2/ ), I suspect the same problems will be evident for Win 7 (64-bit) users, and I’ll probably point them to your feedback, unless someone comes up with a working solution that I’d be happy to package into the download.
Issues could also be related to the browser versions – IE7 had a known bug, however I’m at IE8 (which works great) and wonder if you guys are on IE9 already 🙂
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Nope, I’m on IE8.
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Using Windows 7 64-bit. When testing the web-pages one page seems to connect but does open the respective files, not execute them. When in Money the links don’t work. None of the remedies mentioned seem to work for me.
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Someone else will have to take this further Helmut, as I am still on WinXP. Atleast this isn’t a critical issue as PocketSense and Money work for you, right? 🙂
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I was having the same problem of links not doing anything when I clicked on them. I solved it by first making sure “.py” wasn’t in either the htm files or in the shortcut names themselves. Then, (as DP suggested above), right-click the htm file, select Properties and click Unblock at the bottom. Now the links work (on Vista Home Premium SP2).
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B1inUK,
Thanks for the feedback! The real solution must be the Unblock step you mention. In my Version2 of the webpage, the file GetOfxData7(2).htm has the .py removed yet some users were still having problems, so I’ll reference your tip on that Blog page as well.
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