Is there a way to get information off of an ancient Macintosh and port it to a more recent version?

Unknown

I'm betting a situation like this doesn't come along very often so I am not optimistic about a potential solution, but here goes... I've got between 15 and 20 years of personal finances stored in Quicken Version 6 for Macintosh (yes, you read that right, Version 6) running on an old Macintosh Performa Power PC 5215CD from the early or mid 90's.  Obviously, this machine can't possibly last much longer, not to mention that the software is pitifully out of date (it even still has a Y2K-related error in it.)  I'd love to be able to get the data off of this machine and ported to something more modern (we've got one old PC still running Windows XP and the one I'm currently typing this message on, running WIndows 7.)  However, the old Mac's only transfer media is the old mini-floppy disks, and, well, I just don't know who to turn to make an attempt at this, if even such a thing can be done.  Any ideas of who I could contact about an incredibly specialized request such as this?

Unknown

Either continue with what you have or purchase Quicken for Mac 2017 and start your data file completely new.  The first of the year is a great time to make that decision.  

You can't use your old Quicken for Macintosh 6 software or data.  

No matter what version, there is basically no conversion from Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows.

And I don't think there is any conversion from your antiquated Quicken Mac 6 version to any Quicken Mac version.

You missed the boat a long time ago regarding upgrading your software...and hardware for that matter.  

Unknown

Dental Pain: This is a lie..."No matter what version, there is basically no conversion from Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows."   Current versions of Quicken Mac are fully convertible to Quicken Windows. This person does not want to lose 15-20 years of data.  Your comment of "The first of the year is a great time to make that decision" is a garbage answer. He/she is looking for an option which may exist. Please check your facts before posting.

Unknown

Gary Fortman said:

Dental Pain: This is a lie..."No matter what version, there is basically no conversion from Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows."   Current versions of Quicken Mac are fully convertible to Quicken Windows. This person does not want to lose 15-20 years of data.  Your comment of "The first of the year is a great time to make that decision" is a garbage answer. He/she is looking for an option which may exist. Please check your facts before posting.

Well, be that as it may, if "I don't think there is any conversion from your antiquated Quicken Mac 6 version to any Quicken Mac version" is true, then being able to convert from current Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows is a moot point, no?

splasher

Gary Fortman said:

Dental Pain: This is a lie..."No matter what version, there is basically no conversion from Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows."   Current versions of Quicken Mac are fully convertible to Quicken Windows. This person does not want to lose 15-20 years of data.  Your comment of "The first of the year is a great time to make that decision" is a garbage answer. He/she is looking for an option which may exist. Please check your facts before posting.

Current versions of Quicken Mac are fully convertible to Quicken Windows.

Wrong, the .QXF file conversion from Mac to Win is horribly broken.  Win to Mac works, going the other way sucks.

Unknown

Joel B and Splasher: Rather than give up, why not wait too see if there is a way?

Unknown

Gary Fortman said:

Joel B and Splasher: Rather than give up, why not wait too see if there is a way?

Well, I certainly won't ignore any future posts that point me to a solid solution, but the previous posts have me less than optimistic about that.

Unknown

Gary Fortman said:

Joel B and Splasher: Rather than give up, why not wait too see if there is a way?

Take our word for it...there is NO conversion process from Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows...regardless of what other advice given here may think.

If you doubt me, try Googling "Convert Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows"...or just do a search in this forum.

There is NO way to convert QM to QW.

And as pointed out, there is no way to convert Quicken Mac 6 to any usable Quicken Mac version.

So...my advice still stands.

Either keep what you have and continue...or purchase Quicken 2017 and create a new data file.

Actually, it's not that awful of an idea.  Rarely, if ever, do I need to access data that is 5-10-15 years old in Quicken.  

So, keep your old Macintosh in case you ever need to access that data...and just start anew from January 1.

I am transitioning from Quicken Windows to a Mac based personal finance software since mid-March this year.  I started my data file from January 1, 2017.  It works fine for me.  And if I ever need to refer to my old data, my QW data is still available to me.  

smayer97

Ok, so ALL the info above is WRONG! (people, please stick to what you know.)

First, it is unclear if your destination is to another newer Mac or to your Windows 7 computer. 

Ok, so for porting from QM6 to QMac, the process is to get QM2006 or QM2007 PPC (v16.0.x, no LC v16.1.x+) which should read QM6 data. In a worst case scenario you may need additional intermediate versions (I needed QM2005 to go from QM2002 to QM2007) but each case is unique. That is the HARD part...you can try to see if Quicken support will still give this out. If you buy QM2017 (though QM2018 is soon to be released most likely this Fall, though no date is announced), they had been more willing to supply this as an intermediary version. The last confirmed time they did this was many months ago and may no longer do this. If you try them, please report back here so we can be aware of this. OR you can try your luck online with a google search, or like at ebay, Craigslist, Kijiji, etc.

If you get your data into QM2006 or QM2007 PPC, then you can upgrade to QM2017 very easily, as QM2017 will directly read either of these (though QM2007 is the least problematic). Note that you will lose data such as scheduled transactions, budgets, reports, etc but not transaction data.

If your goal is to go to QWin, the only path from where you are (QM6) is to use QIF data format. It is a tedious process but can be done. Note that you may lose data such as investments, scheduled transactions, reports, etc. See the entire process here: Convert Quicken for Mac 2007 to Quicken for Windows? I do not recall if QM6 can export to QIF. If it does not then of course, the same limitation applies as upgrading to QMac...you will need a copy of QM2006 or QM2007 which both support export to QIF.

The only other caveat is that as long as your Performa has access to the internet, all this is possibly doable (though some may be difficult). If not, you can still use ethernet to connect between computers, either via a router (such as your internet router) or directly between 2 Mac using a cross-over ethernet cable.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

smayer97

Gary Fortman said:

Dental Pain: This is a lie..."No matter what version, there is basically no conversion from Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows."   Current versions of Quicken Mac are fully convertible to Quicken Windows. This person does not want to lose 15-20 years of data.  Your comment of "The first of the year is a great time to make that decision" is a garbage answer. He/she is looking for an option which may exist. Please check your facts before posting.

QXF file conversion from Mac to Win is broken only from QW2013 and newer...technically it still works fine in QW2012 BUT may not support investment transactions (there have been mixed info that is quite old on this so hard to confirm), e.g it may work between modern versions of QMac.

That said, this does not apply to the OP since he is using QM6 which does not support exporting to QXF since this was introduced about 2010 to go between QEM (Quicken Essentials for Mac) and QWin.