QUICKEN for Mac 2007 transfer to 2019 Starter?

anne

I’m about to purchase Quicken Mac Starter 2019. Running MacOS Mojave. 2 Questions about transferring old data into the new Quicken.

I had Quicken 2007 for Mac on an 11-year old Mac running Lion. Can I export the file to my new MacOS and new Quicken?  2) Could this cause problems with Quicken 2019 Starter? If so, then I will start fresh.

I use Quicken for transactions (credit card & bank), not for investments, but I do use all the report functions.

RickO

In theory, you should be able to move your file over. In real life, people's success with the import varies. But no harm in trying. It won't cause problems if you don't like the results and you can always start fresh if you decide to.

To transfer your QM07 file, find the file on the old machine. It is best if you can zip it there before you move it, but not mandatory. Move the file or the zipped copy over to the new machine and unzip it if you had compressed it.

Start up QM19 and you should see the dialog below. Choose Start from a Quicken for Mac 2007 file. When the file chooser comes up, point it to your transferred and unzipped QM07 file. 

When it's all done, look over the results. Hopefully everything will have come over intact. Keep in mind that some things don't transfer. For example, saved reports will not come over. You will have to recreate those. If you have accounts connected online, you will have to set those up again.

You will find that the reporting abilities are different and somewhat less capable than QM07. But for the most part, you can reproduce what you need. If you have questions in this area, post a new question and someone will probably jump in to help.

anne

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

RickO

anne said:

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

You're welcome. You may find it easier, after you've moved everything over, just to accept the proposed adjustment transaction the first time you reconcile. Sometimes it's just not worth trying to track down the discrepancy, but rather just make sure everything is good going forward.

One thing to keep an eye out for... Quicken will often insert a Balance Adjustment transaction in the new file. It will appear in light gray. It will automatically change in an attempt to keep the balance the same on the date you transferred the account in. Sometimes this can mess things up though. In that case, you can simply delete it and replace it with a fixed manual balance adjustment that makes the bottom line come out right.

anne

anne said:

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

Thank you, greatly appreciate.

jacobs

anne said:

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

Anne, you may already be aware of this and it may not matter for your needs, but there are several limitations to Quicken Starter Edition compared to Quicken 2007. A big one for many users is that Starter does not track investments; for that, you need Quicken Deluxe. Starter also doesn’t handle loans or budgets. If none of those matter to you, then carry on with your plan; I just wanted to make sure you were aware.


Also, with Starter, if you do not renew your subscription each year, it goes into a “read-only” mode, where you can see all your transactions and reports, but you can’t download or manually enter any new transactions.

smayer97

anne said:

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

OP states she does not use Quicken for investments, so that part is ok.

BUT anne you may seriously want to consider buying the Deluxe edition only so you are not dependent on having to renew your subscription if you do not plan to use online functionality (which includes downloading QFX data, aka Web Connect).

The caveat is that if you let ANY version expire, Quicken will now hijack about 25% of your screen real-estate for advertising. Quicken has determined that this is the price to pay if you let your subscription expire!

If you dislike this business decision, you can add your VOTE to 
Quicken Inc should eliminate or at least minimize the LARGE Advertising space used when a subscription expires

First, click on the underlined link above to go there, then click VOTE at the top of THAT page, so your vote will count. 

Your VOTES matter!

You may also want to contact Quicken Support to express your concerns at 
https://www.quicken.com/contact-support

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

smayer97

By the way, your version of QM2007 will still run on Mojave...is there any particular reason that is compelling you to upgrade to QM2019?
(note that QM2007 will probably not run on the next version of macOS, as Apple is planning on abandoning support for 32-bit applications, which QM2007 is).

The only catch with QM2007 and Mojave is that the automatic backup feature is not compatible with APFS formatted drives. If your Mac will have that, you have 2 choices: turn off this feature in the preferences and rely on other backup methods (e.g. manually or Time Machine), or if you are technically inclined, you can use or create a HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) formatted drive or partition and store both the main data file AND the backups on it. 
You can read more about it here: Is Quicken for Mac 2007 Compatible with Mojave (macOS 10.14)?

Also the following may be a lot of information but it may help you in your decision making by making you well informed. Just be aware that QM2019 is NOT an upgrade from QM2007 but a migration... QM2019 is a new Quicken for Mac product rebuilt from the ground up (built on QEM from 2010) so it still lacks features that exist in QM2007. So be sure to understand if it will meet your needs. You can read a lot more about the differences here:
https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-for-mac-2018-or-qm2007

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

anne

anne said:

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

Thank you. Starter is all I need and will renew each year. If I were to be late in renewing, does that mean everything would be reinstated as before or would I be penalized permanently?

RickO

anne said:

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

No, after you have reactivated your subscription, the file should be unlocked and work as before.

smayer97

anne said:

Thank you Rick, extremely helpful. Appreciate directions on how to go about it - that would have been my next question. I'd just like a record of past transactions for ref. I'm not worried about reports. I am worried about setting it up correctly with the correct reconciled balances. My old version did not have all accounts correctly reconciled and I could never correct it.

And to be clear, you would still have access to all your data, you simply would not be able to update or add to it until your renew.

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

anne

Thank you I followed the links and think I'll keep it simple. 1) Start from scratch for 2018 with the basic Starter QM2019. As long as I can do WebConnect to download transactions from the bank & credit cards as before. It'll be a lot of work as it is with a whole year to catch up on. (I haven't used Quicken since end Dec 2017).
2) I have no reason to update other than there's no support from my bank or Quicken on the 2007 and I was starting to have problems. I will be upgrading my MacOS from Mojave and need everything to work.
3) From research it seems the MacBook Pro 2017 has a APFS formatted drive. I'm not that technically inclined. It seems my options are to a) Refer to the pdf I have of 10-years' transactions. Or b) Have a 2nd Quicken database on a separate external drive  (so that I don't open the wrong one by mistake) and migrate the old 2007 data there.
4) I hesitate to buy Delux because of future price increases. Although 2-years subscription is $70 for either Starter or Deluxe, I have no idea of the future rates and I have no need of investments or budgeting. I use Quicken as a record of expenditure that's it.
Thank you for all your help. Hoping to make the right decision as this is a big deal and would be loath to start with the wrong database for my needs.

smayer97

anne said:

Thank you I followed the links and think I'll keep it simple. 1) Start from scratch for 2018 with the basic Starter QM2019. As long as I can do WebConnect to download transactions from the bank & credit cards as before. It'll be a lot of work as it is with a whole year to catch up on. (I haven't used Quicken since end Dec 2017).
2) I have no reason to update other than there's no support from my bank or Quicken on the 2007 and I was starting to have problems. I will be upgrading my MacOS from Mojave and need everything to work.
3) From research it seems the MacBook Pro 2017 has a APFS formatted drive. I'm not that technically inclined. It seems my options are to a) Refer to the pdf I have of 10-years' transactions. Or b) Have a 2nd Quicken database on a separate external drive  (so that I don't open the wrong one by mistake) and migrate the old 2007 data there.
4) I hesitate to buy Delux because of future price increases. Although 2-years subscription is $70 for either Starter or Deluxe, I have no idea of the future rates and I have no need of investments or budgeting. I use Quicken as a record of expenditure that's it.
Thank you for all your help. Hoping to make the right decision as this is a big deal and would be loath to start with the wrong database for my needs.

Just in case you missed it, the Starter edition does render your data read-only if ever the subscription membership expires. So as long as you keep it active, you are ok. The Deluxe edition or greater avoids this. But if you will always depend on online functionality like WebConnect then you are ok.

If you are going to have an external drive, then all that is needed to run QM2007 is to make sure that drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS+) and place all your live data and backup files on it, and to point your preferences to the new location. That's it.

Again, you can simply try out 2019 version and see how it goes. If you do not like it, at least you know you can easily fall back.

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

jacobs

anne said:

Thank you I followed the links and think I'll keep it simple. 1) Start from scratch for 2018 with the basic Starter QM2019. As long as I can do WebConnect to download transactions from the bank & credit cards as before. It'll be a lot of work as it is with a whole year to catch up on. (I haven't used Quicken since end Dec 2017).
2) I have no reason to update other than there's no support from my bank or Quicken on the 2007 and I was starting to have problems. I will be upgrading my MacOS from Mojave and need everything to work.
3) From research it seems the MacBook Pro 2017 has a APFS formatted drive. I'm not that technically inclined. It seems my options are to a) Refer to the pdf I have of 10-years' transactions. Or b) Have a 2nd Quicken database on a separate external drive  (so that I don't open the wrong one by mistake) and migrate the old 2007 data there.
4) I hesitate to buy Delux because of future price increases. Although 2-years subscription is $70 for either Starter or Deluxe, I have no idea of the future rates and I have no need of investments or budgeting. I use Quicken as a record of expenditure that's it.
Thank you for all your help. Hoping to make the right decision as this is a big deal and would be loath to start with the wrong database for my needs.

Anne, since it sounds like your 10 years of data has some value to you, so I'd recommend importing it when you purchase Quicken 2019. Why pass up having that data move forward with you? There is sometimes clean-up/adjusting needed after importing from Quicken 2007, but since you haven't been using Quicken 2007 for the past year, you'll have to adjust your balances to be accurate anyway -- so consider bringing your old data along for the ride.

At least, as @smayer97 suggests, do the import and give it a try. If you determine after awhile that you're hopelessly messed up, you can always simply create a new file for your 2019 transactions. And meanwhile, you'd have your 10 years of past data in the modern Quicken, so if you need to look something up in a year or two, you'll be able to open that file (which you won't be able to do with Quicken 2007 after your next macOS upgrade). It's easy enough to keep two Quicken 2019 data files named differently; even if you open the wrong one sometime by mistake, it will be plainly evident because your old data file won't have transactions past about 2017.

On your #3 above, I just wanted to clarify that the APFS-formatted drive is irrelevant to Quicken 2019, and for Quicken 2007, its only impact is disabling automatic backups from working -- which you can easily do manually. (At least until the next macOS upgrade.)

anne

anne said:

Thank you I followed the links and think I'll keep it simple. 1) Start from scratch for 2018 with the basic Starter QM2019. As long as I can do WebConnect to download transactions from the bank & credit cards as before. It'll be a lot of work as it is with a whole year to catch up on. (I haven't used Quicken since end Dec 2017).
2) I have no reason to update other than there's no support from my bank or Quicken on the 2007 and I was starting to have problems. I will be upgrading my MacOS from Mojave and need everything to work.
3) From research it seems the MacBook Pro 2017 has a APFS formatted drive. I'm not that technically inclined. It seems my options are to a) Refer to the pdf I have of 10-years' transactions. Or b) Have a 2nd Quicken database on a separate external drive  (so that I don't open the wrong one by mistake) and migrate the old 2007 data there.
4) I hesitate to buy Delux because of future price increases. Although 2-years subscription is $70 for either Starter or Deluxe, I have no idea of the future rates and I have no need of investments or budgeting. I use Quicken as a record of expenditure that's it.
Thank you for all your help. Hoping to make the right decision as this is a big deal and would be loath to start with the wrong database for my needs.

Very helpful thank you. Yes I think I'll reconsider and try that. I find accounting rather daunting and setting the balances up correctly is certainly intimating but I like the idea that if I do get in a mess, I can create a new file. Thank you everyone for all your support.