Can't update second Quicken account because the first one already is.

tommavh

Hi, 

I have two Quicken accounts: one for myself and one for my ex-husband, who has Alzheimer. I have tried to update his account, but the program won't let me do it, because it detects that my first program already is updated. At this point it doesn't connect to his bank accounts any longer. What can I do?

NotACPA

You need to explain a bit more.  Because your Q data (and his) is NOT held in the program ... it's held in data files external to the program files.

SO, do you have separate data files, one for each of you?  Or, do you think (incorrectly) that you need separate programs?

Also, HOW are you trying to update both your data and HIS?

Lastly, what Q product and version are you running.  DO QUICKEN, About Quicken for this info.

tommavh

Sorry for the delay in my response!
Yes, I have separate files. I started the bookkeeping for him on his own computer in a separate account, thinking he could still take care of it for a while and then switched the file over to mine. At that point I believe I also switched something in the registration of his account because I used my own password to open the files and the older parts disappeared. Now I don't remember the password we had registered his original accounts under, so I can't go back to that.

My files are updated to Quicken Deluxe 2019 - Version 5.11.0 (Build 511.25626.100). His are Quicken 2016 - Version 3.8.3 (Build 38.15396.100). 

Greg_the_Geek

Online services for Quicken 2016 expired on 4/30/19. You can either update his computer to Quicken 2019 using your Quicken ID or move his Quicken data file to your computer and open it using your Quicken ID otherwise you'll have to pay for a second copy of Quicken if you want to use his Quicken ID.

tommavh

Thank you Greg! I have been trying to update his Quicken file to the new version on my computer, but it won't let me do that, because it thinks I already did it, which is only true for my own Quicken account.

Greg_the_Geek

I'm confused. Have you solved your problem?

jacobs

@tommavh I think some of us reading this thread might be getting confused because you're inadvertently using several terms interchangeably, which is making it hard to follow exactly what has happened. In this case, these distinctions are important:

Your Quicken application is the actual program which resides in the Application folder of your Mac. Quicken 2016 has a red Q icon with a little 16 in it; Quicken 2019 has just a red Q icon with no year in it. You can install the same program on more than one computer.

Your Quicken ID (which one might also refer to as a Quicken.com account) is what establishes your subscription status and level. Unless you purchase separate Quicken subscriptions, you have one Quicken ID, which may be used for multiple Quicken data files. 

A Quicken file (or data file) is the actual file on your computer which contains all your financial information: your bank accounts, credit card, investments, debts, etc. and all the individual transactions that comprise those accounts. You may have multiple Quicken data files, such as one for yourself and one for your kids or parents or a nonprofit organization. Each data file is compatible with a specific version of the Quicken program; a newer version of the program can update a data file previously used with an older version of the program.

An account in Quicken refers to a specific financial institution account such as your checking account, credit card account(s), loan account, brokerage account(s). These show up on the left side of your main Quicken window. You can have as many accounts as you want. Accounts in one data file are completely separate from accounts in a different data file. 

Sorry if all that sounds obvious, but I was getting confused by your references to your account and file and version.

So, we come to the issue of your ex-husband's Quicken. As I understand it, you have the data file which had been running on his computer with Quicken 2016. You have copied that data file to your computer. Do you have both Quicken 2016 and Quicken 2019 on your computer? Or are you wanting to use his data file with your Quicken 2019. (You can do this under your own Quicken ID, but there are a few things to be aware of. Anyone who has your Quicken ID login credentials can access your data via the Quicken mobile app or website, if you have enabled mobile access; if you don't use mobile access, that's not a problem -- and it's not clear to me if you even need to have it so your ex-husband will be accessing the data at all on his own any more.)

When you open his Quicken data file, go to About Quicken on the Quicken menu, and the box will show you which Quicken ID (email address) that file is registered to. Is it showing yours or his?

If you want to change which Quicken ID is the owner of the file, on the Help menu select My Quicken Account. Here, you can change the Quicken ID (email) the file is registered to, as well as the password for the Quicken account. 

Let me stop there and see if that gets us closer to being on the same page. Please write back and explain the status of your ex-husband's data file, using the correct lingo so we're sure we're talking about the same things.  Has the data file been run from your Quicken 2019 application? Which Quicken ID owns the file? If the problem is just with the banking accounts not downloading, it may be necessary to disconnect and reconnect them, but let's cross that bridge if we need to.

tommavh

Thank you Jacobs! And thank you for the clarification of terminology. I was indeed mixing all those up. (Sorry for the sporadic responses, we are in the middle of cleaning and packing up a year long rental before flying to Europe tomorrow. Big work load.)

Yes, his quicken file shows it is registered to my ID. So both files have the same ID. His is Quicken 2016, mine is 2019.  No problem there as nobody else has access to my files. (My husband's illness has progressed long past being able to use a computer) 

I am looking fowl to hearing the next steps I can take. Thank you!

jacobs

So you have two Quicken data files, both of which use your Quicken ID. Your Quicken ID has a current (2019) subscription.

So going back to your first comment in this thread, I'm not understanding what you meant here: "I have tried to update his account, but the program won't let me do it, because it detects that my first program already is updated." You should be able to open your husband's data file on your computer, with Quicken 2019, and have it update the data file previously used with Quicken 2016 to the current Quicken 2019 format. At this point, you have two separate data files -- your data and his data -- which are completely separate. you should be able to open one or the other independently. Let's stop there for the moment. Can you do that? If not, could you post back and be explicit -- exact error messages, or screenshots -- about what happens when you try to open his 2016 data file using Quicken 2019.

tommavh

Thank you Jacobs!

I have not found a way to open his quicken file with Quicken 2019. When I go into applications and try to open it from there the "open with" is greyed out.



When I try to upgrade his file while it is open I see this:



My next option is to click on the link below:



and that leads me here:



Then I try to buy the new version for him:


And when I try to pay for it, I get this:


Which I think says I already bought this version and I can't buy it again.
Does that explain what happens?
So grateful for your advice on what else I can do!

jacobs

Okay, I think I see some of your issues.

First, you should NOT be trying to buy another subscription to Quicken for your husband.

Now, the issue you're running into is that you are confusing the Quicken application with your Quicken data files. What you're showing in the first screen shot above is your Applications folder, and it shows you have both Quicken 2016 and Quicken 2019 (which named just "Quicken"). These are the applications, or programs. They are NOT your data file. That's why "Open With" is grayed out -- you can't open the program with another program; you open files with a program.

So you need to find your data files. Open Quicken 2019 however you normally do, and look at the top bar of the window, where you see a red Q icon followed by the name of your data file. Here's one of mine called "Jacobs Bookkeeping 2019-04-01":


Yours might be called "Tommavh's Finances" or whatever name you called it originally. To find where this file is living on your Mac, hold down the Command key and click on the Q icon. This will result in a pop-up menu like this…



Looking from the bottom up, this shows the path to where your data file is stored. This example shows the default location for Quicken 2019 files: inside your home folder (which will likely be called something other than "home" here), it's in the Library > Application Support > Quicken > Documents folder.

To get to this file in the Finder, the easiest way is to display that pop-up menu in Quicken and use your mouse to select the top-most folder -- in this case, "Documents" -- and click on it. This will open a Finder window of that folder, showing you your actual Quicken data file.

If you're with me so far, quit Quicken 2019 and repeat this process with your husband's Quicken 2016. Start by launching  Quicken 2016. If it opens his file, skip to the next paragraph. If you get this dialog box…

…click Cancel, not Open. We want to open Quicken 2016, not the newer Quicken.

So just as we did above, Command-click on the little Q icon in the top bar, and click on the top-most folder. The default location, if you've never moved it, is in the same hierarchy of folders, like this:


Notice this is the same as the above, except that within the Application Support folder, there are separate folders for "Quicken" (e.g. Quicken 2019) and "Quicken 2016". Note also that a Quicken 2016 data file ends with ".quicken2016" while a Quicken 2019 data files ends with ".quicken". Make sure that your data file and your husband's data file have different base names before proceeding: e.g. "MyQuickenData.quicken" and "HisQuickenData.quicken2016",

So now, inside the Quicken 2016 > Documents folder you should have your husband's data file. This is the file we want to convert to Quicken 2019 format. You can quit Quicken 2016 once you have this folder open in the Finder. To get Quicken to convert your husband's data file, you can Control-click on the data file and select Open With to select "Quicken (5.11.0)"  -- not Quicken 2016.

You should now see this screen:


Click Next and Quicken will proceed to make a new Quicken 2019 data file -- it will not change, move or delete the original 2016 data file -- of your husband's data. when it's complete, you will have both your and your husband's data file updated to work with Quicken 2019, both using your one and only Quicken ID.

(Eventually, you will be able to delete both the Quicken 2016 application and the Quicken 2016 data file and folder, but don't do so until after you're 100% comfortable with working with both files in Quicken 2019.)

tommavh

Wow! Thank you so much Jacobs! That worked! I got his data files to open with the 2019 version and was able to update all his bank accounts right away. Thank you for your patience and explaining everything so well!

jacobs

Glad to hear we got to the bottom of it and you're up and running!