No success with converting 2007 on Mojave to new 2020

patbunyard

Sorry if this is repetitive but I am reading earlier posts that there was success updating 2007 Quicken to a new version. I am not having any success converting it to 2020. I get the message that "Could not import" the .qdfm file, "error occurred while preparing the file". As per suggestion, I tried making a copy of the file and get the "Unable to erase partly-copied files."

I am running Quicken 2007 just fine on my Mojave 16.2.4 (AFPS) drive. (Don't care about backups as they are made hourly on external HFS backup drives)

So, is the conversion just not possible with my present OS, APFS, etc.???? Is the only option that I partition or run the entire program on an external HFS drive?

OR should I just admit defeat and once again return a Quicken version that will not work with my Mac?

Thanks,
Pat

jacobs

Quicken 2007 on an APFS drive also looses the Save A Copy functionality. Save A Copy is sometimes useful in repairing a damaged file, because Quicken reads and writes every record in the database, as opposed to a Finder copy which just copies the file bit-for-bit.

You absolutely should be able to import a Quicken 2007 file into Quicken 2020. 

The first thing I'd try is reindexing your Quicken 2007 file: With Quicken 2007 running, press Command-Option-B and it will rebuild your indexes. Sometimes if there's file corruption, it may quit and not relaunch by itself; if so, launch Quicken again, and let it rebuild the indexes again. In my experiences, it fixes itself on the second try.

After reindexing, you could try your import to Quicken 2020 again. Many Quicken 2007 users have reported that they were successful after that process.

If that doesn't work, or if you want to try one more measure of maintenance, you could temporarily create an HFS+ partition (volume) on your APFS hard drive. Copy both the Quicken 2007 application and your Quicken 2007 data file to that volume. Launch Quicken by dragging the data file onto the application. After Quicken launches, you should now be able to use the Save A Copy command to re-write your file. If this fails, after having just reindexed the file, it's likely that there is some corruption in the data file that Quicken 2007 just can't fix.

If you reach that point -- you've reindexed, you've created an HFS+ partition and tried and failed to Save A Copy, and you've tried again to but failed to create a new Quicken 2020 file from the Quicken 2007 data file -- then things get more grim. The next step would be digging into your Time Machine backups to see if any earlier Quicken 2007 data file will convert properly. Start as far back as you can go, or at least a year. If the import works, then you can try again with a backup that's half as old. Keep iterating until you find the most recent backup file that will import into Quicken 2020. And then you'll have to re-enter/re-create the data you're missing -- never a pleasant task, but presumably better than losing all the history in your Quicken 2007 data file.

Write back if any of that doesn't make sense or isn't clear, or if you run into additional unexpected issues.

smayer97

Since you already have an HFS+ drive, one option is to simply move the original data file to the HFS+ drive (no need to create a new partition).

You do not specify how the backups are done. If they are the ones created by Quicken (Autobackup turned on in QM2007) and your main data file is located on a APFS drive, note that those backups will be corrupt. If you are using something else, e.g. Time Machine, to perform the backups, then those should be fine.

jacobs

Quicken 2007 on an APFS drive also looses the Save A Copy functionality. Save A Copy is sometimes useful in repairing a damaged file, because Quicken reads and writes every record in the database, as opposed to a Finder copy which just copies the file bit-for-bit.

You absolutely should be able to import a Quicken 2007 file into Quicken 2020. 

The first thing I'd try is reindexing your Quicken 2007 file: With Quicken 2007 running, press Command-Option-B and it will rebuild your indexes. Sometimes if there's file corruption, it may quit and not relaunch by itself; if so, launch Quicken again, and let it rebuild the indexes again. In my experiences, it fixes itself on the second try.

After reindexing, you could try your import to Quicken 2020 again. Many Quicken 2007 users have reported that they were successful after that process.

If that doesn't work, or if you want to try one more measure of maintenance, you could temporarily create an HFS+ partition (volume) on your APFS hard drive. Copy both the Quicken 2007 application and your Quicken 2007 data file to that volume. Launch Quicken by dragging the data file onto the application. After Quicken launches, you should now be able to use the Save A Copy command to re-write your file. If this fails, after having just reindexed the file, it's likely that there is some corruption in the data file that Quicken 2007 just can't fix.

If you reach that point -- you've reindexed, you've created an HFS+ partition and tried and failed to Save A Copy, and you've tried again to but failed to create a new Quicken 2020 file from the Quicken 2007 data file -- then things get more grim. The next step would be digging into your Time Machine backups to see if any earlier Quicken 2007 data file will convert properly. Start as far back as you can go, or at least a year. If the import works, then you can try again with a backup that's half as old. Keep iterating until you find the most recent backup file that will import into Quicken 2020. And then you'll have to re-enter/re-create the data you're missing -- never a pleasant task, but presumably better than losing all the history in your Quicken 2007 data file.

Write back if any of that doesn't make sense or isn't clear, or if you run into additional unexpected issues.

chitownhockey

In Quicken Mac 2020, FILE > NEW > Start from a Quicken for Mac 2007 file. 


For macOS Catalina users, Quicken should then send your file to a cloud convertor and voila, magically convert the file for usage in Quicken Mac 2020 with Catalina.  

For Mojave, the file should just convert locally.  

Your post is a bit ambiguous on how you started the data conversion process.  Please add any info if I misunderstood. 

smayer97

Since you already have an HFS+ drive, one option is to simply move the original data file to the HFS+ drive (no need to create a new partition).

You do not specify how the backups are done. If they are the ones created by Quicken (Autobackup turned on in QM2007) and your main data file is located on a APFS drive, note that those backups will be corrupt. If you are using something else, e.g. Time Machine, to perform the backups, then those should be fine.

jacobs

@smayer97 "Backups … are made hourly on external HFS backup drive." That surely sounds like Time Machine. You wouldn't want to use that drive for the Quicken data and application files, which is why I suggested making an HFS+ partition of the APFS main drive.

smayer97

@jacobs thx...I missed the word "hourly"...

I suggested the HFS+ drive already present for 2 reasons...OP may find it easier it case partitioning is too daunting and I meant it only as a temporary space while performing the data file fix and upgrade.

patbunyard

Thank you all for your assistance. This is what worked for me: I re-indexed a couple times but that did not help. I linked to a portable external drive formatted HFS and copied the Quicken 2007 application and the latest file onto the drive. From there I made a copy of the Quicken file. This I imported to my 2020. At least the file opened and added! Thank you for that.

Now, one main problem I seem unable to correct is that two files imported with incorrect decimal placement for numbers of stock owned. Makes a big difference in total $$. Is there a way to correct this in the 2020 or do I delete the two offenders and re-add them for download from my mutual fund?

Thanks again for all the help. At least I feel I can work with 2020 at this point.

jacobs

I'm glad you were able to get the file cleaned up and imported!

patbunyard said:

Now, one main problem I seem unable to correct is that two files imported with incorrect decimal placement for numbers of stock owned. Makes a big difference in total $$. Is there a way to correct this in the 2020 or do I delete the two offenders and re-add them for download from my mutual fund?

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying you have exactly 10  (or 100) times the number of shares you should? I suggest opening one of these accounts, going back to the beginning of time, and looking at the transactions. Is every transaction off by a factor of 10 or 100? (That's nothing I've seen reported in a Quicken 2007 conversion before for stocks or4 mutual funds.) Is there a gray placeholder transaction at the beginning which is creating bogus value? You're likely going to have to find the source of the problem and correct it. If you delete the accounts and download from your financial institution, you'll likely get only 90 days of transactions, or perhaps up to a year -- but certainly not your entire history.

patbunyard

Thank you jacobs, the problem, I believe, is with the original setup. Quicken has automatically taken the step that /100 of shares as if a Bond fund. What I have is 46.96453 and it should be 4,694.53 shares. Another fund is treated the same and instead of 2,295.21 shares, it reads 22.95217. Because Quicken is doing this automatically, I am thinking there is no way to correct this in the program.

I changed the funds to read Type: Mutual Fund, but this makes no change. Even tried reimporting and still got the same error. I am wondering if I should change the name of the fund, reenter the fund and see if I can get accurate download from the financial institution. Then delete old info.

patbunyard

As an update: I appreciate the support from everyone. I "almost" have things in order. I reinstalled a file of the "Copy" from the HFS external drive and after some cleaning up of a few repetitive things, I almost have it. One small problem with one brokerage account which is not reading quite right but I can take care of this eventually. What is important is that files are reading correctly and now I have a big learning curve in setting preferences and learning new methods of entry. I so thank you.

Pat