how do I backup my data file on my new Mac?

StvVance

I have a new Mac and I can't find the File>Backup and Restore option that I used in Windows.
Thanks

jacobs

@StvVance Every Mac application has a top menu bar -- it's part of the operating system. If you're not seeing it, perhaps you have switched to Full Screen mode? For any application in Full Screen mode, if you move your cursor to the top of the screen, the standard Mac menu bar will appear. To exit Full Screen mode, press the Esc key. Or put your cursor at the top of the screen so the menu bar appears, and in the upper left where you see the  red/yellow/green buttons, click the green one. Or put your cursor at the top of the screen so the menu bar appears, and pull down the View menu to Exit Full Screen.

jacobs

First, you probably will want to enable some automatic backups. Go to Preferences > General and at the bottom of that screen, you can select to have Quicken make automatic backups when you quit the program, and you can select how many such backups it should keep, from 1 to forever. you can also specify a backup folder location if you don't want to use Quicken's default location (which is in the User/Library/Application Support/Quicken folder).

Second, you can manually generate backups at any time by selecting File > Save a Backup.

Third, if you have a new Mac and you don't have a hard drive attached (permanently if a desktop, periodically if a laptop) to use the Mac's built-in Time Machine backup software, I can't encourage this enough. If you don't have an external hard drive lying around, you can get good large ones for $100 or less. You literally just connect the hard drive to the Mac, it will ask you if you want to use it as a Time Machine Backup, you say yes, and it handles everything automatically from then on. Time Machine will back up all your files (but not system files) initially, and then do incremental backups every hour in the background. It has an easy interface for retrieving backup files from any point in the past. Just Google Mac Time Machine and you can read about it. Apple makes this so easy, there's really no excuse not to do it. It's only a matter of when, not if, that you will need to access one or more backup files. Do it!

And yes, multiple types of backups of your important data is highly advisable. I let Quicken make automatic backups, I periodically (randomly) make manual Quicken backups, I have Time Machine constantly backing up my two Macs, and I also make whole-disk backups every so often, which I store at work in case of a disaster at my house. (An online backup service offers a similar level of protection.)

StvVance

Thanks for the info on backups. my question is simple (sorry for not being clear). I don't have the traditional menu bar on Quicken on my Mac so I don't know how to find menu options like Preferences>General or File>Backup/Restore. The Menu bar I have only includes "Home Reports Budgets etc." There is no File or Preferences option.

jacobs

@StvVance Every Mac application has a top menu bar -- it's part of the operating system. If you're not seeing it, perhaps you have switched to Full Screen mode? For any application in Full Screen mode, if you move your cursor to the top of the screen, the standard Mac menu bar will appear. To exit Full Screen mode, press the Esc key. Or put your cursor at the top of the screen so the menu bar appears, and in the upper left where you see the  red/yellow/green buttons, click the green one. Or put your cursor at the top of the screen so the menu bar appears, and pull down the View menu to Exit Full Screen.

StvVance

Thank you - I found the menu bar! However, I can only see it when I'm in full-screen mode. Is that normal?

jacobs

@STvVance  No, that's not normal. Every Mac application opens underneath the Mac's top menu bar. Full screen mode is a way to suppress the menu bar.

There's one other possibility I can think of. Open your System Preferences (not Quicken Preferences) to the General Pane and look to see if you have it checked to automatically hide the menu bar:

I've never used that setting, but if you have it checked, the menu bar will be hidden, just like in Full Screen mode, unless you move your cursor to the top of the screen. But it would be hidden all the time, in the Finder and all applications, not just Quicken.

StvVance

I tried checking and unchecking that option. I get the same behavior either way. That is, I can only see the menu bar when I am in full screen mode. It does apply to all applications (Quicken, Word, etc.)

jacobs

Okay, so what you're describing is clearly a Mac issue, not anything related to  Quicken.

If you haven't done so already, try restarting your Mac. That simple step sometimes cures the oddest problems.

I don't know what would cause your menu bar not to be visible. Is this an iMac, laptop, or mini with an attached display? If the latter, it could be the resolution isn't set correctly in System Preferences. Otherwise, I can only think of if you have turned on accessibility settings and slightly enlarged your screen, so the menu bar would be off the top -- but then I don't think you'd see it in Full-screen mode, either. You're going to have to do some Googling or get some Mac help to find out why your display isn't showing the menu bar at the top of the screen. 

StvVance

Thanks for your assistance. You've cleared up a few things for me. I'll look to Google and elsewhere to figure this out. (BTW it is an iMac)