How do I transfer Quicken 2016 data between Mac platforms?

williamprice

I have a MacBook Air for traveling and iMac with bank data at home. And want data kept current when traveling.

RickO

There are two basic ways to do this:

1) Make a backup on the iMac and restore on the MB Air. You can transfer the backup using any file sharing service such as Dropbox, or on a thumb drive. You can do this both ways, but of course need to be careful that you don't overwrite newer data with old.

2) Log into your iMac remotely using any number of remote access tools. See this:

Mac Remote Desktop Software

1*) If you are technically proficient and don't mind initial work, you can automate this using a tool such as Hazel. I use a combination of Hazel and Keyboard Maestro to automatically (when I quit Quicken), save an encrypted backup to my Dropbox and then decrypt and decompress it on my MB Pro. That way I always have a copy of the current file on my MBP.

X) One thing that may be tempting but is not supported and is a bad idea is to keep the live working file on Dropbox, iCloud or any file sharing service. The Quicken data file structure is complex and eventually inevitably gets corrupted if you do this.

RickO

There are two basic ways to do this:

1) Make a backup on the iMac and restore on the MB Air. You can transfer the backup using any file sharing service such as Dropbox, or on a thumb drive. You can do this both ways, but of course need to be careful that you don't overwrite newer data with old.

2) Log into your iMac remotely using any number of remote access tools. See this:

Mac Remote Desktop Software

1*) If you are technically proficient and don't mind initial work, you can automate this using a tool such as Hazel. I use a combination of Hazel and Keyboard Maestro to automatically (when I quit Quicken), save an encrypted backup to my Dropbox and then decrypt and decompress it on my MB Pro. That way I always have a copy of the current file on my MBP.

X) One thing that may be tempting but is not supported and is a bad idea is to keep the live working file on Dropbox, iCloud or any file sharing service. The Quicken data file structure is complex and eventually inevitably gets corrupted if you do this.