How do I sync my laptop with my desktop?

4est

I set up Quicken on my iMac. My MacBook Pro latched onto a data file that is a year out dated. How do I get the same setup on both computers and keep them synched?

Greg_the_Geek

Can I share my Quicken file between multiple computers using Dropbox?

jacobs

You can't automatically sync them. Some users think then can have computer A sync to the cloud, and then the cloud will sync to computer B, but the Quicken cloud infrastructure wasn't built to do this. Quicken Cloud is designed to sync between the Quicken mobile app or web interface and a single desktop copy of Quicken. The only supported and proven safe way to use Quicken on two different Macs is to move the data file between the two computers. 

In addition to reading the article Greg linked above, you should know that you should only ever move Quicken Mac data files between two computers by moving a .zip version (created by using File > Compress in Quicken) or a backup version -- not your live Quicken data file. I won't go into the technical reasons here, but we've seen reports of users getting locked out of their data completely by trying to do syncing with Dropbox or other cloud solutions. You can set Quicken on both computers store a backup on Dropbox when you quit Quicken, and then download the latest backup to either Mac the next time you want to use it -- you just have to be vigilant to do that every time, and to weed out old files so you don't accidentally start using an older file and losing your most recent data.

Greg_the_Geek

Can I share my Quicken file between multiple computers using Dropbox?

jacobs

You can't automatically sync them. Some users think then can have computer A sync to the cloud, and then the cloud will sync to computer B, but the Quicken cloud infrastructure wasn't built to do this. Quicken Cloud is designed to sync between the Quicken mobile app or web interface and a single desktop copy of Quicken. The only supported and proven safe way to use Quicken on two different Macs is to move the data file between the two computers. 

In addition to reading the article Greg linked above, you should know that you should only ever move Quicken Mac data files between two computers by moving a .zip version (created by using File > Compress in Quicken) or a backup version -- not your live Quicken data file. I won't go into the technical reasons here, but we've seen reports of users getting locked out of their data completely by trying to do syncing with Dropbox or other cloud solutions. You can set Quicken on both computers store a backup on Dropbox when you quit Quicken, and then download the latest backup to either Mac the next time you want to use it -- you just have to be vigilant to do that every time, and to weed out old files so you don't accidentally start using an older file and losing your most recent data.

4est

Thanks for the rapid response. To be honest, I had not even looked at “Quicken on the Web” before reading your response. I had already moved my Quicken data file to my iCloud account so both of my computers could access it. I did not have any problems for this brief period. After reading your comments however, I put it back on my desktop.

Quicken makes it easy to move your data file. It does not however make it easy to return it to the default location. I am not familiar enough with the Mac OS to start delving into invisible folders. It now resides in a “Quicken Data” folder
Within my documents folder.

Ideally Quicken Mobile and Quicken on the Web would be indistinguishable from Quicken. Maybe future iterations will get closer to that.

One thing about Quicken Mobile that I like is that the “Securities” view consolidates stocks in different accounts and gives a summery of how many shares of each stock I own. (Retirement account, non-retirement account and inherited account)

Anyway, Thanks again for your help.