Which 2020 Q for 'us' and a confirm on the datafile conversion process?

Mark209

Connie's 2003 Quicken is Premier Home and Business. The Business chunk is no longer used and not needed. We do not use Q for bill pay (we use Charles Schwab). She maintains all our finances (checking, savings, equities and funds using Quicken. We would not likely use the bells and whistles of Quicken's 'planning and budgeting'.

So the question remains--will we be best served with Quicken 2020 Premier or Deluxe? Since I think we're talking a difference of ~$35/year between the two, cost is not the deciding factor--performance and addressing our use to the fullest is.

Which do you all suggest?

Then comes the painstaking task of installing various Quicken versions enabling the 4+ datafile conversions to get from 2003 to current. Does Quicken have a set of sequential instructions and downloads for the various old but newer versions required in one handy location?

Are there any tips or things to watch out for along the process?

Will Quicken 2020 (despite the company saying yes) perform properly on a Win7 machine?

Thanks,

Mark

volvogirl

Will she be wanting to download transactions?  If not just upgrade to 2013 which you can get for free.

If your Quicken was before 2010 you should have several files making up the data.  The main data file ends in .QDF.  All Quicken versions prior to QW2010 store your data in a series of files all sharing the same filename but with different extensions like  - .QDF .IDX, .QEL, .QPH  and all 4 of those files were rolled into a single-file .QDF starting in 2010. 

How to use an intermediate version to convert to a newer version

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-and-when-use-intermediate-version-convert-older-versions-quicken 

Mark209

She will definitely want to download transactions and by that I presume you mean not just quotes but setup logins to our financial institutions and download all or selected transactions?

My concern--since we have account histories many times the # of years institutions retain, if she were to download for Bank X, would Bank X's short history overwrite our converted 'way back' history?

I didn't know that information about Q storing data--interesting. But again I presume that information is transparent to the user through the conversion process?

If she's finally willing to make the move off 2003 on her desktop Win7 machine, if the data manages to maintain integrity throughout the conversion processes, then she'll likely make the other big move of Win7 to Win10. She will not do Win10 on the desktop first given my experience with Q2003 installing on 3 Win10 machines being very much a crap shoot.

Also, I remember that years ago, like maybe 2010, we did a test upgrade from 2003 and she insisted that Q lost the linked checking links. However, I think when I played around with upgrading a few years ago, the links were retained but not in the same convenient view as 2003. Bottom line... 'if' the 'enhanced' support w/Deluxe equates to someone who speaks fluent and clear English and thoroughly knows the software and then could help her if she does have a linked or other problem then the Deluxe could be worth every extra penny.

And again, if we're going to go through all the entailed aggravation, we sure as heck want to end up not having software support/updates/downloads fused to 3 years, we'll go for 2020 (yearly license et. al.) ;-).

Mark