Use with Microsoft OneDrive

Bertilak

Some time ago I had much trouble with putting Quicken's QDF file on Microsoft OneDrive. I don't remember exactly what the problems were, probably error messages and corrupted files.

I decided to give it another try and moved my QDF file to OneDrive. So far, no problems, although it hasn't been a very long time yet.

Does anyone else have experience with the QDF file on OneDrive?

jfclague

I have had my Quicken file on OneDrive and Dropbox for years with no issue. The only recommendation is pause syncing while using Quicken then unpause.

Studpup

I previously had my Backup folder linked (mklink /d %userprofile%\documents\quicken\backup %onedrive%\backup). So my actual file doesn't exist there, just the backups. (automatic backup runs every time). Worked great. Obviously there's security concerns, and Quicken support seems averse to remote file replication programs like that.

Greg_the_Geek

Services such as OneDrive or Google Drive can be used as a location to store backups of your Quicken data files.  We don't recommend storing your active data files, or installing Quicken, on these drives.  If you restore a backup that is located in your cloud drive, make certain the restored file is saved locally on your hard drive before using the file.

https://www.quicken.com/support/can-i-share-my-quicken-file-between-multiple-computers-using-dropbox

Bertilak

Studpup:

Yes, I always had my backup on OneDrive and that was not a problem.

In the past I was told by Quicken that it was dangerous to put the file on a cloud location.

Until recently I had a very slow internet connection so it was a bit of an inconvenience using OneDrive anyway. Now that I have gigabit fiber I thought I'd give OneDrive a try and so far it has been OK. I won't be surprised if something goes wrong!

EDIT: I see Greg_the_Geek has reiterated the warning about the use of cloud drives. In the past things went south pretty quickly but it seems much more stable now. I'm still curious about others' experiences.

Greg_the_Geek

The problem is that corruption can occur and you might not notice it until months later. All SU's keep their data files on the local hard drive and backup to the cloud. Why do you think keeping your data file in a OneDrive folder is better?

Rocket J Squirrel

Bertilak said:

I'm still curious about others' experiences.

We don't tempt fate. Quicken can corrupt its own data just fine on a plain old hard disk or SSD. Add the Internet on top of that at your own risk.

jfclague

I have had my Quicken file on OneDrive and Dropbox for years with no issue. The only recommendation is pause syncing while using Quicken then unpause.

Bertilak

jfclague said:

I have had my Quicken file on OneDrive and Dropbox for years with no issue. The only recommendation is pause syncing while using Quicken then unpause.

Thanks. You are the only one reporting actual experience with placing the QDF file on OneDrive. I, too, have/had no problems with this if I temporarily paused syncing while the file is open in Quicken. That is a little too fiddly for me so I was hoping I could simple pay no attention to the QDF file location.

So I will continue to keep it off of OneDrive and place only the backup on OneDrive. This is good enough security since I do a backup every day there has been any change to the file.