File conversion (Q Mac 2007 - 2020)

danwriter
danwriter Member ✭✭
I just converted to Q2020 and all the Q2007 files only go back to the year 2016! Seems like there might be multiple data files on the laptop. I double-clicked on the most recent ones after doing a reconcile before doing the conversion, so I know they're the most recent ones. How do I de-install and how to get the correct data files? Mac Capital 10.11.6

Best Answer

  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Answer ✓
    @danwriter  You wrote "Mac Capital 10.11.6" -- am I correct in assuming this was an auto-spelling typo and you meant to write that you're using macOS El Capitan 10.11.6?

    If so, that's potentially the first problem, as the current Quicken Mac (6.0.3) does not support El Capitan. Starting with version 6, macOS High Sierra (10.13) is the minimum system requirement for Quicken Mac. Are you running the previous version: Quicken Mac 5.18.2? 

    In terms of converting Quicken 2007 files, each one converts to a different Quicken 2020 data file if you do it correctly: go to File > New, and on the Getting started page, select Start from a Quicken 2007 file. This creates a new Quicken 2020 data file from the selected Quicken 2007 data file. (Do NOT try to to do File > Import, or you will find yourself adding transactions to the file you previously converted, and likely a have a mess.)

    In Quicken 2007, open the Accounts window; the heading of that window will display the name of your current Quicken file. Make sure you locate the file of the exact same name, and then do File > New to convert it.

    Actually, while you have the file open in Quicken 2007, do one preventative maintenance task: press Command-Option-B to force it to rebuild its indexes. Then quit Quicken 2007 and try converting the data file to Quicken 2020. (When Quicken 2007's indexes get messed up, all sorts fo strange behavior can result!)
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993

Answers

  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Answer ✓
    @danwriter  You wrote "Mac Capital 10.11.6" -- am I correct in assuming this was an auto-spelling typo and you meant to write that you're using macOS El Capitan 10.11.6?

    If so, that's potentially the first problem, as the current Quicken Mac (6.0.3) does not support El Capitan. Starting with version 6, macOS High Sierra (10.13) is the minimum system requirement for Quicken Mac. Are you running the previous version: Quicken Mac 5.18.2? 

    In terms of converting Quicken 2007 files, each one converts to a different Quicken 2020 data file if you do it correctly: go to File > New, and on the Getting started page, select Start from a Quicken 2007 file. This creates a new Quicken 2020 data file from the selected Quicken 2007 data file. (Do NOT try to to do File > Import, or you will find yourself adding transactions to the file you previously converted, and likely a have a mess.)

    In Quicken 2007, open the Accounts window; the heading of that window will display the name of your current Quicken file. Make sure you locate the file of the exact same name, and then do File > New to convert it.

    Actually, while you have the file open in Quicken 2007, do one preventative maintenance task: press Command-Option-B to force it to rebuild its indexes. Then quit Quicken 2007 and try converting the data file to Quicken 2020. (When Quicken 2007's indexes get messed up, all sorts fo strange behavior can result!)
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • danwriter
    danwriter Member ✭✭
    Yes, El Capitan 10.11.6. I thought that might be one of the problems.

    I do have new MacBook Air I'm getting ready to transition to, running I'm sure the most recent OS. I was hoping to get Q2020 running on the old one and then migrate all of that over to the new Mac (because I'm sure other apps, like my current version of Word, will not survive the jump either), but I guess I'll do the data migration first and then activate Q2020. I'll try your instructions once I do that. Thanks and happy new year.
  • danwriter
    danwriter Member ✭✭
    Jacobs: I've finished the migration from Quicken 207 (v. 16.1.4), which had been running on a Mac OS (El Capitan v. 10.11.6), to a Mac running Big Sur (v. 11.0). The old Quicken files came over, as (old yellow logo) 11 Quicken Data.qdfm and another file (new red logo) called 11 2016.quicken. Both open with the newest data dating back only to 2016. I've already learned that the old files are 16 bit and the new ones are 32 bit. So, will I be able to rescue these via your instructions?

    "In terms of converting Quicken 2007 files, each one converts to a different Quicken 2020 data file if you do it correctly: go to File > New, and on the Getting started page, select Start from a Quicken 2007 file."

    Thanks.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    You're mixing up a few things.

    Quicken 2007 and other programs of that era are 32-bit applications. (This has to do with how much memory they can address, but the technical details are unimportant.) Starting with macOS Catalina last year, Apple made the operating system only support newer 64-bit applications. the modern Quicken Mac is 64-bit, so it can run on Catalina and Big Sur; the old Quicken 2007 is 32-bit, so it can't. 

    The Quicken data files themselves aren't 32- or 64-bit.

    I don't know if you still have access to your old Mac; if so it would help to open Quicken 2007 on that machine, open the Accounts window, and look at the title bar of the window: it will show you the name of the file Quicken 2007 is using. For instance, here it's showing my file is "Jacobs Bookkeeping.qdfm":



    Why does this matter? Because if the file you opened on your new Mac only has data through 2016, it means that's not your current data file. So it's imperative to find out the name of your most recent Quicken 2007 data file, and to find that file on the old Mac, or perhaps on the new Mac depending what was transferred over. It will definitely be a .qdfm file you're looking for. (Quicken 2007 data files used the .qdfm extension; modern Quicken Mac uses the .quicken extension.)

    Since you have a .quicken file, it means you already launched the new Quicken on your new Mac, and in one way or another, converted a Quicken 2007 data file. But from what you're saying, the file which converted is not the correct file; it's an older file you had on your old Mac. It's not what you want. The quest is to locate your most recent Quicken 2007 data file to convert.

    Assuming you can locate the correct Quicken 2007 data file, then go ahead and follow my previous instructions: go to File > New, and on the Getting started page, select Start from a Quicken 2007 file.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Bunny Rogers
    Bunny Rogers Member ✭✭
    where can I find Quicken 2007 for Mac OS X Lion and is it re-engineered from 32 bit?
  • Jon
    Jon SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @Bunny Rogers Quicken 2007 for Lion was originally a paid upgrade for previous users of Quicken. I don't know if they ever started giving it away for free, but I'm not aware of any legitimate download links for it at this point. In any case, it was never updated for 64 bit support - the only change in the Lion version was eliminating the dependency on Rosetta (which Apple stopped shipping after Snow Leopard).

    Quicken Mac subscription. Quicken user since 1990.

  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    The Quicken Mac which was engineered for 64-bit is the current Quicken Mac. This is the replacement for the old Quicken 2007, which had a lot of dead ends with its technology, and was impossible to reengineer for the modern 64-bit macOS. That's why development of a modern Mac app was undertaken. There were lots of wrong turns and changes of direction while Quicken was still owned by Intuit, but in recent years there has been ongoing progress in building out the features of modern Quicken Mac. 
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Bunny Rogers
    Bunny Rogers Member ✭✭
    Thank you for responding to my question. I followed instructions to determine what I've got: 113NEWCopy pt 261/qdfm:Accounts. I am on macOS Mojave 10.14.6 on a MacBook Air. The data is on a WD external drive. I can hear the drive "working". I get great reports but recently feel I am asking more than the Quicken 2007 can handle????? My goal is to get the reporting now on Quicken 2007 (32 bits) that are currently not reliable. What should I upgrade to? Can you advise step by step how not to lose data but have reliable data?

    Your comments will be welcomed :-)
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    There is really only one Quicken Mac to upgrade to. You can decide between subscription levels: Starter, Deluxe and Premier. Starter has a number of limitations; Deluxe is the right answer for most users; Premier adds no new software features, only some included bill payments. 

    Quicken Mac runs fine on Mojave. I can’t give you assurances your data will import cleanly; it does for most people, but if your Quicken 2007 file has any severe corruption, you may have some cleanup work to do. Likewise, I can’t give you assurances the reports in Quicken Mac will meet your needs because I don’t know your needs. 😉

    if you decide to try Quicken Mac and you can’t find information you need to convert, please post back here again.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Bunny Rogers
    Bunny Rogers Member ✭✭
    You are an amazing man....... I own 16 apartment properties. I have about 35 accounts for tenants and multiple other accounts - multiple banks. etc. I just did some searching for how long I've been on Quicken 2007 and is from 2012 to 2022 !!!!!!! I would like to preserve the ALL of the data on my file. It seems Premier is what i will need. I'm not sure what "bill payments" means? I do auto banking for checks on the bank account. Maybe Deluxe might work for me?? Is it possible to keep 2007 data in case the transfer gets messed up? I would like to order the new Quicken but would like your opinion between
  • Bunny Rogers
    Bunny Rogers Member ✭✭
    Hope you get my post? I am an 80 year old woman -- but you may become "the man of my dreams" HaHaHa Please advise on Deluxe or Premier? Thank you SOOOO much for your help
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Since you have not had Quicken bill payment services in Quicken 2007, you likely don't need it if you switch to modern Quicken Mac. If you subscribe to Quicken Deluxe and decide you really do want to take advantage of Quicken's bill payment services, you can call Quicken Support to upgrade your subscription to Premier. 

    On macOS Mojave, you can run Quicken 2007 and modern Quicken Mac without one affecting the other; you can even run them at the same time.

    There are lots of differences between the two versions of Quicken, so you should pursue this when you will be able to devote time to learning the new Quicken. Note that while your transactions history should import fine, you will need to recreate your reports.

    Quicken Support offers a "1-2-3" program for users new to the current products, and you might find it helpful to schedule this free one-hour call  to help get you oriented to the new program. 
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • danwriter
    danwriter Member ✭✭
    My complaint is that the "new" Quicken's GUI is so radically different from the one I'd used for decades. If there was a way to make it look and work like classic Quicken I'd consider continuing to try to use it. But the way it stands, I'll stick with the old version on an older computer and hope it lasts a few more years. In the process of trying to deepen their involvement with users' financial lives, they lost sight of what made Quicken so useful in the first place.
  • Jon
    Jon SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited February 2022
    The basic GUI layout doesn't seem that different to me between 2007 & today - accounts listed down the side, buttons along the top, and a big register taking up most of the window. I don't see how it's changed so much as to be unusable. But the appearance of the 2007 program looks incredibly dated to me now. I could still use it (except that my MacBook Pro is a couple months too new to run Mojave) but it would seem wildly out of place next to the other Mac apps I use.

    Quicken Mac subscription. Quicken user since 1990.

  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited February 2022
    danwriter said:
    My complaint is that the "new" Quicken's GUI is so radically different from the one I'd used for decades. If there was a way to make it look and work like classic Quicken I'd consider continuing to try to use it. 
    The "new" Quicken isn't so new! It's been out since August 2014, so about seven-and-a-half years.

    With most of the Quicken 2007 user base having converted to the modern Quicken Mac somewhere over those years, the developers most definitely aren't looking backward to try to emulate a program which had its last design tweaks more than 15 years ago.

    Software changes and evolves for a variety of reasons; I don't know any software I use which doesn't have some significant changes in look and operation over a similar period of time. If you want to stick with what you know, and you're aware of the risks of continuing to stick with Quicken 2007, that's a road you can continue to go down. Just be aware that that sooner or later, your Mac or your hard drive will fail, and and that point in the future, you may or may not have the path to bring your data forward that exists today.

    I'd also say that while most of us don't like change, after you use a changed interface for awhile, you may find it's not so bad. When modern Quicken Mac first came out, I sided with others who wanted my old two-line register display; after using the new program for awhile, my point of view changed, and I now greatly prefer the registers in Quicken Mac over those in Quicken 2007. It does take some mental adaptation, and some undoing of years or decades of eye-brain-hand muscle memory which will make using the modern program feel more cumbersome at first — but most people adapt to the interface and find it acceptable, if not an improvement. 

    As Jon said above, it's really not a "radical" change to Quicken, even though the look is different. Instead of having tabs across the top for different accounts, you have a list of them down the left side. Registers are still basically registers, with the same data and basically the same ways to enter/edit transactions. 

    danwriter said:
    In the process of trying to deepen their involvement with users' financial lives, they lost sight of what made Quicken so useful in the first place.
    I respectfully disagree. They rebuilt Quicken Mac only because the technology employed in prior decades would not be compatible with the Mac operating systems of today and the future. In doing so, they did take the opportunity to re-visit and re-imagine how thing should work, but it's fundamentally a similar program. Today, it's better in some areas and lacking in some areas compared to Quicken 2007; over time, I expect the current generation Quicken Mac to add more features and fill gaps and become (if it isn't now) a worthy successor to the old program. 
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Bunny Rogers
    Bunny Rogers Member ✭✭
    Deluxe
  • Bunny Rogers
    Bunny Rogers Member ✭✭
    OOPs - can i transfer 10 years of data from Quicken 2007 to new Quicken deluxe
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Quicken Mac will import your Quicken 2007 data file. Period. You can't specify a time range to import. 

    If you can make a copy of your existing Quicken 2007 data file and, in Quicken 2007, use the Save a Copy command to create the data you want to move forward with, then you could import that file into Quicken Mac.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
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