I recently somehow created duplicate Quicken Accounts!

Detective

Recently, I started having trouble with my Quicken account where the register was displaying entries out of order. I use the Ascending date display, but the future transactions (like 30 days out) were being displayed in the wrong place, at the top before the oldest (2011) transactions and not after the current cleared transactions (2021). When all attempts to correct it failed, like changing to descending, I used a backup and now it is displaying correctly.

Now I have two Quicken Finance Registers...My Finances.quicken and My Finances 2.quicken. The Finances 2 is correct and up to date, so I want to use it. I would like to delete the other, but I cannot seem to find a way to delete the My Finances.quicken, and keep and rename the My Finances 2 after I do.

Thank you.

jacobs

Just to avoid confusion, let me clarify terminology…

The application is the actual Quicken program. You have only one of those, of course: quicken.app. It should live in your Applications folder.

What you open and work with in the Quicken application is a Quicken Data File. These are files which end with a ".quicken" extension. You can have as many data files as you wish. It sound like you have two, but want to get rid of one of them. Quicken has a default location for data files, but you can move them anywhere you want. The Mac operating system keeps track of the most recently opened files of any application. 

Inside each data file, you have one or more accounts to represent your real-world financial accounts: checking, savings, credit card, investment, retirement, loan, etc. These are what you see in the left sidebar of the main Quicken window when quicken is running. 

So, let's dig in…  You say you're right-clicking on an icon on your desktop. Is that correct? Are you referring to your Dock at the bottom (or left) edge of your screen, or an icon somewhere on your desktop? We need to understand if this is one of your data files or your Quicken Application. Is it called "Quicken.app" or is it "My Finances.quicken" or "Finance2.quicken"? 

Also, right-click on what you're clicking on, and this time select the old "My Finances.quicken" to open. If I understand correctly, this will open your old and messed up data file -- the one you want to get rid of -- right? So we need to know where this data file is living. The fastest way to do that is to click on the red Q at the top right of the main Quicken window, above your balance. When you click, in the pop-up menu, click on Show in Finder. This will open a Finder window with "My Finances.quicken". If you're sure you no longer want this file, you can quit Quicken and then in the Finder window, drag My Finances.quicken to the Trash. 

jacobs

Just to be clear, are you describing two accounts (registers) within one Quicken data file, or are you describing two separate data files?

Detective

jacobs...Two Accounts in separate files. Both contain the same registers (for all my banking accounts), but only the Finance 2 is showing the dates in the correct order. Since I am now using Finance 2, it is up to date, the other is not.

When I go to Applications in Finder, I only show one account. But when I right click on the Icon on my Desktop, I show the two Quicken Finance Accounts and can open either one.

jacobs

Just to avoid confusion, let me clarify terminology…

The application is the actual Quicken program. You have only one of those, of course: quicken.app. It should live in your Applications folder.

What you open and work with in the Quicken application is a Quicken Data File. These are files which end with a ".quicken" extension. You can have as many data files as you wish. It sound like you have two, but want to get rid of one of them. Quicken has a default location for data files, but you can move them anywhere you want. The Mac operating system keeps track of the most recently opened files of any application. 

Inside each data file, you have one or more accounts to represent your real-world financial accounts: checking, savings, credit card, investment, retirement, loan, etc. These are what you see in the left sidebar of the main Quicken window when quicken is running. 

So, let's dig in…  You say you're right-clicking on an icon on your desktop. Is that correct? Are you referring to your Dock at the bottom (or left) edge of your screen, or an icon somewhere on your desktop? We need to understand if this is one of your data files or your Quicken Application. Is it called "Quicken.app" or is it "My Finances.quicken" or "Finance2.quicken"? 

Also, right-click on what you're clicking on, and this time select the old "My Finances.quicken" to open. If I understand correctly, this will open your old and messed up data file -- the one you want to get rid of -- right? So we need to know where this data file is living. The fastest way to do that is to click on the red Q at the top right of the main Quicken window, above your balance. When you click, in the pop-up menu, click on Show in Finder. This will open a Finder window with "My Finances.quicken". If you're sure you no longer want this file, you can quit Quicken and then in the Finder window, drag My Finances.quicken to the Trash. 

Detective

jacobs...thank you very much.

I apologize for not being clear, as I obviously did not understand the terms. But you figured it out and clearly showed me how to get rid of it. I now have only one Quicken Financial with all my accounts intact and the Registers displaying correctly.

I appreciate your help.

jacobs

Glad to help, and glad you got it squared away.