How to change the home currency in a file (when changing countries)

cjmorris

I've been successfuly using a 2004 version of Quicken in the UK with multiple currencies, but now moving back to Australia and I want the home currency to be AUD, rather than GBP. What is the best way to achieve this please?

YingDave

Hi there @cjmorris. I am running my file as $A home currency being in Brisbane. However I have never changed the home currency! In fact I would advise against moving this back and forward. Mine has always been **** even when living in Asia - I just set up new accounts in other currencies to match local bank/cash accounts.

Before you change it you probably want to make sure the exchange rates are up to date by running One step update. Then you want to back up your file just before you do this so you can revert in case it goes pear shaped.

What version of Quicken do have? Changing the home currency is possible - but only in the US Product. The Canadian product that I use has this hidden (even though the underlying database file is the same structure). In the US product, go to the Currency table by hitting Ctrl+Q you home currency will have a green tick next to it. To change it (going off memory here) highlight the currency you want as home ie. $A click edit then click "Home" to change it. Quicken will be recalculating things for a while. Let us know how you go...

Chris_QPW

I believe that @cjmorris is in fact using Quicken 2004 UK.  That was the last year that was available for the UK version after Intuit pulled the licensing from all the foreign versions (except for Reckon).

I don't have the UK version, but assume it is pretty close (most likely identical) to the US 2004 version.
Going based on that it looks like it hasn't changed in all these years, but @YingDave your memory is slightly off.  Instead of selecting Edit there is a Home "button (actually a menu item)" at the top of the Window, selecting that changes to the currency that is currently selected.


In the current US version they are buttons at the bottom.

cjmorris

Hi Fellas,
Chris is correct as I actually had to change from 2002 to 2004, but that's BTW. When I edit the AUD, the window opens with no facility to identify it as Home. I'm not sure how to paste in a screen shot, although I tried.
My gut feeling is to create a new File with new name and AUD as Home and copy each Account as required (most I will drop any way). I'm reluctant to try to copy the old file to the new file. I'm not even sure it would work.

YingDave

It depends on which version you want to end up with. If you want to stick with existing version 2004UK then you don't need to create a new file or change the home currency if you don't want to loose your history. You can just set up new $A accounts for accounts you setup back in Oz. The only pain is selecting the currency on reports back to AUD. 

If you ever feel the need to migrate to current versions - you can do that following Quicken support pages through 2013US version then 2021US version by migrating the file directly - then the home currency change opens up and can be edited as per previous.

For me I would rather keep my history and save all my reports in the alternate currency. Admittedly some of the home screen and other screens would not be convenient - but I have 28 years of history I don't want to start again! . I have accounts I also dropped - but I just hide and forget about them.

Chris_QPW

cjmorris said:

Hi Fellas,
Chris is correct as I actually had to change from 2002 to 2004, but that's BTW. When I edit the AUD, the window opens with no facility to identify it as Home. I'm not sure how to paste in a screen shot, although I tried.
My gut feeling is to create a new File with new name and AUD as Home and copy each Account as required (most I will drop any way). I'm reluctant to try to copy the old file to the new file. I'm not even sure it would work.

I can see your screenshot and it is for the edit dialog.  The Home menu/button is at the top of the Security list, not in the edit dialog.  What do you have there?

Chris_QPW

YingDave said:

If you want to stick with existing version 2004UK then you don't need to create a new file or change the home currency if you don't want to loose your history. 

I don't believe there is anything to loose in the case of the UK/US versions.  The US/UK versions of Quicken don't maintain a currency exchange history.  All you are really doing here is setting what currency to convert to in the main views and such.

I don't think you would loose anything in the Canadian version either, but the very fact that they removed the Home setting in the Canadian version means you can't really test.  The only way to change it on it would be in the US (and most likely the UK) version before opening it in the Canadian version.

Chris_QPW

Chris_QPW said:

cjmorris said:

Hi Fellas,
Chris is correct as I actually had to change from 2002 to 2004, but that's BTW. When I edit the AUD, the window opens with no facility to identify it as Home. I'm not sure how to paste in a screen shot, although I tried.
My gut feeling is to create a new File with new name and AUD as Home and copy each Account as required (most I will drop any way). I'm reluctant to try to copy the old file to the new file. I'm not even sure it would work.

I can see your screenshot and it is for the edit dialog.  The Home menu/button is at the top of the Security list, not in the edit dialog.  What do you have there?

Sorry, I meant the currency list, not the security list.

YingDave

Respect ... @Chris_QPW !
When I said loose it was in the context of @cjmorris starting a new file, then copying each account. Which would mean he would loose all the transaction history without a lot of pain and agony trying to rebuild it?

You are correct though - just changing the home currency (if you can do it) you will not loose any transaction history.

@cjmorris just hit Ctrl+Q to open you currency list, is there any menu or button that says "Home". If there is that is how you do it. Back up first!

Chris_QPW

@YingDave
Oh, thanks, I missed the context that you said that in.

cjmorris

Hi Fellas,
I think confusion occurs because most are on a different versions and everybody has a unique agenda. a) I'm on an old version (actually an old Oz version) and b) I don't need history more than a few years old and c) I believe that each file both retains it's own history and retains it's own Home currency. The only issue there is if I wanted contiguous history and I don't.

So I reckon that if I retain my current version, I can always open that to see my history in say GBP, albeit not contiguous. And a new version (File) will have my new stuff in AUD starting from whenever I choose to start from. I don't intend switching back and forth; I'm here now permantly, so I will gradually have no transactional activities in GBP and will so eventually let those accounts lapse into history.

I sincerely apprecaite your contributions to my cause ;)

cjmorris

My screen shot...

Chris_QPW

Well it looks like that version didn't have the ability to change the home currency, so you are stuck with all the other workarounds that @YingDave pointed out.

cjmorris

FYI fellas, I finished up creating a new file with AUD home currency. Then exporting and importing each account in turn. It wasn't easy, as I muddled through questions I couldn't answer, but I managed to achieve the result I wanted.

I decided to start my AUD file from 01/01/2021 making a clean start, overlapping the GBP files which will always be there should I need them.

Thanks again for your comments

YingDave

One final note @cjmorris, you might want to check you licence on the old version. By that I mean the Oz Version many years ago were all sold as non annual subscription but that does not mean they will work indefinitely. There is a Help menu, item called Licence Information or something similar (again working from memory so look around for similar).

It should show 2 dates, the first when your on line subscription expires, which relates to availability of data for stock and currency price download...arguably not that important if you manually update.

The second date it shows is the actual licence expiry for the software. Typically that would be 10 years from the date of purchase. If you are lucky it is an old enough version that it was set at 30 years. Either way you do not own the software you have licenced access to it. The Oz product will lock you out of your file without even view access when that second date has past and display a message that you need to contact Intuit (who actually do not own the product anymore).

You can migrate your file but obviously easier while you still have access to the data in it. But just so you are aware. There is ample help in migrating your data. Just don't want you to be caught by surprise there.