Automatic Backups recently not working, why?

David1812

I have been using quicken for windows since 1998 and have set preferences such that Quicken will do Automatic Backups and Manual Backups. The Automatic Backups have not run since 14 April 2021.
I have always had preferences selected for both Auto Backups and Manual Backups selected (check boxes for both are checked). Auto backup is set to run after running quicken for 1 time, with maximum # of backup copies set to 10. Manual Backup is set to remind me to run the backup after quicken is run 1 time.
Both of these backup files are set up to store the backups on my D drive (I don’t want data files filling up my C drive). I get a notice requesting me whether or not I want to backup my files each time I exit Quicken and I always do so. The Manual Backups work fine and are stored in the selected directory on the D driver.
Does anyone have a theory as to why my Auto Backups have stopped backing up automatically?

UKR

And you are 100% sure that there isn't an error message during Backup, something like

• "Backup file creation failed"
  In that case, run all steps in part (2) in this document in the order specified, even if you have done some of them before:
  Troubleshooting 101 - Fixing Software Installation and Data File Problems
  There's a problem with your live data file which needs to be fixed
  
• or "Cannot open data file. File in use by other application"
  Something like Dropbox, MS OneDrive or another third party backup application has grabbed hold of the Quicken data file and now interferes with Quicken. Reconfigure this backup software to not access the live Quicken data file. Make it access the Manual Backup file instead, after it was created.
  

jrich75

You could try the Find Quicken Files under the File menu.  This should find them if they are being stored in an unusual location.  I'm on the latest version and auto backup is working fine for me.

UKR

In Edit / Preferences / Backup is there a checkmark in each of the backup functions, to enable it?

Automatic Backups go to the drive and folder specified above (default: C:\Users\username\Documents\Quicken\Backup)
Manual Backups go to the drive and folder specified in a popup view when you start the backup process.

It is recommended that Manual Backups are directed to an external USB or network storage device and not an internal SSD or hard drive ... if this drive or the computer breaks, you lose all backups.

David1812

Thanks for the suggestions. But, I've reviewed my preferences and nothing has changed between now and the time prior to when auto backup was working. I've looked at the file locations for where I store the manual and the auto backups. The date on the last auto backup file is mid april. I've also written a PowerShell script to search all four of my hard drives for quicken related files just in case something got changed mistakenly. All quicken files are accounted for in the output from the script. But, as I say, the last auto backup was several weeks ago. Any other suggestions?

UKR

And you are 100% sure that there isn't an error message during Backup, something like

• "Backup file creation failed"
  In that case, run all steps in part (2) in this document in the order specified, even if you have done some of them before:
  Troubleshooting 101 - Fixing Software Installation and Data File Problems
  There's a problem with your live data file which needs to be fixed
  
• or "Cannot open data file. File in use by other application"
  Something like Dropbox, MS OneDrive or another third party backup application has grabbed hold of the Quicken data file and now interferes with Quicken. Reconfigure this backup software to not access the live Quicken data file. Make it access the Manual Backup file instead, after it was created.
  

JTS2

I have noticed the same thing, starting maybe a couple months ago. Quicken no longer asks me if I want to run a backup upon exiting the program. Not sure why or how to revert to that program behavior, which I liked. Now all it does is ask if I want to synch to the Cloud, which I understand is not a cloud-based backup.

Chris_QPW

JTS2 said:

I have noticed the same thing, starting maybe a couple months ago. Quicken no longer asks me if I want to run a backup upon exiting the program. Not sure why or how to revert to that program behavior, which I liked. Now all it does is ask if I want to synch to the Cloud, which I understand is not a cloud-based backup.

Try: Edit -> Preferences -> Alerts & Messages -> Reset Quicken Warnings