Is there any way to run Quicken on a Chromebook?

Caribconsult

What version do I need? My data is currently in Q-2007 and I am quite satisfied with that...it's a lot faster than your newer versions. But I am considering abandoning the PC world and going to a Chromebook, so what Quicken will run on that? I'm seeing posts that there is no such thing.

Chris_QPW

Quicken doesn't run on a Chromebook.  About all you can do with a Chromebook is run financial software that runs from a website like this:
https://simplifimoney.com/

Greg_the_Geek

You could try CrossOver from Code Weavers. Windows Software on Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS with CrossOver | CodeWeavers They have a free trial and Quicken has a 30 day money back guarantee.

jacobs

@Caribconsult  Quicken has always been, and remains, desktop-based software. While you can optionally access much of your data synced to a cloud service via a web browser, that's an add-on to the full Quicken app and your data file on your local computer. You cannot use Quicken entirely as a cloud-based application.

As Chris noted above, Quicken introduced an alternative to the traditional Quicken software called Simplifi, which is entirely cloud- and browser-based for people who don't want to have software or data on their computing device. Unfortunately, there is no way to move existing Quicken data into Simplifi.

As for Crossover, I don't know if you'll find anyone here with experience running Quicken on a Chromebook via Crossover, but people have used it in the past as a way to run the Windows version of Quicken on a Mac, so it might work. If you visit the link Greg provided, scroll down to Crossover for Chromebook, where you'll see the pricing as well as a video about how to install Crossover on a Chromebook (which involves running an installer for Linux, then the installer for Crossover, then installing Quicken Windows). You download the software from there, not the Google Play store.  

Chris_QPW

I wasn't aware that there is a version of Crossover for ChromeOS.  If there is then the answer to this question:

Caribconsult said:

And last, does it leave the data files on the Chromebook or in the cloud? 

would be "no more than any usual".  As in the data file would be on your machine, but depending on what features you use like Sync to Mobile/Web or Express Web Connect, ... some of your information might be on a remote server to support that function.

Caribconsult

I'm aware of having to use an in between version to convert the data. Don't worry about that. I want to know if the deluxe version ( I need to track investments) will run in any good way on a Chromebook, Please address that question.

Chris_QPW

Quicken doesn't run on a Chromebook.  About all you can do with a Chromebook is run financial software that runs from a website like this:
https://simplifimoney.com/

Greg_the_Geek

You could try CrossOver from Code Weavers. Windows Software on Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS with CrossOver | CodeWeavers They have a free trial and Quicken has a 30 day money back guarantee.

Caribconsult

Thanks to those who replied to my question. Crossover is available at the Google Play Store? And what version of Quicken will run in this environment? And last, does it leave the data files on the Chromebook or in the cloud? Thanks again to all who've helped.

jacobs

@Caribconsult  Quicken has always been, and remains, desktop-based software. While you can optionally access much of your data synced to a cloud service via a web browser, that's an add-on to the full Quicken app and your data file on your local computer. You cannot use Quicken entirely as a cloud-based application.

As Chris noted above, Quicken introduced an alternative to the traditional Quicken software called Simplifi, which is entirely cloud- and browser-based for people who don't want to have software or data on their computing device. Unfortunately, there is no way to move existing Quicken data into Simplifi.

As for Crossover, I don't know if you'll find anyone here with experience running Quicken on a Chromebook via Crossover, but people have used it in the past as a way to run the Windows version of Quicken on a Mac, so it might work. If you visit the link Greg provided, scroll down to Crossover for Chromebook, where you'll see the pricing as well as a video about how to install Crossover on a Chromebook (which involves running an installer for Linux, then the installer for Crossover, then installing Quicken Windows). You download the software from there, not the Google Play store.  

Chris_QPW

I wasn't aware that there is a version of Crossover for ChromeOS.  If there is then the answer to this question:

Caribconsult said:

And last, does it leave the data files on the Chromebook or in the cloud? 

would be "no more than any usual".  As in the data file would be on your machine, but depending on what features you use like Sync to Mobile/Web or Express Web Connect, ... some of your information might be on a remote server to support that function.

Caribconsult

A number of posters have said this same thing about Crossover, but does it work well? And leaving the data files on the Chromebook is fine with me...I don't want them in any cloud. Thanks for your reply.

Caribconsult

I'm starting to believe that Chromebook OS and Quicken just don't like each other. I have 20+ years of financial data in my Q, and I don't want a version of Q that won't read ALL of it, even if if requires an intermediate upgrade to bring the data files into conformity. My experience with newer versions of Q has been disappointing - they run way slower and I don't really see any significant improvements from Q2009 premier to Q2016, except the newer version is 3x slower. Not what I'd call an improvement. So it's starting to look like a Chromebook is not in my future unless they figure out a solid and easy way to use such apps. Thanks to all you folks who replied.

Ps56k2

Caribconsult said:  So it's starting to look like a Chromebook is not in my future unless they figure out a solid and easy way to use such apps.

Of course you realize that the Chromebook was invented by Google to basically be a Chrome browser based "appliance" .....

and in general, NO normal Windows program will run on a Chromebook because, well, it is not running Windows...

A Chromebook (styled as chromebook) is a laptop or tablet running the Linux-based Chrome OS as its operating system. Chromebooks are primarily used to perform a variety of tasks using the Google Chrome browser, with most applications and data residing in the cloud rather than on the machine itself.[1][2][3] All Chromebooks released since late 2017 can also run Android apps. Some Chromebooks can also run Linux apps.[4][5]

Greg_the_Geek

Caribconsult said:

I'm starting to believe that Chromebook OS and Quicken just don't like each other. I have 20+ years of financial data in my Q, and I don't want a version of Q that won't read ALL of it, even if if requires an intermediate upgrade to bring the data files into conformity. My experience with newer versions of Q has been disappointing - they run way slower and I don't really see any significant improvements from Q2009 premier to Q2016, except the newer version is 3x slower. Not what I'd call an improvement. So it's starting to look like a Chromebook is not in my future unless they figure out a solid and easy way to use such apps. Thanks to all you folks who replied.

What OS and hardware are you currently using to run Quicken? Also, what version of Quicken? You initial posts states 2007 and your later posts states 2009. I doubt that Crossover will support very old versions of Quicken.

Caribconsult

Sorry for the confusion. I am currently running Win7Pro (which I like a lot) and Quicken 2009, patched and running nicely in W7. I have a newer windows Quicken-2016 which runs like a pig compared to the 2009, but I many need to use it to upgrade my data files incrementally to more recent versions of Quicken, according to Quicken's tech notes on using older data. Not a problem. If I have to get an even newer version of Quicken to run in the Chromebook OS, so be it. I have 20+ years of financial data that I don't want to lose. I'm just wondering which version of Quicken will run correctly in the Crossover environment? And from what I also read here, installing the Crossover and its associated and required additional programs sounds like no day at the beach for someone who knows diddley about the CB OS, which I assume it's some twist of Android? It's surely not IOS, Windows or straight Linux, right? Thanks for your input here.

Caribconsult

My platform is a pretty conventional tower PC, Intel i5, 8GB RAM, lots of hard drive.

Caribconsult

From what I've read here, it sounds like this Crossover program creates a virtual machine inside the Chromebook's OS, like many windows programs can create a virtual box with a different OS in it. So has anyone here had any success with this combo of Chrome OS/Crossover and some particular version of Quicken, and did it eat your old data correctly? Which Quicken worked, and how well?

jacobs

If performance speed is an issue, then you may find that running Crossover -- which is running an emulation layer to translate Windows system calls -- may not be blazingly fast. I have no experience running it, so that's just theory, not actual observation.  I don't know if you'll find anyone here who can advise you on differences between versions of Quicken running on Crossover on a Chromebook; none of the heavy Quicken users here are using that type of set-up.

jrich75

Have you considered leaving both the Quicken program and data on your current system and setting up remote access for the chromebook?  

Caribconsult

Thanks for the suggestions. The suggestion about leaving the quicken where it is and using remote access from the CB is interesting, but my concern here is one day my WIn7 computer is going to die...they all do some day, and it will be hard to re-install, since Microsoft has cut off all tech support and updates for it, so it may become toast and I need to think ahead a bit, and what will I replace it with. And the Quicken is the logjam. Everything else I need to do on the computer can be done on a CB. Poster Jacobs above makes a good point about how performance might suffer in a virtual machine in an OS it was never intended for. So far, no one seems to have had a good level of success with this combo and I may just be barking in the wind here and have to find another solution. But thanks to all for the input. It's good to hear other's take on this.

Caribconsult

So it would appear there has been little success with running a full featured version of Quicken on a Chromebook. I think I'll leave the experimentation to others and switch to a PC laptop when my current unit dies. Microsoft is actually giving away a free Win10 Home, in ISO form, I burned the disc and installed it on my wife's laptop and it is good. A nice clean Win10 install without all the extraneous junk the manufacturers put on. Updates itself and runs really well. That looks like the future. I wouldn't be adverse to trashing the Win10 install that comes with a new unit and putting in the one I got from MS free.