Why did Quicken create a shortcut on my desktop?

Rod F.

In the last few days, I've setup a new desktop PC. I've installed Quicken onto it. Tonight, I entered some information, then went to close Quicken. It asked if I'd like to perform a backup, which I said yes to. It backed it when to the cloud, where I want it to back up to. So far, everything is exactly as it was on my old desktop.

But what is odd is Quicken also created a shortcut to the backup file in the cloud, on my desktop. Why did it do that?

Sherlock

Quicken does not backup to the cloud.  Quicken will backup to a folder.  By default, the manual backup folder is the Desktop folder.  That's easy to correct: press Ctrl + B, select Browse and choose a different folder for the manual backup.

Sherlock

Quicken does not backup to the cloud.  Quicken will backup to a folder.  By default, the manual backup folder is the Desktop folder.  That's easy to correct: press Ctrl + B, select Browse and choose a different folder for the manual backup.

Chris_QPW

Note these days when Quicken installs a new patch version it automatically creates a backup file.  That file will go into the Backup folder.  You can control where that folder is in the Preferences (the automatic backup location).

Rod F.

Thank you, @Sherlock, this was helpful. Although I was not performing a manual backup. I was trying to close Quicken, when it stopped me to ask if I wanted to back up my Quicken data.

Nevertheless, it looks like it did save a backup to my desktop. But what's confusing is the icon on the desktop for this backup has the characteristic checkmark in the lower left. That is the symbol used by Windows to indicate that it's a shortcut, not the actual file. I have several others on my desktop, pointing to things like Microsoft Teams, Postman, etc. None of those are installed on the desktop, which is easy to verify. However, I've got other icons on my desktop, which are actual are the actual files/applications, such as the Recycle Bin. So, it's weird, both that Quicken would save a backup to my desktop and include in its icon the same symbol used to indicate a shortcut. Very misleading. I wish Quicken wouldn't do that.

I've gone through the process of assigning the location in my OneDrive where I want Quicken to save backups. I'll give it a few days, then delete the backup on my desktop. I've manually created a backup, to verify that doing so, manually, goes to the right place.

Sherlock

Rod F. said:

Thank you, @Sherlock, this was helpful. Although I was not performing a manual backup. I was trying to close Quicken, when it stopped me to ask if I wanted to back up my Quicken data.

Nevertheless, it looks like it did save a backup to my desktop. But what's confusing is the icon on the desktop for this backup has the characteristic checkmark in the lower left. That is the symbol used by Windows to indicate that it's a shortcut, not the actual file. I have several others on my desktop, pointing to things like Microsoft Teams, Postman, etc. None of those are installed on the desktop, which is easy to verify. However, I've got other icons on my desktop, which are actual are the actual files/applications, such as the Recycle Bin. So, it's weird, both that Quicken would save a backup to my desktop and include in its icon the same symbol used to indicate a shortcut. Very misleading. I wish Quicken wouldn't do that.

I've gone through the process of assigning the location in my OneDrive where I want Quicken to save backups. I'll give it a few days, then delete the backup on my desktop. I've manually created a backup, to verify that doing so, manually, goes to the right place.

When Quicken asks to perform a backup - it is a manual backup reminder: select Edit > Preferences...