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How much investment data will I lose when converting from Quicken Mac to Quicken Windows?

SP481

I used Quicken Windows for more than a decade until I bought my new M1 Mac late last year and had to convert to Quicken Mac. I've now got Parallels 17 so can run Quicken Windows and want to convert back.
The Quicken help page on this topic has a warning:
Important: The option to convert data from Quicken for Mac to Quicken for Windows is available, but completing this conversion with a file that contains investment accounts will result in investment data loss.
Does anyone know what exactly will be lost in the conversion back? Cost basis info, lot details, etc.?
Is converting back likely to cause the loss of so much info that it's a bad idea (judgement call of course)?

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Accepted answers

J_Mike

SP481 said:

Does anyone know what exactly will be lost in the conversion back? Cost basis info, lot details, etc.?

ALL IS LOST - nothing converts - not even the investment account name(s) convert.
You get an error message for each investment account and that is all.

volvogirl

Maybe you can get the investment data from the last Windows file or backup you had. And then just add the transactions since then. I don't know if you can copy or export an investment account from one file to another. Someone else may have ideas.

All comments

J_Mike

SP481 said:

Does anyone know what exactly will be lost in the conversion back? Cost basis info, lot details, etc.?

ALL IS LOST - nothing converts - not even the investment account name(s) convert.
You get an error message for each investment account and that is all.

volvogirl

SP481

WOW. That is terrible. Very disappointing.
Thank you both for the warning! I guess I'm stuck with the Mac version.

SP481

volvogirl, as you suggest, it would be very helpful to find out whether it is possible to export an investment account from one file (Quicken Mac) to another (Quicken Windows).

volvogirl

No. But maybe from an old Quicken Windows file since you used Windows in the past.

amybaz

Quicken developers, PLEASE add the ability to transfer Quicken Mac investment accounts to Quicken Windows. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. How hard can this be?????

SP481

Echoing amybaz, the inability to convert the data files from Mac to Windows without extensive data loss is a huge problem. Having been forced to switch from Quicken Windows to Quicken Mac a year ago due to the temporary inability of Parallels to run Windows on Mac machines, I would like to switch back to Quicken Windows (which I find to be far more powerful and flexible). But the idea of reverting back to my Windows file as it was a year ago and recreating a year worth of transactions is a non-starter. Please give your users this capability!

jacobs

@amybaz and @SP481 I understand your complaint, but you've posted in a Quicken Mac thread. You should create a thread about this in a Quicken Windows category of this site, because it's Quicken Windows which needs to be updated to properly convert/import a Mac data file.

Also, I'd suggest doing this as an Idea post in Product Ideas-Quicken Windows, because those are the only threads which have potential to be seen by the developers. Posting in a regular topic thread like this, you're speaking to fellow Quicken users like me, and the few Quicken moderators, but not the Quicken developers or management.

SP481

Thank you for the advice Jacobs.

SP481

Done:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7903999/enable-data-conversion-from-quicken-mac-to-quicken-windows-without-massive-data-loss#latest

jacobs

@SP481 I read your Idea post in the Windows section. It will be interesting to see if it gets some traction from fellow Quicken users who would like to be able to migrate from Mac to Windows (many of whom, like you, probably switched windows to Mac and have decided they'd rather go back). I think it just makes sense that while the two platforms aren't fully interchangeable, the developers should make the migration process work fully in both directions.

But I saw one comment in your post there which I wanted to respond to here: "Quicken for Mac is less flexible and less capable (e.g., you can't quickly search all your accounts for a transaction, the search box only lets you search one account at a time.)"

That's actually incorrect; you can search multiple accounts, or all accounts -- even including closed and hidden accounts -- via the Search box. I depend on this functionality all the time, so I wanted to let you know how to do it...

If you want to search across multiple accounts, just click on the appropriate account group in the left sidebar first. For instance, if you don't remember which credit card you used for a transaction you'd like to find, click on Credit Cards in the left sidebar. Then enter the search text in the Search box, and it will search all Credit Card accounts. I often click on Banking, which will result in a search of all checking, cash and credit card accounts.

Next trick: if you click on All Transactions at the top of the sidebar, then your search will include all your closed/hidden accounts as well as those in the sidebar. I find this hugely useful when looking for an older transaction and I have no idea which credit card was used, and whether it's one of my current credit cards or one I have closed.

One more trick: you can select a group as described above, but then narrow your search to a subset of those accounts. Let's say you want to do a search in two accounts: your Visa and your Amex credit cards. Select Credit Cards in the left sidebar. In the register filter to the right of the date range, it shows All Credit Card accounts. Pull down that filter menu, and it will show all your credit card accounts. Select to Visa card, then pull down the same filter menu and select the Amex card. Now the filter will be showing "2 Accounts" and any Search you do now will Search in those two accounts.

So searching in specific accounts is actually pretty flexible, as you can select one, two, a group or all accounts according to your needs.

I hope that makes your stay on Quicken Mac a little less painful.

SP481

Thanks for that tip Jacobs, that should be super-helpful, I never would have figured that out on my own. I've heard people say that Quicken Mac can do most of what QW does, but differently. I just find myself running into roadblocks a lot and searching boards to try to find a workaround. I have another reason to move back to Windows, which is a shared data file on a co-owned property with a Windows-only Quicken user, but I suspect I'll be on the Mac version for quite a while.