Importing a Quicken for Windows File...

JoelC

I am importing an updated 450 MB Quicken for Windows fee into Quicken for Mac.

I am surprisingly forced to do this for Quicken Cloud (which was not previously required).

It is taking hours for the file to import / convert.

Questions:
- Is this normal?
- Is there a way to bypass the cloud?

Thanks.

JoelC

I am hoping someone has an answer as it ran for 3+ hours and never completed. I got the dreaded beachball!

Jon

What version of Quicken for Windows are you importing from? I had Quicken for Windows 2013 files that I brought into Quicken for Mac earlier this year and they all made it successfully.  (They were all much smaller than yours, though - each was a file from a single year, size less than 3MB).
The only way I can think of to bypass the cloud would be to load the files into Quicken for Windows yourself, export them to a QXF file, and then import the QXF into a Quicken for Mac file. (IIUC, this is basically what the cloud conversion is doing for you.) If you no longer have a Windows machine to run Quicken for Windows, you might be able to run it on your Mac using Wine or Crossover; the program doesn't have to work perfectly after all, it only has to load the file & then export the QXF.

JoelC

@Jon , much thanks, that seemed to work (though there are a few account balances that are off).

Very much appreciated!

Jon

One thing that caused incorrect account balances when I imported old Quicken files were transactions that appeared to be duplicate but weren't. For instance, two ATM withdrawals for the same amount on the same day. Somewhere during the export/import process Quicken would decide that those were really the same transaction & throw one of them away.

Unfortunately there's no easy way to find those other than to do a side by side comparison of account balances between the original & new files to determine where they diverge.

JoelC

@Jon, I appreciate the added information / update.

I am VERY impressed with the conversion and import process (once I used your method).

I have roughly 50 accounts - not a typo - and all but three converted properly / too the penny.

The three that did not convert properly were easy but time consuming to sort out once I figured out the metro which was:

1. Compare balanced at the BOY between Quicken for Mac and Quicken for Windows to determine which year the problem occurred in.

2. Print the Quicken for Mac transactions within the above identified year and then compare them with the Quicken for Windows transactions to determine the erroneous / extra / missing transactions.

3. Update as indicated in 2 above.

In my case all 3 accounts that did not reconcile were investment accounts and all incorrect transactions were fund transfers between a CAD account and a USD account.

Thanks again, very helpful!

JoelC

Hmmm, I am one week into using QMac and am serious considering making the change however, Just discovered a problem...the QWin --> QMac file conversion process does not bring any attachments with it...this is a real problem for me (for historical reasons) as I keep the receipts for my tax deductible items as attachments in Quicken as they are very easy to find that way!

Not to impressed by this because if the tax man ever pays me a visit I wont have access to my receipts unless I keep a QWin version up and running....arrrrgggg!

jacobs

@JoelC Yes, it's unfortunate that the teams at Quicken never developed a way to move attachments from Quicken Windows to Quicken Mac.

Many experienced Quicken users recommend storing your attachments outside Quicken, keeping folders by years/months or payees or categories. The biggest reason for doing this is that your receipts aren't tied to Quicken. If you ever stop using Quicken or suffer a corrupted data file, your receipts remain safely separate. Also, lots of attachments can make your data file quite large; every time you quit and backup your data file, you're backing up all your attachments.