QWin to QMac Conversion Rate...

JoelC

After almost 30 years of using QWin I dipped my toe in the QMac waters. I spent parts of the last 2 or 3 days tweaking the QMac setup to give it a fair test.

I did this with the idea that I would run QWin and QMac in parallel for a few weeks / months to see whether I could get comfortable with QMac's different workflows and limited, relative to QWin, functionality.

I have quickly concluded that entering everything in both QWin and QMac is PITA and very time consuming.

The question I therefor have is how many people have converted from QWin to QMac only to regret the decision and, if you are one, why the regrets?

Thanks!

jacobs

@JoelC  I completely understand your questions. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of Quicken users post on this forum, so you simply won't get an answer about how many people have converted from Windows to Mac, nor how many are satisfied or dissatisfied or neutral about having made that change.  You can certainly find posts from people who made the switch, find Quicken Mac meets their needs, and are thrilled to be done with Windows. And you can certainly find posts from people who have not switched because of shortcomings (real or perceived) in Quicken Mac versus Windows, and still others who made the switch but aren't happy having done it. The problem is that even when you find such posts, the features and issues vary from one person to another. There is no one "killer" difference which causes Quicken Window users to find Quicken Mac a bad choice; rather, a feature which one user finds important is a killer for them -- and a non-issue for someone else.

For example, there was just a post yesterday from a Quicken Windows user who said they could not move to Quicken Mac because the latter doesn't have the Savings Goals feature of Quicken Windows. Yet I've seen posts from former Quicken Windows users who said they never used that feature, or they did but could get the data they need just fine with Quicken Mac. 

There are dozens of other such issues where Quicken Windows to Mac converts have widely different opinions about the differences or the degree of impact they have.

As a result, although it's time-consuming and a PITA, I think you're on the right path to try to use Quicken Mac for yourself, while maintaining Quicken Windows in case you decide you're going to stay on Windows. Perhaps you can skip some of the duplicate entry in Quicken Windows for a couple weeks -- and only go back to do it if you determine you're going to walk away from Quicken Mac. I just don't think you can take the endorsement of one Windows-to-Mac convert as validation that you'll be happy with Quicken Mac, nor can you take the rant of a failed Windows-to-Mac convert as proof you won't.

I have discussions almost every week on this forum with people looking for solutions which may be different from what they've done before (on Quicken Windows or the old legacy Quicken 2007 for Mac). In some cases, people say "that's different, but that'll work!" In some cases, people say "ugh, this really sucks compared to what I could do in Quicken Windows." In some cases, people say "I like this feature better in the Mac version than Windows." Every situation, every user, is different. That's why I say -- to you, and to others who ask similar questions -- the best way to answer the questions is to try using Quicken Mac with your data to see if, after climbing the learning curve enough, Quicken Mac works for you or doesn't.

JoelC

@jacobs, I appreciate your detailed answer, thank you.

I have climbed the QMac learning curve and am very comfortable with QMac.

The biggest concerns that I have are:

1. The loss of data integrity in converting from QWin to QMac (i.e. historical f/x rates, transfer details fro investments [i.e. f/x rates, account funds transferred to], etc.). Were the data integrity perfectly maintained then I would feel better about the change because I would be able to leverage that data integrity as QMac rolled out new features.

2. The inability to convert from QMac to QWin which makes the move to QMac somewhat permanent.

If 1. and 2. were not issues then moving from QWin to QMac would be risk free.

Why Quicken does not recognize this and implement this is puzzling.

Thanks.

cumminj

JoseC and Jacobs,

Does MAC have the ability to run a Windows Emulator so you could stay with Quicken for Windows on the Mac? Or is that not advised.

JoelC

If a Mac has an Intel chip then it is possible (i.e. Parallels + Windows + QWin).

If a Mac has an M1 chip (i.e. Apple silicon) then it is essentially not possible as Windows ARM is not supported and YMMV!

cumminj

Thanks JoelC. That kind da puts a damper on my thoughts of jumping off the PC to MAC.
I like the huge performance enhancements of Apple's new Mac's with (Apple silicon). But the cost is quite steep when you weigh it against the potential loss of investment data integrity converting to QMac. I think I would be questioning investment calculations/reports from that point forward. May be I should just seek out the highest performing PC and stay with Qwin.

jacobs

Sorry, I work only in US dollars, and the database and reports are rock-solid reliable; I have no experience with issues around converting currencies. 

There are some people who are running Quicken Windows on an M1 Mac using Parallels software paired with the Windows ARM Insider Preview operating system. That seems to hold promise for the future, although Microsoft has recently thrown doubt on whether the ARM version will continue. But Parallels can definitely run Windows 10 and Windows 11 currently (Google "windows 11 on a mac" for several informative articles).