Stories from a Q/Win to Q/Mac Migration

dwfrank

I've been a Quicken for Windows user since 1998. I switched to MacOS about 12 years ago, but have kept a Windows virtual machine around ever since for many things. I've slowly migrated apps from Windows to Mac versions or equivalents. After poking around again, it looked like it was time to try the newest Q/Mac and see how it compares for my use cases.

I've moved over. And I'm in pretty good shape, but not entirely happy. I figured I would share my experiences.

*Migrate via cloud*

The right way to migrate from Q/Win to Q/Mac is via a Cloud "backup." Copy to cloud on a Q/Win one-click update, then create a new Q file on Q/Mac from the cloud. All of the balances were correct. I had to "re-close" a few accounts, but it was minor.

I made previous attempts to just convert the Q/Win file or restore from a Q/Win backup. All of those were a mess.

*Old Bill came back*

One weirdness was an old bill that came back. This was a bill that had been scheduled 4+ years ago in the old Quicken Bill Pay (probably before the spinout?). But I was unable to delete it. (Bills & Income -> Bill -> 3 dots -> It just sat there complaining that I was 2184 days past due.

Q support helped me with this. Here is what worked:

1. Bills & Income -> Bill -> 3 dots -> Create Series
2. Backup the file to QXF
3. Create a new MacOS Quicken file -> restore from QXF
4. Bills & Income -> Bill -> 3 dots -> Delete Series

The bill is now gone, but I can't see a way to delete the Payee? It doesn't matter I'm not going to see a bill anymore. I'm fine with this.

*Differences in how Brokerage/Money Market accounts are handled*

This is the change that is frustrating me the most.

My main cash account is at ETrade, a money market account that backs an investment account. In Q/Win, this was represented as two accounts: an Investment account (e.g, Main) and a linked cash account (Main-Cash).

On Q/Win Main-Cash:
- Is Checking account (Banking/Cash)
- Can Check Pay
- Can Quick Pay
- Can print checks
- Gets downloaded cash transactions

On Q/Win Main:
- Is a Brokerage account
- Gets downloaded dividend transactions

Q/Mac, per this link (https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7887083/linking-brokerage-and-cash-accounts#:~:text=There%20aren't%20linked%20cash,as%20check%20%23)%20if%20needed) and a discussion with support, there is no concept of Brokerage + Linked Cash accounts. You can only connect a Brokerage account.

This means my current solution is:
- Keep Main-Cash so I can Print Checks/Check Pay/Quick Pay
- Main-Cash is manual txn entry
- Main gets connected for downloaded txns
- I move transactions from Main to Main-Cash when I reconcile Main-Cash

I'm not happy about this manual step. But it preserves my existing functionality.

I really would like Q to make this work on the Mac, please!

jacobs

You are correct that Quicken Mac doesn't support linked cash account yet. However, you can pay bills from a brokerage account, so you probably don't need the separate cash  account unless you want it. Since a brokerage account in Quicken shows the cash balance int he register, but the total value in the sidebar, this may or may not be suitable for you.

But if you want to enter a check directly in the investment account, the trick to know is that any banking-type transactions are entered in an investment account with the Type=Payment/Deposit. As soon as you select that Type, you'll have access to all the fields you would in a banking account. So you can input a check number, or mark a check to PRINT and print it, without it being in a separate account. (I don't use Quicken bill pay, but I believe it will also work creating Quick Pay or Check Pay transactions her was well.)