Re installing Quicken for Mac 2015

SimoT

Hi,

I am trying to migrate Quicken for Mac 2015 from an old MacBook to a new machine.

I don't have the original .DMG installation package so I have copied over the application directly from one machine to the next.

The application boots up and I can get to the page where it asks to start from scratch, import an existing file etc. No matter which option I choose I end up with a blank white screen and can't get passed this point.

I noticed someone else asked a similar question in another thread but I don't believe it was ever answered.

If anyone can help that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Greg_the_Geek

Quicken has disabled access for pre-subscription versions of Quicken. Many Windows users have reported the same problem, so I'm assuming it also applies to the Mac version as well.

SimoT

Ok that's fair enough I know support for this version is no longer available but why can't I use it if I've copied it from another machine that has it working?

I have tried copying the App by itself and then also tried both the App and user data as well both with the same issue. There must be a way to be able to continue to use what I had already paid for.

RickO

I don't remember the last macOS version supported by QM2015, but I'm guessing if you are moving to a new machine, it is running Ventura. I just tested QM2015 on my Ventura machine and I see the same thing when I try to "start from scratch". Also, double clicking an existing file to start QM2015 just resulted in the getting started screen.

I tried the "Open Quicken 2015 File" button at the bottom and that did not work either. Then I tried the "Open your Quicken 2015 File" radio button selection (2nd item) on the Getting Started screen and from that I was able to successfully open an existing file. After that, opening files either from within QM2015 or by double clicking. Try some of these methods, you may get it working.

All that said, QM2015 is definitely no longer supported on Monterey or Ventura. An OS update could totally break it at any time. I'd strongly suggest you bite the bullet and subscribe to the current version. Yes, I know there's an ongoing cost but it can be very reasonable when you find it on sale. Also, you may be very pleasantly surprised at the improvements that have been implemented since 2015. When I opened my copy of QM2015 for this test (which I have not done for a very long time), I was kinda shocked at how primitive it looks compared to the current version.

Greg_the_Geek

Maybe one of the Mac Superusers will have an answer.

SimoT

Hi all, thank you for your responses.
I have tried a few things and managed to get it to work again.

So Initially I was just trying to copy the app from one Mac to the next and then run through the registration process after it had been copied (this resulted in the issue I described earlier)
I then tried this process on multiple different versions of MacOS (as far back as Catalina) all having very similar results. I was able to open a backup by after selecting it, going to the window menu and clicking on the name of the backup file which brought the window to the front of the screen. This was not ideal as I'd have to go through this process every time I opened the app.

What ended up working was restoring the new Mac entirely from my old one, this worked flawlessly. Then I was able to delete all my unwanted data and eventually upgrade to Ventura where Quicken still ran fine after the upgrade.


It appears that when you just copy the app itself without a full restore, the 'getting started' page is constantly prompted and this is the part that does not clear. I'm assuming the app is trying to reach out to some validation server or something that does not exist anymore due to QM15 no longer being supported.

If you do an entire restore, the 'getting started' process is already done. This must be marked as complete somewhere in the filesystem however I could not find it. (Was hoping to so I could mark it as complete on my new system)

So in a nutshell, restore your machine for a like for like copy and it will work.

Thanks for the support.

jacobs

@SimoT Thanks for reporting back on what you did to get it to work. I'm not sure, but it's possible that copying the Quicken preferences file to the new Mac would have been enough to get it to bypass the registration screen and allowed you to proceed. But I'm glad you found a way, even though it took extra time and work.

As @RickO said above, I wouldn't count on this old version continuing to work through future macOS upgrades; it might, but it might not since no one is testing it, and Apple is constantly retiring old parts of macOS in favor of newer technologies. 

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It sounds like Quicken 2015 works well enough to meet your needs. If so, great for as long as it continues to work. I just thought I'd echo RickO on the issue of the substantial improvements in the program over the past six years. It seems you have no need for loan accounts, or for annual budgets, and perhaps you don't track any investments? Even if you're fine with entering all your transactions manually (which I do), you might be pleasantly surprised by all the improvements in reports, QuickFill (memorized) transactions, and many other areas of the program. (As a longtime Quicken Mac user, when Quicken 2015 came out, I tested it, but continued using the old Quicken 2007 because there were so many missing features in the first releases of the modern Quicken 2015. It took me several years of enhancements until I finally decided that the modern Quicken Mac had improved enough for me to get off Quicken 2007.)

So you might consider buying a Quicken subscription and trying out the current version; you can get a refund from Quicken within 30 days if you decide the improvements aren't worth the cost for you. Current Quicken Mac will import your Quicken 2015 data file, and you can continue to use Quicken 2015 while you use the current version; the data files are separate, and you can even run them at the same time. Do things in parallel for a few weeks to evaluate whether there are enough improvements for you to spend the money for the new version. Yes, there is a cost involved; while no one likes paying for an annual subscription, many Quicken Mac users find enough value in the program to consider it worth the roughly $5/month cost. I don't work for Quicken or get any benefit from recommending it. I only say this because to me there is a substantial difference between the current Quicken Mac and its first iteration back in 2015. Depending how you use Quicken, it may or may not help you to move up to the current version. 

SimoT

Thanks Jacobs, I did try and copy the Application Support>Quicken 2015 directory from my old machine to my new machine, thinking this would fix it for sure however it didn't :(. I'm assuming the 'get started' acknowledgement must be in a different directory?

As for the new version of quicken, I'm definately a fan and may be looking at it for myself. This specific version is for my father to use and he had just gotten use to use QM15 and only uses it for basic book keeping so he doesn't really want to learn a new system at this point in time.

I might give the new version a crack myself though.

Thanks guys.

jacobs

Hopefully you won’t need this information in the future, but just FYI, the main Quicken preferences file lives in /Users/(your home folder)/Library/Preferences; the file name is com.quicken.Quicken.plist

SimoT

Thanks Jacobs, I will definitely save this for future in case it works!