Spent 3 hours synching bank account and setting up categories and POOF -- gone today

CoopRotary

I'm beyond annoyed. Spent 3 hours on Saturday with our club treasurer setting up our Quicken Deluxe account via the web, typing in our chart of accounts/categories, etc. Logged in this afternoon and the bank account has disappeared. So have the categories. I've been on hold with Quicken Support for 30 minutes. Not a great start to my Quicken experience. Any tricks to recover the info without having to re-do the whole shebang?

GraysMom

At risk of being insulting, are you sure you didn’t accidentally open a new file instead of the one created earlier

CoopRotary

I am not entirely sure. We were using Quicken for the Web. I’ve clicked on absolutely everything to find the original file but nothing seems to work.

jacobs

Quicken for Web is a supplement to a desktop data file. Did you just create it on the web login, but not create a desktop data file using the Quicken Mac application?

The Quicken Cloud data file contains a subset of your complete data file, and the web (and mobile app) provide a subset of the features in the desktop application. It is intended that you use the desktop application and data file as your primary interface, and use the web app as a way to look up data or enter data as needed. The desktop app and the cloud data should sync when you tell it to, retaining the most recent data in whichever location it was updated most recently. (That said, there are many of us longtime users who choose not to use the web/mobile app because of hearing many problems with sync errors people encounter.) In theory, it should be possible to start in the web app, and then use that cloud data file to create a desktop data file, but it doesn't actually work. (And the cloud data is therefore not a viable backup of your Quicken data file, because you can't use it to start over should you need to; only backups created by the desktop application — automatically and manually — are usable for going back in time to a backup of your data.)

I can't say with any clarity what happened with the data you created Saturday that you can't see today. It's possible there is a separate Quicken Cloud account and you can log into it. But as mentioned, because I don't use the Cloud services, I'm not really sure what you can see or connect to. Sorry!

GraysMom

I was just going to reply that I also use the desktop app on my Windows PC and only occasionally have poked around on the online products to get information on the run. So I can’t be more help beyond what I suggested.

CoopRotary

Thanks, all. Spent an hour on chat support to learn what jacobs just wrote (though no mention of the issues downloading the file we created via web. And if it’s only meant as a convenience, why the heck did it let me go through all that trouble?!) I am doing this for our Rotary Club so it’s important that the file be transferable when treasurers change. I’m not sure Quicken is the solution though it’s better than our current situation.

jacobs

CoopRotary said:

And if it’s only meant as a convenience, why the heck did it let me go through all that trouble?!

Well, the folks as Quicken intend the Quicken Cloud to be fully usable by users who want secondary access to their data. I'm only reporting that in the real world, it has a higher rate of problem reports than most other Quicken features. That doesn't mean it doesn't work, and that some people don't use it without trouble.

What is wrong is for Quicken to tell users they can start online and then access their data via a desktop file. Several of us here have implored the site moderators to convince the team which manages the Quicken website to remove any mention of starting online; Quicken has been unresponsive.   

CoopRotary said:

I am doing this for our Rotary Club so it’s important that the file be transferable when treasurers change.

The file is indeed transferrable -- but it's the desktop file that you would transfer, not the login to a cloud account. I did the books for a small national association in Quicken for many years, and passed the file on to the person who succeeded me as treasurer. The issue is that the successor will need to use Quicken Mac, since it's not possible to migrate from Mac to Windows, and not easy to migrate to other software products. I think in many such transitions, the new Treasurer will inherit the application and data file, and if they choose to move to another platform, at least be able to open the old file for historical reference.

There are certainly other software products (including Quicken's own Simplifi) which are built around portability and being completely web-based. I wonder if Simplifi might better meet your needs? 

CoopRotary

Thank you for all this. Nowhere on Quicken’s website is Simplifi mentioned as a completely web based option. Argh. Will take a look at it tomorrow when my exasperation wanes. We are currently operating with a couple of binders and a checkbook so anything will be an improvement, but need for it to be durable. Appreciate your time and expertise.