I lost my Quicken file from twenty years ago (1997-2003)

Volvoguy · February 2023

About twenty years ago, in 2003, my Quicken file was getting too large. It had my bank accounts and credit card accounts, etc. So I did something, I forgot what Quicken called it. It created a new file starting in 2003, and kept the old data in the existing file, I think. Anyway, it is very important to me to go the very old data of important transactions I made from 1997 to 2003. I don't know how to search for these old files. I wonder what extension to look for. Maybe they are not the *.qdf extension. Maybe I had some backup files with other extensions. The computer I am using now only has qdf files from 2003 to the present, which is disappointing. I have a box of old hard drives that I will start seaching. Maybe somebody has had the same experience that I am going through and can lend me some advice. Chuck

q_lurker · February 2023

See this artice for extensions

https://www.quicken.com/support/quicken-data-file-set-extensions

Most likely you will be looking for files with the QDF extension. For the Quicken of that vintage, there was a set of files with a common file nema and the 3-4 different extensions. Try to get all those if possible, but if you just get the primary file, you will probably find what you are looking for.

To open the older files, you may need an intermediate version. See

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-and-when-use-intermediate-version-convert-older-versions-quicken

Hope this helps