Husband/Wife using Quicken on multiple devices

Question

My wife and I have all of finances jointly and are using one account.  We each have a Windows PC, iPhone, and iPad.  What is the best way to set Quicken up so that our data is able to be synced and kept up to date.  I've placed two calls to Quicken support by the techs do not seem to be able to comprehend what I'm wanting to do.  Thank you!

Rocket J Squirrel · Answer

That script has bugs. Needs backslashes between the %…DIR% variables and the adjacent %…FILE% variables.

I edited the post to restore the backslashes. Feel free to check my work.

splasher · Answer

If you have a slight background in programming, you could try this Windows command file that keeps the data file on a network drive, copies it to the local drive when you start Quicken and puts it back when you close Quicken.

It obviously needs to be modified to point to your network device and other details as such, but it does work.  I did not create it, but it was written by a former Quicken superuser that I consider to be real sharp.  It has a locking mechanism to prevent two users accessing the data file at the same time.

It will allow you and your wife to both make updates to your data without stepping on each other's toes and messing up your Quicken data file.

If you do try this, make sure that you have a current backup of your data file just for safety.

@echo off

set DATA_FILE=MYDATA.qdf

set SERVER_DIR=\NAS-PC\Quicken

set TMP_DIR=c:	mp

set PROG_FILES_DIR=C:\Program Files (x86)

set LOCK_FILE=%SERVER_DIR%\Quicken.lock

IF EXIST "%TMP_DIR%" GOTO :SKIP_MKDIR

mkdir "%TMP_DIR%"

IF %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 GOTO :NEXT

start /wait cmd /C "ECHO Error creating '%TMP_DIR%' && PAUSE"

goto :END

:SKIP_MKDIR

IF NOT EXIST "%LOCK_FILE%" GOTO NOT_LOCKED

start /wait cmd /C "ECHO %SERVER_DIR%\%DATA_FILE% is LOCKED && PAUSE"

goto :END

:NOT_LOCKED

echo lock > "%LOCK_FILE%"

copy "%SERVER_DIR%\%DATA_FILE%" "%TMP_DIR%\%DATA_FILE%"

"%PROG_FILES_DIR%\Quicken\qw.exe" "%TMP_DIR%\%DATA_FILE%"

IF %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 GOTO :TRYCOPY

del "%LOCK_FILE%"

GOTO :END

:TRYCOPY

copy "%TMP_DIR%\%DATA_FILE%" "%SERVER_DIR%\%DATA_FILE%"

IF %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 GOTO :NEXT

start /wait cmd /C "ECHO Error copying Quicken data file (maybe locked). && PAUSE"

goto :TRYCOPY

:NEXT

del "%TMP_DIR%\%DATA_FILE%"

del "%LOCK_FILE%"

:END

Tom Young · Answer

About the only way you could do that, assuming that both spouses want to make entries, would be to very, very, very carefully pass the "live" file back and forth, making sure that only one spouse at a time has access and control.  Quicken just doesn't work well (if at all) in a networked/cloud environment.  Quicken was designed for a "desktop" environment for one "chief accountant" to control.

If you really need "online, real time, synced everywhere" for the two of you (do you, really?) then I'd probably advise one of the pure online and less capable offerings.  I've not investigated "Simplifi by Quicken" which claims to be "Our newest app for managing your

money, exclusively on mobile and web."  You might take a look at that.