Quicken use on multiple Macs.

Harold Appel

I've read earlier posts on this subject and think I understand the problem. I wonder, though, if there isn't a different solution. The source file for Quicken is located in ~library/application support/quicken/documents. Could one make a duplicate of this file on the home computer and insert it in the same location on secondary Macs when away from home and reverse this procedure when one came home again (if the laptop had updated its accounts)? Would this work? Would it mess up the actual Quicken Classic iOS app data?

RickO

It doesn't really matter that the file is located in the Library folder. You could move it to the Documents folder or the Desktop or anywhere else. But yes, you could duplicate the file on the home computer and put it on the laptop. As long as your user identity is the same on both machines, it "might" be okay. But you might also get corruption. It is strongly recommended that you only move the Quicken file between machines in compressed form. This could be a .zip file or a .quickenbackup file made from Quicken.

The easiest way to do this is to point your automatic backup location on both machines to a cloud storage location (Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, etc.). Then whichever machine you want to work on, restore the backup file from the cloud location to your local hard drive on whichever machine.

On thing will happen though: when you connect on the next computer, you will get a warning to the effect that only the most recent file can be used with Quicken Cloud. You will have to Reset the Quicken Cloud. This is generally not a problem (it just updates the cloud database). But you can occasionally get some transaction duplication on Quicken Connect accounts that needs to be cleaned up.

jacobs

It doesn't really matter that the file is located in the Library folder. You could move it to the Documents folder or the Desktop or anywhere else. 

One caveat to this: you should only put the live Quicken data file in the Documents folder or a Desktop folder *if* you do not have your System Settings for iCloud > iCloud Drive set to stop the Desktop & Documents folders on iCloud. if you do have your Desktop & Documents stored on iCloud, you can create a Quicken folder in your Home folder (Macintosh HD > Users > [your home folder]).