Quicken Data File appears "unpackaged" in Finder (Q Mac 2007)

Question

Hello,

I have been using Quicken 2007 for Mac for years.  For the past 12 months or so on an iMac running Mojave.  Everything was working, except for the automatic Quicken backup when quitting.  I would periodically drag copy the Quicken data file to a separate hard drive as backup.  The icon for that file has always been a Quicken icon and I could open the file by double-clicking or within Quicken using File→ Open.

Two weeks ago my main datafile wouldn't open with a message something like "file wasn't backed up".  I switched to one of the copies I had made and it was working again.  After two or three days of use the backup file that we had been using failed to open with a similar message.

For a second time I went to my backup file which opened.  I tried different ways to save a copy of that backup file (drag copy, save a copy, backup a copy, export QIF).  I have all of those files but now when I try to open those data files they appear in the Finder (and from within Quicken) as a Folder with the name of the data file.  Inside those folders is a folder named "Contents" and  Data file alias which is an executable.  None of those files are recognized within Quicken as a file to open.  None of those files will open Quicken if I double click on them nor drag them onto the Quicken app icon.

What might have changed in the file structure and is there are way to work with these data files?

jacobs · Answer

I can’t offer advice on software alternatives to Quicken because I’ve stuck with Quicken Mac over three decades and it meets my needs well. Like you, I don’t download transactions; I enter them manually. But I also track my investments in Quicken, and value having all my financial information under one roof. Having the history of all our financial transactions under that roof is one of the other key benefits of Quicken to me.

I share my usage to make the point that you could choose to move to the current Quicken Mac, even though you won’t take advantage of all its features.  Or perhaps you can find some other personal finance software for categorizing, reporting on and reconciling bank and credit card accounts, but migrating your years of data might be a challenge. Best wishes.

ranidad2 · Answer

Thank you for the note about utilizing .zip file compression as safer transportable backup strategy.

I am aware of the need to modernize my software but the current direction of Quicken Mac is full of features well beyond my needs.  I want to continue to have access to my historical data which is one challenge.  The other is that my use of Quicken is just recording and categorizing expenditures so that I can use them to reconcile statements and generate ad hoc reports on spending as needed.  I do not use it online banking, downloading data, or investment tracking.

I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions on what software to adopt.  Preferably Mac but we also have a Windows laptop.

jacobs · Answer

@ranidad2  I'm glad you were able to recover your data. I just wanted to note that you can safely keep a .zip copy of your data file compressed in the Finder (File > Compress), on a cloud storage service. You just can't put the live data file in cloud storage, or drag it to other hard drives which may have incompatible formatting. (I would rely on this for safe backup much more than QIF, especially for when you smoke day will inevitably will need to move from Quicken 2007 to modern Quicken Mac.)