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

Ranidad

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?

MontanaKarl

Very strange. The data file is a macOS "package" that, as you say, typically looks like a file in Finder… and you have to right-click and "Show package contents" to see what you're seeing.

No idea what could possibly cause the package to be 'unpackaged'… as obviously QMac 2007 has had (and will get) zero updates. Maybe (punting!)??… some other app has taken over the data file extension from QMac 2007?

I've not familiary with 2007…so don't know its file extension. Current releases have the extension ".quicken"…. If you are able to restore a copy of your data that still looks like a single file (package)… right click it, and Get Info and in the Info panel, expand the "Open with:" section and verify that it is set to open with your Q2007 app.

(Otherwise, and I'm sure you don't want to hear it as you have good reasons for staying with a 17 year old program… I would consider migrating your data to the current QMac… although… it will not run on Mojave which is 5.5 years old now.)

jacobs

The file not being backed up message sounds like a typical message you'd see when quitting Quicken 2007 running on a Mac with a hard drive formatted in APFS format. But are you seeing this message when you open Quicken 2007?

Otherwise, the breaking of the 'package' file sounds to me like something which can happen when a Quicken data file is stored on a cloud storage platform (which Quicken doesn't play nice with and doesn't support). Where is your Quicken 2007 data file located on your Mac? In your macOS Settings for iCloud Drive, is it set to save Desktop & Documents folders on iCloud? If so, that's a no-no.

ranidad2

Thank you for your suggestions.

My delayed response is due to frustrations with this website. Repeated attempts to login from the emails sent notifying me of your replies were unsuccessful as were attempts to reset the password using that email address. I eventually just registered again using a different email address. Frustrating!!

I was not aware that Quicken data files and cloud storage are not compatible. Thank you.

At least some, if not all, of the unpackaged files had been saved to Dropbox. I did have files saved to a USB thumb drive but I lost track of the source of the data files during my frenzy to open and restore my datafile. I was unsuccessful in my attempts to "repackage" the datafile by adding the ".qdfm" extension to unpackaged folders. However, that may be due to those files having spend time on a cloud server.

The good news…

I had also created a QIF export as a backup. I was able to create a new datafile and import that QIF file to restore my data as a Quicken datafile. Moving forward I am going to duplicate my datafile more frequently and avoid using cloud servers for storing them. I also plan to export in QIF on a regular basis.

Thanks again

jacobs

@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.)

ranidad2

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

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.