New mid 2014 MacBook Pro Accessing Quicken 2007 Files

jira3

I was using Quicken 2007 on my early 2012 MacBook Pro for basic checking account register, account balancing, and check printing functions. The 2012 failed and I picked up a mid 2014 MacBook Pro with MacOS 11 Big Sur pre-loaded. Don’t really need much more than I was using, and need to be able to open and use my existing Quicken 2007 files. What are my options? Don’t think I am really interested in VM Parellels, unless that’s really the best way. Thanks

Jon

If you want to keep running Quicken 2007 you're going to need to downgrade the OS to Mojave (10.14) or earlier, it won't run on anything newer than that. A 2014 Mac should be able to run Mojave.

If you want to keep using Big Sur, the current version of Quicken Mac no longer officially supports that (they say they support the current version of Mac OS and the previous 2 versions so that would be Mac OS 12 or later) but it might still work anyway. A mid-2014 MacBook Pro won't run anything later than Big Sur, though, so you might not want to switch to the current Quicken Mac; even if it does work for you now there's no telling how long it will do so.

smayer97

QM2007 will not run on Big Sur because it does not run 32-bit software, which QM2007 is. If you want to keep running QM2007, your only options are downgrade the macOS to 10.14 Mojave or older, the last macOS to run 32-bit software, or use a VM. VMWare has a free one for personal use (Fusion) that will run on Big Sur or newer. BUT you will need v12.x, as v13.x is only supported on macOS 12+ (though it may work on Big Sur… I have not tried it). Want to use Fusion 13 Player for Personal Use? Get your Free Key here!

See here for some details if you are interested: Share your experience running QM2007 in a Virtual Machine (VM)

If you want to venture there, you can try to install newer macOS versions on unsupported Macs, using the following tool:

https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/MODELS.html

Regardless, to use QM2007 on a new machine, you will need to read this too: Can't register Q for Mac 2007 on new machine

Otherwise, your only alternative is to buy the current Quicken subscription. It will run but is not supported on anything older than Big Sur. There is a 30-day trial period during which you can get a refund. You can stop your subscription after a year if you are willing to put up with about 20-25% of your screen taking up by reminders by Quicken to re-subscribe.

jacobs

Not that if you decide to move back to macOS Mojave on the 2014 Mac, you'll ideally want to completely reformat the hard drive in HFS+ format (it's currently in APFS format) for using Quicken 2007. I think the macOS Mojave installer can do that if you go to Disk Utilities before running the actual operating system installer.

FYI, the reason the path for Quicken 2007 ends with macOS Mojave is because Mojave is the last Apple operating system which supported older 32-bit programs; starting with the next operating system, Catalina, macOS only runs 64-bit programs. Quicken 2007 was built on a lot of core technologies which were long-since obsolete and unable to be updated the 64-bit versions, and that's why development on a next generation Quicken Mac began back in 2007.

If you decide to upgrade to the current Quicken Mac, it will definitely run fine on macOS Big Sur. The development team has just retired support for macOS Catalina, the operating system prior to Big Sur, and as @Jon indicated, at some point in the future, they will drop support for Big Sur as well. There's no way to know when that will be; it's probably not too soon since they just dropped Catalina last month, but it could be within the next year. At that point, your installed version of Quicken will continue to run on macOS Big Sur, but you'll be blocked from installing any future updates. (I have one Mac still running macOS Mojave, and it still happily runs Quicken Mac version 6.12.17, but can't go beyond that.)

smayer97

Actually, you do not need to reformat the drive. QM2007 will work ok on APFS as long as you are not doing any file-based type actions, e.g. re-indexing, Save a Copy, Auto-backups, etc. (though re-indexing will trigger automatically after a crash of QM2007). If you want any of these, then you will need an HFS+ based volume, and is recommended. But then you do not need to reformat the entire drive. You can simply create an HFS+ partition, using Disk Utility. Then you must store both the QM2007 application and files on that partition… or simply use an external drive formatted as HFS+.

jira3

thank you all, I sincerely appreciate your detailed responses. I was hoping for a simpler solution, but based on knocking around here a bit, I expected this.

I am unclear on a couple of things, though. It sounds like I can’t open files from QM2007 on current QM, correct? I.E. Not backwards compatible.

What is QMClassic, and how might it fit in my needs? I think I read something about 7.4 working with Catalina?

jacobs

It sounds like I can’t open files from QM2007 on current QM, correct?

@jira3 No, incorrect. The current Quicken Mac (now officially titled "Quicken Classic") can read and convert a Quicken 2007 data file into the modern file format. Note that I said it's a conversion: it can't actually continue to work with the old data file; it does an export from the Quicken 2007 data file to a Quicken conversion server which sends your data back to your Mac in a format Quicken Mac can import. It's a one-time conversion process which is (usually) pretty quick and seamless, assuming your Quicken 2007 data file doesn't have any corruption.

So to recap, your options are either (a) downgrade your 2014 Mac from Big Sur to the older macOS Mojave on your Mac so it can run Quicken 2007, or (b) purchase the current Quicken Mac, which will run on your current macOS Big Sur, and import your Quicken 2007 data.

The advantages of moving to current Quicken Mac is that you'll be replacing the old and sometimes flakey database in Quicken 2007 with a modern, robust, and super-reliable database in modern Quicken Mac, and you'll continue to have a path forward with your Quicken data for years to come. If you continue to stick with Quicken 2007, at some unknown point in the future, it's likely the conversion process will cease to work. Disadvantages of moving to modern Quicken Mac include that (a) you'll now be paying for an annual subscription, (b) there's a learning curve to the new user interface and ways of doing things, and (c) there are some features from Quicken 2007 which haven't yet been built in the modern Quicken Mac. Based on your description of your use of pretty basic Quicken functionality, I doubt (c) will pose problems for you.

Additionally, because your "new" Mac is actually nearly a decade old, and can't run an operating system beyond your current Big Sur, you will run into problems within a few years because you're using an old and no-longer-supported operating system. (I finally had to update my old Mac running Catalina because more and more websites would not work correctly with the web browsers available for that operating system. You'll likely find the same thing within a year or two with Big Sur.) And because Apple has ended support for Big Sur, it is no longer receiving security updates, which makes you vulnerable to viruses/malware.

As noted above, the current version of Quicken Mac (7.4) will run on Big Sur or later; but nothing earlier. (The 7.4 release is the first which will not run on Catalina.) It's likely that within the next year, more or less, an update to Quicken will no longer work on Big Sur. You'll be able to continue running the version of Quicken you have at that time; you just won't be able to install newer releases as they come out. (Quicken typically releases feature updates roughly every two months.)

@smayer97 said: Actually, you do not need to reformat the drive. QM2007 will work ok on APFS as long as you are not doing any file-based type actions, e.g. re-indexing, Save a Copy, Auto-backups, etc.

Correct. Note that I said above that if moving back to macOS Mojave to run Quicken 2007, "you'll ideally want to completely reformat the hard drive in HFS+ format." I didn't say it was required; I suggested that would be the ideal path, because of the limitations you spelled out. And you're correct in noting that it could be done with an HFS+ partition of the APFS drive. If going that route, the one non-intuitive thing that needs to be done is not installing the Quicken 2007 application in the Mac's main Applications folder (which resides on the startup APFS volume) and instead installing it in a folder on the HFS+ volume, along with the Quicken 2007 data file and backups.

smayer97

@jacobs If going that route [HFS+ partition of the APFS drive], the one non-intuitive thing that needs to be done is not installing the Quicken 2007 application in the Mac's main Applications folder (which resides on the startup APFS volume) and instead installing it in a folder on the HFS+ volume, along with the Quicken 2007 data file and backups.

As I already noted. "…you must store both the QM2007 application and files on that [HFS+] partition", which also applies if you use an external HFS+ formatted drive.

@jacobs So to recap, your options are either (a) downgrade your 2014 Mac from Big Sur to the older macOS Mojave on your Mac so it can run Quicken 2007, or (b) purchase the current Quicken Mac, which will run on your current macOS Big Sur, and import your Quicken 2007 data.

No, as already mentioned, the other alternative is to run QM2007 in a VM, with all of its caveats. BTW, you can get a FREE VMWare Fusion v12.x license and download here, which will run on macOS 11, Big Sur: https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/evalcenter?p=fusion-player-personal and as mentioned above, there is a FREE license for v13.x for when you want to move forward. Important to note that macOS 10.14 or older can run in a VM only on Intel-based Macs.

And again, another alternative is installing newer versions of macOS on unsupported Macs, for those so inclined. The advantage is being able to use the newer version of QMac, or continue to use QM2007 in a VM with the newest macOS as a host. Of course, this is for those who have a level of comfort with this stuff.