moving from Q2000 on Win7, basic questions about newer subscription version (edit)

Martyu

Hello everyone,

I'm new on this forum and a long-term Quicken for Windows (Q2000 on Win7) user, finally wanting to start downloading transactions from my bank and credit card companies (vs. manual entry). So I'm looking to upgrade. My main uses for Quicken are reconciling bank and CC accounts and basically acting like an electronic checkbook register. Don't need it to track investments, don't need it for budgeting, don't need it for a "when to retire" tool.

I hope it's ok to ask some really dumb questions, but I couldn't find answers from googling around about this stuff.

-Is there currently a "Quicken for Windows" (here in the year 2024) that runs locally, on my PC, not in the cloud, on the web, etc.? It's really unclear, what I read is "Quicken for Windows", but what I see looks like a web browser.

-I understand that there is now an annual fee to use Quicken. Fine. Is it safe to assume that Quicken will continue to support downloading of transactions from major financial institutions into the future? Do they have a history of dropping support for downloading transactions from 'x' bank or 'y' credit card, or making paying subscribers jump through hoops to continue to be able to download transactions?

-I realize it's not cool to talk about other products on this forum, but any suggestions about other ways to accomplish what I'm trying to do would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much in advance for any help.

Regards,

Marty

jacobs

I hope it's ok to ask some really dumb questions, but I couldn't find answers from googling around about this stuff.

No dumb questions; that's what this forum is here for. (Okay, there are some dumb questions, but yours aren't! 😂)

Is there currently a "Quicken for Windows" (here in the year 2024) that runs locally, on my PC, not in the cloud, on the web, etc.? It's really unclear, what I read is "Quicken for Windows", but what I see looks like a web browser.

The company recently did a minor branding change to add the word "Classic" to all the desktop-based Quicken products (in order to distinguish them from their more recent online-only product, Quicken Simplifi). So yes, there is currently "Quicken Classic for Windows", the many-generations-later successor to the program you've been using. Quicken Classic Windows lives on your local computer, just as your old version does. You could optionally enable syncing to Quicken Cloud for access via mobile app or a web interface, but that is not required (and many here don't recommend it unless you really, really need that remote access to your data).

I understand that there is now an annual fee to use Quicken. Fine. Is it safe to assume that Quicken will continue to support downloading of transactions from major financial institutions into the future? Do they have a history of dropping support for downloading transactions from 'x' bank or 'y' credit card, or making paying subscribers jump through hoops to continue to be able to download transactions?

Yes, as long as you maintain your subscription from year to year, you will be able to continue downloading transactions from financial institutions. Quicken doesn't drop any financial institutions, but sometimes financial institutions drop support for Quicken. Quicken obviously doesn't control that. But there are still more than 10,000 financial institutions that Quicken works with. If there's a specific bank or credit card you want to check on before deciding to purchase a subscription, you can post the names of the financial institutions here, and users will be able to tell you if they currently appear in the directory of supported financial institutions. (Or you can try a subscription to Quicken and, if you discover it doe not support the financial institutions you need, you can get your money back from Quicken within 30 days of purchase.)

I realize it's not cool to talk about other products on this forum, but any suggestions about other ways to accomplish what I'm trying to do would be greatly appreciated.

"Cool" or not, the Quicken moderators don't allow discussions of competing software products since they are, understandably, paying to operate this forum for the benefit of Quicken users. 😉 You'll have to look elsewhere on the Internet for opinions about other personal finance products. (Also, most of the people who hang out here on this forum are long-time Quicken users, so many of us have limited and often not up-to-date knowledge about competing products.)

Boatnmaniac

@Martyu - You will not be able to upgrade from QW2000 directly to the current Subscription. Instead, you will need to upgrade first to a couple of intermediate versions first. You can read about this upgrade process and download free program installation files for QW2004 and QW2013 (for the intermediate upgrades) in this Support Article: https://www.quicken.com/support/how-and-when-use-intermediate-version-convert-older-versions-quicken .

jacobs

I hope it's ok to ask some really dumb questions, but I couldn't find answers from googling around about this stuff.

No dumb questions; that's what this forum is here for. (Okay, there are some dumb questions, but yours aren't! 😂)

Is there currently a "Quicken for Windows" (here in the year 2024) that runs locally, on my PC, not in the cloud, on the web, etc.? It's really unclear, what I read is "Quicken for Windows", but what I see looks like a web browser.

The company recently did a minor branding change to add the word "Classic" to all the desktop-based Quicken products (in order to distinguish them from their more recent online-only product, Quicken Simplifi). So yes, there is currently "Quicken Classic for Windows", the many-generations-later successor to the program you've been using. Quicken Classic Windows lives on your local computer, just as your old version does. You could optionally enable syncing to Quicken Cloud for access via mobile app or a web interface, but that is not required (and many here don't recommend it unless you really, really need that remote access to your data).

I understand that there is now an annual fee to use Quicken. Fine. Is it safe to assume that Quicken will continue to support downloading of transactions from major financial institutions into the future? Do they have a history of dropping support for downloading transactions from 'x' bank or 'y' credit card, or making paying subscribers jump through hoops to continue to be able to download transactions?

Yes, as long as you maintain your subscription from year to year, you will be able to continue downloading transactions from financial institutions. Quicken doesn't drop any financial institutions, but sometimes financial institutions drop support for Quicken. Quicken obviously doesn't control that. But there are still more than 10,000 financial institutions that Quicken works with. If there's a specific bank or credit card you want to check on before deciding to purchase a subscription, you can post the names of the financial institutions here, and users will be able to tell you if they currently appear in the directory of supported financial institutions. (Or you can try a subscription to Quicken and, if you discover it doe not support the financial institutions you need, you can get your money back from Quicken within 30 days of purchase.)

I realize it's not cool to talk about other products on this forum, but any suggestions about other ways to accomplish what I'm trying to do would be greatly appreciated.

"Cool" or not, the Quicken moderators don't allow discussions of competing software products since they are, understandably, paying to operate this forum for the benefit of Quicken users. 😉 You'll have to look elsewhere on the Internet for opinions about other personal finance products. (Also, most of the people who hang out here on this forum are long-time Quicken users, so many of us have limited and often not up-to-date knowledge about competing products.)

Martyu

Awesome, thanks, @jacobs .

Boatnmaniac

@Martyu - You will not be able to upgrade from QW2000 directly to the current Subscription. Instead, you will need to upgrade first to a couple of intermediate versions first. You can read about this upgrade process and download free program installation files for QW2004 and QW2013 (for the intermediate upgrades) in this Support Article: https://www.quicken.com/support/how-and-when-use-intermediate-version-convert-older-versions-quicken .

Martyu

Great, thanks so much @Boatnmaniac !