If Quicken goes out of business, will I still be able to access my data files?

Question

I was trying to restore a backup file from 2017 to fix a Quicken data problem. I'm creating a new Qdata file to keep everything separate from my working Qdata file. But instead of showing me my data, I got a screen asking me to sign in to Quicken. Just to look at my old data?

That got me thinking, what happens if Quicken goes out of business and there are no servers to login to my Quicken ID? I lose access to all my data?

Sorry for asking but losing access to my own data has happened to me once already when a data encryption company decided to take down their registration servers. I had all my encrypted data files, I had the binaries for the encryption program, but I couldn't register a new install to decrypt the data when I had to rebuild my computer. So I effectively lost access to my data.

Something one doesn't like to think about but I'd like to know what Quicken's policies are if the company shuts down.

Chris_QPW · Answer

If Quicken goes out of business, will I still be able to access my data files?

Interesting enough this is something I warned about back in Quicken 2014 when Intuit first required the Quicken Id login to register the product. Years later we pretty much have the answer "maybe not".

Quicken Inc changed something on the server and now it is impossible to login with the Quicken Id if you don't have the Subscription version.  The same would be true of Quicken Subscription if Quicken went out of business and didn't put out a version that didn't require the Quicken Id before that time.

The "maybe not" only comes in because if you have saved the Quicken.ini file from an old working machine in most cases it can be used to work around having to register using the Quicken Id.

As for what Quicken Inc's policies would be if they were going to shut down, they certainly will not pre-announce something that.

Jim_Harman · Answer

That is a good question.

My guess would be that if Quicken were to shut down, you would have enough warning that at a minimum you could print reports that show your historical transactions and current balances.