Can you run two quicken accounts at same time?

Happy2bhere

I've been running a quicken account for my home expenses. I use the budget section to see where I am at during the month on all my expenses. Recently, I started traveling and tried to pull those accounts into my main home account and now my budget figures are all off and am overwhelmed on how to fix this.

Can I start a separate quicken account for my travels? I like to keep them completely separate from each other.

Thank you,

Wendy

volvogirl

You can have separate Data Files in 1 Quicken program and subscription. Is that what you want?

FILES - Your data is kept in a separate data FILE (and not in the program). In the data File you have all your accounts. You can have more than one File like a separate file for your parents or children or a club. Recent Files opened should be listed at the bottom of the FILE menu item. Your data file ends in .qdf and should be in your Documents (or Library) then in a Quicken sub Folder. Or you can search your computer for all files ending in .qdf to find them. Go to FILE - NEW QUICKEN FILE to setup another data file. When you do a backup it only backs up the file currently open. You get the whole data file and all the accounts in that one file.

ACCOUNTS - You can have many accounts in a File like a checking account, savings, credit card, asset, investment. Accounts are listed down the side in the Account Bar. You can do Ctrl+A or go to TOOLS - ACCOUNT LIST to bring up the Account listing. You do not backup Accounts separately.

jacobs

What @volvogirl said. (Except her notes were for Quicken Windows, and the commands are slightly different for Quicken Mac.) You can have two separate Quicken data files, one for your income and expenses, and a separate one for other purposes (such as tracking finances for a parent or child, a nonprofit organization, or business expenses you need to keep completely separate.

BUT… in your first post, you said you wanted to pull your travel data into your home data — and you can't (easily) do that if you have two separate data files.

So I'd like to dig a little deeper into why you say you want to keep your travel data separate from your home data. Is this travel for you/your family, or is it for your employer? If the former, we'll need more information about why you'd want to keep it separate, as most people want to include their travel expenses with their other personal expenses. If the latter, there are a few ways you can track work expenses and reimbursements within your regular (one) data file. I won't dive into that until we know if that's the right road to go down.

Happy2bhere

Thank you all. Volvogirl explained what I was trying to do. I just wanted to keep them separate as they are coming from different income sources. Thanks Again!

NotACPA

It's not clear exactly what you mean by "accounts". In Q, accounts are things like your checking or credit cards or assets like a house or investment accounts.

They are contained within a Quicken FILE.

There's also the account that you have with Quicken Inc, the company, the subscription to which allows you to download into those accounts in your Quicken file.

SO, what do you mean by "account".

Happy2bhere

It would be the account I have with Quicken. In that account, I track home expenses. I'm wondering can you have main accounts, one to track home expenses and one separate one to track travel expenses? Or, does this require two subscription to keep them separate from each other. I don't want to mingle them. I hope this explains it better. Thanks for the help.

NotACPA

That would indicate that you have 2 subscriptions with Q. WHY? Since you can run Q on multiple PC's. There's absolutely no need for separate subscriptions for home and travel. Just move your Q data file between you desktop and laptop when you travel, and then back to the desktop when you return home.

And, you still don't seem to understand. The ONLY thing that the account WITH Quicken does is allow you to download the software, it's updates. You still need the Q product to input the transactions.

Do you have Q installed on 2 devices?

volvogirl

You can have separate Data Files in 1 Quicken program and subscription. Is that what you want?

FILES - Your data is kept in a separate data FILE (and not in the program). In the data File you have all your accounts. You can have more than one File like a separate file for your parents or children or a club. Recent Files opened should be listed at the bottom of the FILE menu item. Your data file ends in .qdf and should be in your Documents (or Library) then in a Quicken sub Folder. Or you can search your computer for all files ending in .qdf to find them. Go to FILE - NEW QUICKEN FILE to setup another data file. When you do a backup it only backs up the file currently open. You get the whole data file and all the accounts in that one file.

ACCOUNTS - You can have many accounts in a File like a checking account, savings, credit card, asset, investment. Accounts are listed down the side in the Account Bar. You can do Ctrl+A or go to TOOLS - ACCOUNT LIST to bring up the Account listing. You do not backup Accounts separately.

jacobs

What @volvogirl said. (Except her notes were for Quicken Windows, and the commands are slightly different for Quicken Mac.) You can have two separate Quicken data files, one for your income and expenses, and a separate one for other purposes (such as tracking finances for a parent or child, a nonprofit organization, or business expenses you need to keep completely separate.

BUT… in your first post, you said you wanted to pull your travel data into your home data — and you can't (easily) do that if you have two separate data files.

So I'd like to dig a little deeper into why you say you want to keep your travel data separate from your home data. Is this travel for you/your family, or is it for your employer? If the former, we'll need more information about why you'd want to keep it separate, as most people want to include their travel expenses with their other personal expenses. If the latter, there are a few ways you can track work expenses and reimbursements within your regular (one) data file. I won't dive into that until we know if that's the right road to go down.

Happy2bhere

Thank you all. Volvogirl explained what I was trying to do. I just wanted to keep them separate as they are coming from different income sources. Thanks Again!

volvogirl

Different income sources? That doesn’t clear up what you are trying to do. All your income should be in the same one data file. The Data File should follow your tax return. If you report the income on your personal 1040 tax return then all your income and deductions should be in the same Quicken file.

jacobs

I'm also still confused about what you're trying to accomplish. You can track multiple income sources in one Quicken data file. You can track income and expenses from different sources or needs separately in a variety of ways, depending what your needs are, using different accounts, different categories, different tags. Could you walk us through what you're wanting to do?

NotACPA

Echoing the questions from @volvogirl & @jacobs. I've had multiple income sources (wife's work, my work, my consulting, investments) in a single Q data file.

What @Happy2bhere is trying to do is quite confusing.