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Quicken for Idiots

DoctorDoolittle

Hello!

I started using Quicken casually a few years ago for our personal and small business accounting. I had only a vague idea what I was doing, and being a "plunge-in-and-try-to-figure-it-out kind of learner, I'm afraid I've bungled things up so badly that the mess may be irreperable. I have a one-on-one appintment with a Quicken tutor on 2/26/25 but I'm wondering if anyone else has been struck with Quicken-Idiocy and has any ideas about how to unravel this Gordian Knot?

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Comments

Quicken Anja

Hello @DoctorDoolittle,

We appreciate you reaching out for help! To better assist you, we’ll need to gather some additional information.

Could you please elaborate on the specific issues you're experiencing with your data? Are you noticing incorrect transactions, missing entries, or something else?

Do you have any saved backups from before things got messy? If so, restoring an earlier version might be a viable option. Additionally, would you prefer to clean up your current file or start fresh with better organization? Depending on the severity, starting over might be the most effective solution.

I also noticed that you're currently running version R61.17 of Quicken. Keeping your software up to date ensures you have the latest fixes and improvements. The latest version is R61.20—please navigate to Help > Check for Updates to install the latest version.

Alternatively, you can also manually download and install R61.20 through the Manual Patch found in this support article.

Lastly, could you please tell us where your data file is stored on your computer? Do you have it saved in a folder located on your local hard drive (C: Drive), or in a cloud-based/external drive (e.g.: OneDrive, DropBox, USB, etc.)?

Looking forward to your response!

q_lurker

@DoctorDoolittle You certainly are not the only one who has bungled up their setup in Quicken. Without knowing the details of your Gordian knot, others can’t really offer suggestions as to unraveling it. Each such knot is highly unique, in my opinion.

I’d be interested in how you found a in-person Quicken tutorial. That question does arise somewhat frequently. I hope you had some personal recommendations from trusted sources (accountants, financial advisors, reliable and trusted friends) and did some proper vetting. I’d also recommend it be you at the keyboard and mouse so that you learn and control the process. Don’t fall for a nice-guy stealing your financial data.

NotACPA

My 4 rules for setting up Q:

Assets (things that you own) and Liabilities (things that you owe) are accounts in Q. Your electric and water bills (etc) aren't.
Bills that you get, such as water, electric, medical, Taxes are categories in Q. Income can be paychecks, SSA, or from investments … but those also are categories. Look to your most recent tax returns to get an idea as to your categories and then add-in non-return items like groceries and utilities.
Q should always reflect reality
Record things in Q as close to when they actually happened as possible.

Many people have tried to set up their utilities as Q accounts … and that just leads to a mess.

But to repeat @q_lurker, without knowing more we can't provide much more than generic guidance.

Rocket J Squirrel

I’d be interested in how you found a in-person Quicken tutorial.

So would I.

Does the Quicken 1-2-3 program for new users still exist? That's the closest thing to in-person I know of.

https://www.quicken.com/support/help-getting-started-quicken/

Quicken Anja

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20477799#Comment_20477799

@Rocket J Squirrel Yes, the Quicken-1-2-3 program is still active. I initially assumed that’s what the OP was referring to, but now I’m not entirely sure.

If they are referring to an in-person tutor, I definitely agree with @q_lurker and would advise the OP to properly vet the person offering the service to ensure credibility and expertise.

mshiggins

Q Anja referred the OP to the 1-2-3 call in this post back in January:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20470661#Comment_20470661