Moving from Windows to Mac, take 2...

Bob.

Thanks Chris. But not understanding. What are you suggesting I use? The QDF in the Cloud (which is converted in the cloud, not stored there - its local to my Windows PC) or exporting to QXF?

Chris_QPW

I'm suggesting converting in the Cloud is the surer way to get a better conversion.

At least in the past, the "Converter" (QDF to QFX) was maintained by the Mac group, which had more of an interest of keeping it up to date than the Windows group did. The "Converter" was nothing more than a hacked version of Quicken Windows to export the QXF file.

Bob.

@Chris_QPW Got it. Thanks. Will see if it works this time.

Bob.

Just tried the Convert in the Cloud. It worked!

First thing I noticed is numbers off. I think I have a LOT of work ahead of me. But a much better start than last time.

jacobs

@Bob. I know you have said you are not interested in guesses or non-definitive answers to your questions, but I'm afraid that's all anyone here can give you on this topic. The cloud-based converter used by Quicken Mac was designed to do what you need to do. It has worked for many thousands of Windows-to-Mac users doing conversions over the years. If something is actually broken with it currently, it's doubtful anyone here is aware of it or has any deep insight into it. That's why I said you could try going down the road of contacting Quicken Support if you can document specific problem(s) with the cloud converter.

I was under the impression that that Quicken Mac Import > QDF did not use the cloud converter; I'm pretty sure it did not in the past. But the developers may have changed it somewhere in recent times. Actually, it would make sense to me to not have two similar but slightly different versions of Windows-to-Mac conversion tools around, one using a built-in converter in Quicken Mac and one using the cloud-based converter. So perhaps they made it so all imports of Quicken Windows files use the cloud converter, whether you are using Import in an existing Mac data file or creating a new Mac data file. That's what you have apparently found in your conversion attempts, and it makes sense to me.

As noted above, another option is to export your data to a QXF file from Quicken Windows, and then to import that QXF file in Quicken Mac. The QXF file format probably doesn't preserve some things that the QDF converter is built to do, but it should preserve all transaction data. Whether the differences are apparent or meaningful is something I don't think any of us here can tell you specifically and authoritatively. If you have not tried the QXF approach, it's probably worth trying to see if you get a satisfactory conversion.

I'm sorry that this doesn't provide the definitive answers you seek. You could try spending time trying to get those answer from Quicken Support, but the answers depend on technical knowledge that may not be available to Support representatives. In the worst case, they might give you flat-out wrong information; more likely, they may not be able to answer, and may not document it to be escalated. (And even if they do escalate it, a resolution might be quick or might take weeks, months or never come.) Which brings me back to the suggestion to try any/all of the the tools which are available, and see if one of them gets you reasonably close to a good conversion outcome — one with with something less than major work needed to clean-up any issues.

Bob.

@jacobs New file created with no cloud convert. QDF converted with cloud convert. It is the only choice I had this time. But it did work! And it left cloud sync on which I do not want, so turned off. I do have a cloud account now on Mac, where again, not listed with Windows. It is what it is.

OK, three issues. One important:

1. I had a hard time connecting my Fidelity IOnvestments. Multiple issues. For one, did not find a Fidelity Investments for online services, but a Fidelity Investments and Retirement!!?? I used that, found my accounts, but balances REALLY off. I did it again as it was so bad, linked my accounts again and cash is off in all accounts by LARGE amounts. Would like to get this straight right away, but unsure how??
   
   To complicate it, when I converted last time for QXF I had all my years of transactions. Now there is not a one to be found.
   
   Something here very wrong. Can I get some advice? This is the worst of the "conversion issues.
   
2. My checking account is showing a transaction from a future reminder. I usually enter these, this was enetered. Throws off my balance totally. How to I tell checking not to show a future transaction I have not enetered.
   
3. Last, the sidebar categories only show totals when hovered:
   Checking, Credit Card, Investments. Do not recall that previously. Is there a place to set those to always show?
   

OK. Fidelity the biggest issue. Wil pause until I hear some advice. I hate to start with that big an error. And if I have to start over, now would be the time nbefore I did in too deeply.

Thanks.

Jon

For my Fidelity account I use the Direct Connect method to connect to the "Fidelity Investments Mac" financial institution; it works fine for me. You may have issues with duplicate transactions getting started; my advice would be to reconcile your accounts in Quicken Mac to your most recent statements before you connect them for downloading so that any duplicate transactions will be easily identified as unreconciled.

If the sidebar is displaying account names but not account totals then try dragging it wider. As the sidebar gets narrower at some point it stops displaying totals.

jacobs

And it left cloud sync on which I do not want, so turned off. I do have a cloud account now on Mac, where again, not listed with Windows. It is what it is.

After you turned off Sync, do one more thing: Go to Settings > Connected Services and click the Cloud Reset button. This will replace your current cloud file with a new one, but since Sync is off, it will contain no transaction data or account connection credentials now or ever. This cloud file is used to identify you for any services which go through Quicken's servers, but it won't have any important data.

I had a hard time connecting my Fidelity Investments.

I don't have accounts with Fidelity, so I will defer to others to reply to you on that.

To complicate it, when I converted last time for QXF I had all my years of transactions. Now there is not a one to be found.

Are you saying none of your transactions in your Fidelity account converted at all? That would be unusual. Or are you saying you can't see transactions in your Fidelity account — e.g. you see tabs for Dashboard, Portfolio and Watchlist, but not Transactions? If so, that's because this account has currently been set to Simple Tracking. I would first disconnect the account from downloads; then go to the setting for the account and change transactions to Detail. All your previous transactions should now be visible on the Transactions tab.

My checking account is showing a transaction from a future reminder. I usually enter these, this was enetered. Throws off my balance totally. How to I tell checking not to show a future transaction I have not enetered.

I'm not fully understanding what you mean by "I usually enter these, this was enetered".

Is the future transaction in the register gray (a scheduled transaction) or black (a regular transaction)? If the former, you can control what, if any, scheduled transactions to see in a register by clicking on the little click icon on the upper right, under the Search box. If the latter, in the upper right, under the red Q logo, is the account set to "Projected Balance"? If so, it will show the balance including any displayed future transactions. To avoid this, click on Projected Balance and select Show Today's Balance from the drop-down menu.

Last, the sidebar categories only show totals when hovered: Checking, Credit Card, Investments. Is there a place to set those to always show?

In Settings > Sidebar, you can select whether you want see balances for individual accounts, for major Groups (Banking, Investing), and for Sub-Groups (Checking, Credit Card, etc.). You can check them all, or any combination you want.

Bob.

OK, there appears to be a "Fidelity Investments MAC" I have never seen. I am going to try to delete and readd these accounts and see what happens.

Bob.

Will need to reply to more after I try this. Thanks for the RESET tip, Jacob. Will read the rest in a bit.

Bob.

OK, good news, bad news. Fidelity Investment MAC now has the proper balances. But absolutely no transactions. Can I fix or do I need to start over with a QDF import?

@jacobs "Are you saying none of your transactions in your Fidelity account converted at all? That would be unusual. Or are you saying you can't see transactions in your Fidelity account — e.g. you see tabs for Dashboard, Portfolio and Watchlist, but not Transactions? If so, that's because this account has currently been set to Simple Tracking. I would first disconnect the account from downloads; then go to the setting for the account and change transactions to Detail. All your previous transactions should now be visible on the Transactions tab."

Good call. But after changing only see 90 days of transactions! How to get the rest?

"Is the future transaction in the register gray (a scheduled transaction) or black (a regular transaction)? If the former, you can control what, if any, scheduled transactions to see in a register by clicking on the little click icon on the upper right, under the Search box. If the latter, in the upper right, under the red Q logo, is the account set to "Projected Balance"? If so, it will show the balance including any displayed future transactions. To avoid this, click on Projected Balance and select Show Today's Balance from the drop-down menu."

Yup, it is gray. Never saw these in Windows until I "enter" literally from Bills and Income. And anotheer good call. now gone, but the register balance does not match the sidebar balance. Register is correct. Off by an amount I cannot find in either Mac or Win.

I changed to Projected Balance and now correct upper right, but still not in sidebar. Ahhh, found it :)

AND, now found he subgroup balances. Good stuff. Thanks so much. All but Fidelity OK (for the moment)

So, before I can make sure all accounts connected, set things as mght suit me and see if I can live with htis, I need to fix Fidelity. Hopefully without starting over. How do I get the missing transactions?

Thanks.

Jon

It's normal to only get the most recent transactions when downloading - the time period can vary from one firm to the next but 3 months is a typical result. Fidelity will let you download account transactions going back 5 years as a CSV but you're not going to be able to import that into Quicken Mac.

I'd suggest you try converting again since that's going to be the only way to get your fidelity account history (other than re-entering it all by hand); if you haven't attempted exporting a QXF from Windows and importing that to Quicken Mac I suggest attempting that to see if it gives better results than the cloud convertor.

Bob.

@Jon Not sure I agree. I think when I converted from QXF all were there. And I believe if I had chosent the proper Fidelity Bank when converting in the cloud they would have been as well. Agree since Quicken thinks these new, only limited transactions. I really want all.

I hope there is some way to import just those from Windows? I really do not want to delete this account and start over again. But will if my only choice.

An aside: Connecting billers and having issues. But for another day. I'm sure you will have advice when I lay out the problems.

Bob.

@Jon Just finished your reply. Cloud did better convert than QXF. This was a bad choice of financial institution that "almost" worked.

Any way to JUST get Fidelity in QXF?

Jon

I don't see a way to export a single account to QXF in Quicken Windows, the only option I see for exporting is on the File menu and that exports the entire file.

Jon

I created a new file and connected it to Fidelity. I got transactions going back to the beginning of the year, nothing older than 12/29/24. So without re-converting your Windows data I think that's all you're going to get from Fidelity.

jacobs

@Bob. Here's a roundabout way to do what you want…

• Make a backup of your current convertedMac account just in case something here makes things worse instead of better.
• Do another conversion of your Quicken data file to a new and separate Quicken Mac file.
• Check the conversion to make sure it includes your transactions in the Fidelity account(s).
• Then delete all accounts in this new file except the Fidelity account(s).
• With only the Fidelity accounts remaining, export the file to a QXF.
• Then, in your converted "mostly good" file, delete the Fidelity accounts you previously created, and import the QXF file with the Fidelity accounts as new accounts. Make sure you now have all your Fidelity transactions.
• Make another backup again, just in case.
• Finally, set up downloading for Fidelity, using the correct instance of Fidelity which allows Direct Connect, and be sure you select to link it to your existing Fidelity account(s), not to create new accounts.

Bob.

Whew :) A bit of work but worth a try. Not sure I am up for it tonight, but maybe.

Thanks for that. If nothing more, leveling the playing field this time for a real evaluation.

Small question - any way to choose the panes for the Investments dashboard? I can for main dashboard, but investments seems fixed, even for each individual investment account.

Jon

@Bob. I'll add one note to @jacobs post immediately above - if you have transferred money from other accounts to your Fidelity account (or vice versa), deleting all accounts except your Fidelity account will leave one side of those transfers unconnected. When you finish importing the account to Quicken Mac, you'll need to fix those transfer transactions to reconnect them to the other account.

Jon

@Bob. You can rearrange the investing dashboard panels but you can't turn any of them off, and there aren't any hidden ones to turn on.

Bob.

@Jon Thanks. Not sure how I would fix that.

Just did a new import. ALL my transactions are there. What's funny is my Watchlist is missing. In both new files.

Bob.

I'm thinking the best thing is to use this NEW file with correct Fidelity. Going to work on that next. Got a few hours to maybe get it into shape. Interesting consequences of selecting the wrong Fidelity, eh?

AS I work through, just found a big one :( I use my Bank's Bill Pay with Direct Connect in Windows. Mac is telling me not available for this account. Hopefully a setting? That is a showstopper.

And I hope working through this is helpful and interesting for other's. So many unanticipated things!

And thanks again for the help… Back later.

Jon

A file with all your transactions intact will take less fixing than one with missing transactions, so I agree the best thing is to use this new file. Anything else that's missing (like a watchlist, for example) will be easier to replace.

Bob.

OK folks:

1. I am back to as whole as I can be at the minute. I need to choose and arrange all columns for all accounts
   
2. I need to add about 80 entries to my watchlists!!
   
3. I need to understand Bills and Reminders as not as I would expect and some not making semse to me. I am sure you will be helpful there.
   
4. And the realy big one - need to get Wells Fargo Bill Pay back. I am "hoping" if I disconnect online services and reconnect, I can get it to work. If not, will be back here for help. And if not, its a showstopper.

Some of the things I askled help finding last thread I see here oin new places. That's good.Some things still irksome.

Small Questions:

1. One thing I can do in Windows and is handy is update only one account. Can I do that in Mac? Seems all or nothing.
2. Windows has a nice progress dialog showing all things I have selected to update for a One Step Update have completed or not or even errored. Not seeing either One Step Update setting in Mac nor a doialog as it runs. Am I missing it?

jacobs

Just did a new import. ALL my transactions are there.

That's great. Now you can real start from a level playing field. And thanks to @Jon for pointing out something I didn't mention when describing my possible alternative; for most of us, trying to fix all transfers into and out of an invesmtment account held for a long time could be a lot of work. So I'm glad you don't need to go down that road.

What's funny is my Watchlist is missing.

There are a number of things which aren't "mission critical" which don't transfer. Saved reports don't transfer; the reports architecture is very different. Attachments don't transfer; I'm not sure why they never included that. Watchlist is a relatively recent addition to Quicken Mac (last summer), and they likely didn't modify the converter code to try to pick up up. It's fairly easy to add securities to a watchlist, so unless you had hundreds, it's easy to re-create — and that's probably why it wasn't essential to add it to the converter. I suspect they try not to touch the converter code unless they really have to, as every tweak runs the risk of breaking something else.

jacobs

One thing I can do in Windows and is handy is update only one account. Can I do that in Mac? Seems all or nothing.

It's actually in between all or nothing… (And I thought I've been told Quicken Windows is the same way.)

• If you have a Direct Connect account, you can select Accounts > Update Selected Online Account (Command-U), and it will update just that one account. UNLESS you have more than one Direct Connect account at the same financial institution, in which case it will update all the Direct Connect accounts at that financial institution.
• If you have a Quicken Connect (called EWC and EWC+) account, you can select Accounts > Update Selected Online Account (Command-U), and it will update all Quicken Connect accounts across all financial institutions. There is no way to download transactions from just one financial institution if you have Quicken Connect accounts at multiple financial institutions.

To update all accounts, you can select Accounts > Update All Accounts (Command-Shift-U), or you can just click the little circular arrow at the top of the sidebar. For what it's worth, it's not specifically called "One Step Update" anywhere in Quicken Mac, although lots of people use that terminology interchangeably with "Update All Accounts".

And Update All Accounts also pulls in the latest security prices every time you run it. If you ever want to just update security prices without downloading transactions, go to any investment account or investment group and click the little circular arrow icon in the upper right. (You can also do this on the Watchlist page by clicking the little circular ••• icon and selecting Update Security Prices. (That one actually shows a status message of how many securities it's updating, although it's typically very fast unless you have many hundreds of active securities. Which brings up another tip: if you have lots of old securities you no longer own, and you don't want Quicken to keep download prices for those securities go to Window > Securities and make sure the checkbox at the top for "Download quotes only for Watchlist, indexes & securities held" is checked.)

Windows has a nice progress dialog showing all things I have selected to update for a One Step Update have completed or not or even errored. Not seeing either One Step Update setting in Mac nor a doialog as it runs. Am I missing it?

I believe the Quicken Mac equivalent of what you're looking for is Window > Connection Status (Command-Shift-S). At the bottom of this window, you can set it to pop up only if there are errors, Always, or Never.

Bob.

@jacobs I believe there is an odd number of items a watchlist can have. For some reason I recall 87. Might be 80. or something else, but there is a limit. I was full. So will be a little time consumming. Not a big deal.

Windows DOES allow any single account to be updated - and with a menu item in the gear if I recall. Will try this one. Interesting. Just did. It APPEARS it is updating just that one account! (ooops, now with connection staus shows you are correct. All of type.)

Actually, on Connection Status, Windows is a bit more featuie rich, configurable and informative. But this helps. Thanks.

So, pausing for a moment:

After years of debugging Quicken. I know quite a few tricks. Deleting online access to actually change method when change method does not work. Doint to all at one institution, etc. I tried a half dozen tricks. Lost connectivity to Wells Fargo totally, then best I could do was Quick Connect for all Wells accounts even though I have ACTIVE Direct COnnect and Bill Pay in Windows. This is absolutely mission critical. I may call Wells tomorrow, and if not up and running., will shelve all until next Tuesday after my trip. But I MUST get this working. Error is QFX 2000. Not much to go on.

Any input appreciated.

Bob.

Securities under Window shows a lot of my old Watchlist and a checkbox to add each to the Watchlist. Helpful.

Bob.

One more. If I recall, Windows has settings to delete Payees or tags or maybe others not used in a year. Might be selectable time. I am seeing a ton a payees from 20 years ago :) Any way to limit?

OK, pausing for real now :)

jacobs

In Quicken Mac, you can't delete a Payee that is in use in the transaction. It's a difference in the way the database is built compare to Quicken windows. In Quicken Mac, a Payee only exists in once in the database, so deleting it would leave you with transactions that have no Payee. So instead, you can Hide Payees you used in the past but no longer want to see in dropdown lists of Payees. You also have the ability to merge Payees, if you find some with typos or duplicates representing a single entity.

There's no real downside to having a bunch of hidden Payees, though. It'll just take a while to go through your large Payee list and hide the ones you don't want to see; I suggest doing it a little at a time, somewhere down the road, rather than seeing this as a big job you need to get accomplished right away. I keep meaning to take another pass through my Payee list to clean it up, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

I believe there is an odd number of items a watchlist can have. For some reason I recall 87. Might be 80. or something else, but there is a limit. I was full.

I haven't tested it, but I doubt you'll find such a limit in Quicken Mac.

Lost connectivity to Wells Fargo totally, then best I could do was Quick Connect for all Wells accounts

I don't have accounts with Wells Fargo. But I'm looking at the fidir.txt file (Financial Institution Directory) for Quicken Mac, and it appears to show Wells Fargo supports Direct Connect and bill payment:

03000 03000 03000 Wells Fargo https://www.wellsfargo.com/ 1-800-956-4442 https://connect.secure.wellsfargo.com/auth/login/present ACTIVE BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO,PAYMENT&DIRECT BANKING,CREDIT&WEB-CONNECT BANKING,CREDIT,ACCOUNTINFO&EXP-WEB-CONNECT NOT_QBP NA