Quicken Mac Classic Data Files on Server to Share

Question

For the most part I do all the financial stuff when it comes to using Quicken.  I would like to allow my spouse to be able to access Quicken as she occasionally likes to see our financial stuff.

Kinda 2 parts…

1.  Is there any reason I can not put data files on a home file server for general purposes?

2.  Assuming using a server to store data.  As long as we don't attempt to access those files at the same time (requiring us to properly QUIT Quicken when done) would this work?

RickO · Answer

Let me know if you need any more detail on any of them.

athuddriver · Answer

Thanks for that!  SIGH!  LOL  Your answer seems consistent with what I was thinking would be the problem.  Frankly, the iOS option is more confusing to the casual Quicken user.  I'm 70 (and while I have no immediate plans to kick the bucket) my concern is that if something happens to me my spouse won't be savvy enough to jump into the use of Quicken.   I appreciate the detailed list of options.

RickO · Answer

It is not recommended. Inevitably, file corruption creeps in due to permissions conflicts.

There are, however, solutions. One is moving a backup file back and forth between computers by storing the backup (and only the backup) on the server. It's a bit tedious and requires following the procedure carefully. If you're interested in this method, let me know and I'll provide more details.

Another is to host the file on the main computer and use remote access to log into that computer remotely (from your wife's). That is safe since the file always resides on the main computer.

Finally, she can view a limited amount of the data from Quicken on the Web or the iOS or Android app. This requires turning on Sync on the desktop. Personally, I don't do this because I've heard of too many horror stories of data getting corrupted.

All of the above works if she wants to be able to make changes to the data. If she only needs to view the data but not make changes, then I'd recommend a variation of my first option above. That is to auto-save a backup to the server. Then set up automation to restore the backup to her local file on her computer. Since this is a one-way process, there's no risk of corrupting your live file. She needs to be aware that if she makes changes, they won't be saved to the live file. The only other glitch with this is that she needs to avoid doing anything that causes a Quicken server ping (such as requesting account updates or accessing the Connected Services settings panel). If she does this, the live file is going to require you to reset the Quicken Cloud when you next access it. It's not a big deal though if it happens occasionally.