Converting Windows File

Shelly D

I'm a bit hesitant regarding the process. I have recently changed from Windows to Mac. I have a need to view, search etc. from a backup that I had in a separate folder which contained previous years Windows data/information. What I want to do is convert the older Windows file and not populate that information into my present data that I use on a daily basis.

The older file has data going back to 2012. If possible, I would want to create a separate Mac file that I can refer back to so as to view/search etc. and would have no intention of adjusting the older file. I created while in Windows a separate folder named "Quicken_Older_ Backups", which the Mac version "sees" under the function of File_Open, however it show the type of file as "Document" without any Quicken extension.

I'm a bit apprehensive, as when I attempted to convert, it renamed the existing file as "…-2" and seemed to have duplicated a number of accounts etc. Fortunately I was able to restore my original file and all of my accounts and balances were OK.

Therefore I'm a little stumped on what to do. I would also be open to have the older transactions be available in my recent day to day file for access without messing up my day to day file. Any help or ideas would be appreciated🙄

[Edited - Readability]

MontanaKarl

You can have as many separately named Mac data files as you want (just like in Windows). So, there should be no issue converting this other Windows file containing old data… unless it is not in a recent QWin format…in which case you might have to update it in QWin first before QMac can convert it to a fresh Mac file.

Conversion will not add accounts/transactions to your existing file unless you do an import of some kind rather than a straight conversion.

Shelly D

Karl, thanks for follow up. I too was running Parallels with Windows 11, but I decided to dump Parallels and Windows desktop. That’s where I’m confused, as the previous Windows file now shows the type of file as “document”. Now that I have dumped Parallels and Quicken for Windows I believe that I have no way to update because I haven’t open the older file for quite some time. I only had Parallels so I could work with Quicken and from time to time Windows office etc. are you saying that I would need to re-install Windows 11 and Parallels?

MontanaKarl

Hi @Shelly D

It seems you're trying to convert incorrectly. The QWin QDF file will be unknown/document on a Mac as no Mac app knows what a QDF is. You should not be trying to open it.

I just opened a file from QWin 2017 format without any issues. With QMac open, go to File > New and then select "Start from a Quicken for Windows file". Browse to the location of your old Windows file, and go through the conversion wizard which will tell you that it has to upload it to the cloud for conversion, will ask for the file password if it has one, and then will download the data into a new QMac file with the same file name. If that file name is the name of your existing Mac file… then before you start all of this rename the old Quicken Windows file to avoid a conflict.