Quicken license

sharmaru

I have Quicken Classic Premier installed on an all-in-one computer. I just bought a laptop for traveling and would like to run the same software on the laptop. What would be your recommendations to accomplish that goal? Is there multiple licensing available? Use Quicken Web? Which would be the most cost effective?

Chris_QPW

You can install Quicken Subscription on as many machines as you like. The subscription is tied to the Quicken Id not a given data file/machine.

What you will have to do though is copy the Quicken Desktop data file between the two machines to use it on that machine since there isn't any automatic syncing between machines.

You can also sync the Quicken Desktop data file to the "Quicken Cloud dataset" and use either Quicken mobile or web but note that these applications are "companion apps" and not stand-alone applications and only have partial functionality in comparison to the Desktop applications.

RickO

And one major note of caution: DO NOT store the desktop data file on any cloud service (e.g. OneDrive, Dropbox, etc) and access it from multiple computers. This often will lead to file corruption as Quicken is not designed to be used in this manner. When moving the file between computers, you must compress the file or move and restore a backup copy.

Bob@45

I do this a lot. I one one license/subscription, and I use it on both machines.

The night before I travel, I copy my Quicken files (I use 2 of them) from the Quicken data directory on my primary computer to my laptop. I've done this by direct copy (using AnyDesk or LogiOpt), by using USB, and by copying up to the cloud and then back down again. (Agree with RickO: Always use local files, do not have Quicken attempt to use files stored in the cloud).

When I get home I make sure I have a backup of my primary computer's files, and then copy the recently updated files from laptop back to my home computer.

Chris_QPW

@RickO profile suggests that @sharmaru is using Quicken Windows. If that is the case, then there isn't any need to compress the file like would be needed on Quicken Mac. What's more I actually suggest copying the Quicken Desktop (*.QDF) file to the other machine and open that instead of doing a backup and restore.

The Restore in Quicken Windows does some extra steps that aren't needed in this case, and there is a small chance that it will cause extra problems.

I do agree though that it is better not OPEN a Quicken data file from a cloud service, but it is perfectly fine to use them to actually transfer the *.QDF file.

For instance, I keep my data file at:

C:\Quicken\Current.QDF

I could copy that data file to a cloud service folder.

And then on the other machine copy that data file from the cloud service folder to C:\Quicken\Current.QDF on the other machine, and open C:\Quicken\Current.QDF in Quicken. And then reverse that to move any changes back to the original machine.

Also, note that if you are using OneDrive to backup your Documents folder, then your Documents folder will be in a OneDrive folder, and it is a good idea to move your data file to a folder outside of OneDrive like C:\Quicken. Quicken puts your data file in your Documents\Quicken folder by default.

And also note that in Edit → Preferences → Backup, you can change the folder that is used for Backups. It is fine to use a cloud service folder for this purpose.

EDIT: When I above talked about copying and moving, I'm just talking about using Windows File Explorer to do that (Quicken shouldn't be running when you do these operations).