Is there an easy way to allow multi-user access to files?

Leebs

I am about to start paying bills for my elderly father. We live in different states. I need to keep his existing Quicken Classic Deluxe files updated with activity that I perform on his behalf but he wants to be able to open quicken and look at what is going on from time to time.

Is there a Quicken subscription that will allow us both to have quicken deluxe on our macs but access data files that have been migrated to and live on the internet somewhere (somewhere secure)?

Thank you!

RickO

You really have only two choices:

1. Switch over to using Quicken's purely online solution: Simplifi by Quicken. There's really no path to migrate from Quicken Classic to Simplifi, so you'd basically be starting over.
2. Use remote access software to remotely log into his computer and operate Quicken as if you were there. You can use Apple's native remote access solution, or another commercial solution such as TeamViewer.

https://support.apple.com/guide/remote-desktop/install-and-set-up-remote-desktop-apdf49e03a4/mac

What you DO NOT want to do is store the data file on any cloud server (such as iCloud Drive, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.). This is not supported. It may work for a while, but often the data file becomes corrupted and unrecoverable.

One other solution is for you to keep the live data file on your Mac and periodically send a backup copy over to him for his read-only access. But there are complications with this. One is that it requires him to learn how to unzip or restore backup on his end. The other is that if he does anything that touches the Quicken cloud (such as downloading transactions or even accessing some settings) it will require you to reset the cloud on your end, which can lead to some transaction duplication. So I really don't recommend this unless you are very confident in his understanding of the process.

Leebs

Thank you RickO! All good suggestions and you have identified the holes as well. As you can imagine an 88 year old man is averse to change and teaching him how to save a file from email, unzip it and restore it to his quicken install may defeat the purpose of me taking over his bill pay chores. It is a shame that there is no migration path to Simplifi but "starting over" is not a bad thing necessarily since I will key things and assign categories differently than he would. Thank you for the response and suggestions! I think the remote control option may be the best initially or at least until I research Simplifi to make sure it is as robust as the Classic deluxe version installed locally.

jacobs

@Leebs The other possible option is to use Quicken Cloud and the Web Interface. This requires you to enable your desktop Quicken data file to sync data in Quicken Cloud; then you can login via a web browser to view your data. So if you maintained the data file locally on your computer and your father used the web interface, it might meet your needs.

Now for the caveats… 😉

First, once he logs in via the web interface, it's not read-only. So he could enter, edit or delete transactions, intentionally or accidentally. (A read-only mode is a longstanding user request, but so far, Quicken has not implemented it.)

Second, while Cloud sync apparently works well for many people, other users report problems with existing transactions being modified or deleted, apparently due to issues with the cloud syncing. My fear of any such data corruption is why I never enable cloud syncing, even though I'd occasionally find the web interface useful while traveling.

RickO

Second, while Cloud sync apparently works well for many people, other users report problems with existing transactions being modified or deleted, apparently due to issues with the cloud syncing.

That's the reason I didn't suggest Q on the Web and Cloud Sync… Once burned, twice shy.