Moving Quicken Classic for Mac from my MBP to my wife’s new MBP — looking for guidance

Jillartstudio

I’m looking for some guidance on the correct steps to move my Quicken Classic for Mac setup to my wife’s new Mac.

What I’m trying to accomplish:

• I currently use Quicken Classic for Mac on my MacBook Pro.
• My wife is getting a new MacBook Pro, and she will be taking over management of our Quicken accounts going forward.
• I want to transfer the existing Quicken data to her new Mac and install Quicken there.
• Once everything is confirmed to be working properly on her Mac, I no longer need Quicken installed on my Mac.

My question: What is the correct sequence of steps to accomplish this?

Background: I’ll be using Apple’s Migration Assistant to set up the new Mac. However, the Quicken data files are not currently in my wife’s Documents folder, so I assume I need to locate the appropriate Quicken data/backup file on my Mac and move it to the new Mac.

I’m particularly looking for guidance on:

1. How do install Quicken on the new machine… an obvious question :)
2. Where the files should be placed on the new Mac.
3. Whether I should install Quicken before or after using Migration Assistant.
4. Anything I should do on my current Mac before removing Quicken.

Current setup:

• Quicken Classic for Mac 9.0.3 (Build 900.60651.100)
• MacOS 26.5.2

I’d appreciate a step-by-step explanation of the safest way to do this, particularly so I don’t accidentally overwrite, lose, or create a problem with the existing Quicken data.

Jon

1. Migration Assistant should move over the app itself if you tell it to move apps. If not, you can log into your account at Quicken.com and download an installer from there, but this will be a newer version (9.1.1) than the one you're currently using. If you want to download a fresh copy of 9.0.3, you can do so from here. Depending on where your data file is stored, Migration Assistant may or may not move it over, but it probably won't since you're also changing users. If you move it yourself, I would suggest compressing the file on your old Mac, moving the compressed file to your new Mac, and then uncompressing it once you have it placed where you want it.
2. I keep my Quicken data file in a subfolder in the Documents folder in my home directory, but you should not do that if you have your Desktop and Document folders synced to iCloud. By default Quicken stores them in Library/Application Support/Quicken/Documents which is a safe place to put them but not terribly convenient. Any place is fine as long as it is a folder not being synced to iCloud.
3. I would say after - let Migration Assistant do its thing first.
4. No.

If you have your Quicken accounts set up to download transactions from your financial institutions I don't think Migration Assistant will move your login credentials from your account's Keychain on your old Mac to your wife's account's Keychain on your new Mac, and copying over the data file manually will definitely not transfer them. Either way I think you'll have to set up all those connections again.