Quicken for Mac 2018 latest update does not start on my MacBook Pro
My Quicken for Mac 2018 with the latest 5.6.2 update does not start on my MacBook Pro 2017 with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 (Updated macOS a long while ago).
I tried after re-starting with no other apps running. I tried after re-starting in Safe Mode. I tried uninstalling, downloading the app from the support page and re-installing Quicken. None of these worked.
The app icon appears in the Dock with the dot underneath it as if it was active but the app does not have a window or start as it used to do as of earlier this week. I've been using Quicken for Mac with no issues for a long time until now.
What should I do?
I tried after re-starting with no other apps running. I tried after re-starting in Safe Mode. I tried uninstalling, downloading the app from the support page and re-installing Quicken. None of these worked.
The app icon appears in the Dock with the dot underneath it as if it was active but the app does not have a window or start as it used to do as of earlier this week. I've been using Quicken for Mac with no issues for a long time until now.
What should I do?
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When I click on the Quicken icon on the Dock, the Quicken, File, Edit,... menu comes up but I can't click on anything as I get the beach ball spinning, which doesn't stop until I force quit Quicken.
If this works, it's a good indication that your file is damaged. You can revert to a backup, or there may be some long shot things we can try to get it working.
If this doesn't work, then we can try to remove the Application Support folder and see if something there is hanging up Quicken.
Let me know how this goes.
I managed to start Quicken doing what you said and got to the Get Started screen. Then I tried restoring each of the 5 latest backups and Quicken hung every time and all I could do was force quit it.
What can we try next?
Also, try signing out and back into Quicken (menu Quicken > Sign Out).
Finally, try completely disconnecting your internet connection, then try to launch Quicken and open your existing data file.
Option 2 didn't work. Same hanging behaviour as before after logging off and back on.
Option 3 hangs but in a different way. When I shift-click on the Quicken icon, it comes up with a window that says "Quicken cannot update data due to a network issue. We can't connect to the Quicken Cloud." and it gives me two options but I can't take either. The options are "I'll Check it later" and "Update now". If I simply click (rather than shift-click) on the Quicken icon, it just hangs as usual.
What can we try next?
But let's try this: Quit Quicken. Then in the Finder, option-click the Go menu and choose Library from the menu. Then navigate to Library > Applications Support > Quicken. Drag the entire Quicken folder found there to the Desktop.
If you have not changed the default file location, then your data file will be found within the Documents folder inside this Quicken folder. Open that folder and try to open your data file. Quicken will re-create the Quicken folder in Applications Support. If there was a problem in the copy you moved to the Desktop, this could fix it. I don't have high hopes though.
I store the data files in my "Documents/Quicken Mac" folder. The backup though is to a Dropbox folder. I have 6 backup copies there going back to 4 June. I just also tried restoring a copy of my 6 June data fie from my cloud backup service but nothing changed.
I dragged the entire Quicken folder from Library > Applications Support to the Desktop, and also the Quicken 2017 folder I also found there, just in case.
I opened the data file in my Documents/Quicken Mac folder and then also tried with the file restored from the cloud. The Quicken folder was re-created in Library > Applications Support but the file did not open and I had to force quit Quicken again.
How can all Quicken files get corrupted at once, even backups?
It's okay to store the Quicken-created backups files in Dropbox. If you go to Mac's System Preferences > iCloud, is iCloud Drive checked? If so, when you click the Options button, is Desktop & Documents Folders checked?
Let me summarize where I think we are with this:
- Quicken hangs when opening your data file
- However, you can create a new file and it works correctly
- Recreating the Applications Support > Quicken folder didn't help
- Restoring backups didn't help
- Safe Mode doesn't help
On the off chance that something in 5.6.2 is causing this, you should be able to recover 5.6.1 from the Trash if you haven't emptied the Trash. Or perhaps you can recover it from a Time Machine backup. If so, I would drag it to the desktop and launch it and see if your file will open.Also, try with the oldest backup you have as follows: take the file ending in ".quickenbackup". Copy it to the Desktop. Change the extension from ".quickenbackup" to ".zip". Double click the .zip file and you will have a new Quicken data file on the desktop. Double click that to open and see if Quicken hangs or not. If that works, try the same with your most recent backup.
If that doesn't work, we can try to take a deep dive into the file structure, but that's another long shot.
I have no access to 5.6.1 unfortunately. My Trash is emptied regularly. Is there nowhere we can download it? I looked in the support pages but couldn't find anything like that.
I tried the back up file copy to Desktop and changing the extension to .zip with all my back up files and none worked.
I really appreciate your help. Let me know what I can try next. Thanks!
I want to go back to something we tried before but didn't complete:
Turn off all internet on your computer. Verify you have no internet by trying to open any site in Safari. You should immediately get "You are not connected to the internet."
Now shift-click Quicken app. Click Cancel on the "do you want to open..." dialog. If you get the "Quicken cannot update data due to a network issue" dialog, just close that dialog. Then close any other windows that are open.
Next, click menu File > New and Start from Scratch. You should be able to create a new file while offline.
Assuming that works, go the copy of your file on the desktop and double click it. Let's see if that opens now while you're offline? If it does, that indicates a Quicken account problem. If you get the same hang, then we're back to square one.
You bring up a good point, though. Would not hurt for the OP to restart into Recovery Mode and run Disk Utility First Aid on the hard drive.
I have to point out that my Quicken file, after a few updates by new releases, was started in 2007 as Q for Windows and converted to Q for Mac in 2012, so it has quite a few records.
My file is on my Mac's hard drive and my backups are on Dropbox. It seems very unlikely that all those files on different drives are corrupted. I agree, there must be something else going on here.
I'll run Disk Utility and report back in a few minutes.
What's next?
Let's try this... In the Finder, right-click on the data file and choose "Show Package Contents". Take a screenshot of the resulting window and post here.
FAQ: Posting a Screenshot
Here's the screenshot of my data file "Dog 2012.quicken"
The reason I ask is that in the upgrade from 5.5.x to 5.6.x, the database structure is modified for the changes in 5.6.x.
It would also be good to know if any of your backups were created while you were still using 5.5.x. (although you may not remember exactly when you updated Quicken)
One more thing... since your backups are stored on Dropbox, you should be able to use Dropbox's version history/file recovery features to perhaps download backups from longer ago. Have you tried that?
Also, have you tried contacting support about this yet?
BTW, when was 5.6.2 released? The Support Release Notes don't have dates (?). My issues began on June 11 and I have a Backup (pre-update) file dated June 11 (see screenshot). That sounds interesting.
You're right, I don't remember when I updated Quicken but I have in my automatic backups folder a few files from pre-updates (see screenshot).
I downloaded older files from Dropbox version history and tried each and every one of them, including the above mentioned pre-update file from June 11. They all had the same Force Quit result. Strange...
Lastly, I haven't talked to Support as I thought you were from Support!!
I have to say, you've got me stumped. You can create a new file and it works okay, but your regular file hangs. Your backups created from way before the problem started also now hang.
This kinda makes me thing that it's something with your Quicken account, but working offline doesn't fix it.
So, I would suggest you contact support at this point. I'm also going to try to see if I can ask someone from the development side to get in touch with you, but no promises.
After that came:
v.5.6 - May 9, 2018
v5.6.1 - May 18, 2018
v5.6.2 - May 30, 2018.
Note that these all start as limited releases and you may or may not have received access to each.
(if you need dates for earlier releases, let me know.)
(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
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I'm told you're not the only one experiencing this issue. It is being investigated, but no solution as of yet. You should expect to be contacted by someone from Quicken at the email address you login to the community with. Make sure to check your spam folder.