Another migration question...Quicken 2004 Personal Plus (Australian)

notsoez
notsoez Member ✭✭
My mother in law has been using Quicken 2004 Personal Plus for a long time on an old Windows PC.

We've just migrated everything except Quicken from that PC to a Mac. We've tried bringing her Quicken data to the Mac by creating a Windows virtual machine and installing the same Quicken 2004 Personal Plus (using the same CD), but it refuses to install properly because it would seem that it is an upgrade CD. She used to have Quicken 8 I think and we upgraded her to Quicken 2004 Personal Plus (and that was a nightmare too).

I managed to get the install working by tricking it with a file-copy of the existing quicken files from the old PC, but now we keep getting a warning that we need to re-register or re-activate the installation. Something that we don't seem to be able to do very easily anymore.

So we have decided to bit the bullet an update to a new version of Quicken, maybe even a native Mac version. This of course means converting the old data.

We've tried stepping through the instructions at: https://www.quicken.com/support/how-and-when-use-intermediate-version-convert-older-versions-quicken#section-1 by downloading the QW20013DLX.exe and installing it.

That simply has not worked. First off, it insisted that we uninstall Quicken 2004 Personal Plus, and then when Q2013 did run, it has no, and offered no function to "convert" the old data files to a new format.

I've literally tried everything I can think of to make this work, including exporting the from the original to QIF format, but the generated QIF files don't seem to be complete somehow.

Do I need another intermediate version of quicken between 2004 and 2013 do pull this off? Is there another way to bring the data forward? It seems absurd after all this time that Quicken/Reckon have not improved this situation for it's customers.

Best Answer

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2022 Answer ✓
    notsoez said:
    @Boatnmaniac thanks for your response, though to say they are totally unrelated seems odd to me as they are clearly related through their common product called Quicken. That they went separate paths is most unfortunate for anyone not in the US it seems.
    I understand the frustration and you are not alone in that.  At one time Quicken was owned by Intuit and Intuit had versions for UK, France and Australia (and maybe a couple of other countries), in addition to the US and Canada.  But several years ago Intuit sold the Quicken Australia name and product rights to Reckon and also discontinued Quicken UK and Quicken France.  In 2016 Intuit spun off Quicken (US/Canada).  So, while both companies share the name "Quicken" they are separate unrelated companies today.  You might find this Factsheet to be an interesting read: 

    QuickBooks and Quicken changes - Factsheet - Reckon

    To make matters more confusing, Intuit over the last 20 years or so licensed out the "Quicken" brand name to several other different unrelated companies that have no relationship with Quicken financial software whatsoever....Quicken Loans and Quicken WillMaker (personal legal software) being the two main ones. 
    All of these things were driven by Intuit and other than for branding and some support services (like data aggregation) Intuit is for the most part involved anymore.
    notsoez said:
    I've installed the Microsoft Money sunset version into the virtual machine and at first glance, it seems to have imported the Quicken 2004 Personal Plus data correctly. We need to spend more time in it checking balances, etc, but so far that looks encouraging.

    We may just end up sticking with the Microsoft Money as a solution yet. Exporting from that to a newer Quicken format seems like asking for more trouble. I'm just not sure if my mother in law will be happy learning an entirely new application.

    Out of curiosity, if we were to take out a subscription for the latest and greatest version of Quicken, would it be able to import either the MS Money files, or the QIF files that MS Money can export? Are there any gotcha's by going that route?
    Yes, you should be able to import and convert your MS Money file into Quicken.  You might want to read the following Support Article for how to do this:  https://www.quicken.com/support/how-do-i-importconvert-my-microsoft-money-work-quicken-windows.
    There is a caution in that Support Article warning people to not do the conversion because MS Money was not designed for use in Windows 10/11.  I am running Windows 10 and just last month I launched MS Money Sunset and opened my old MS Money Sunset data file without issue.  I also then imported and converted that MS Money Sunset file into Quicken without issue.  Also my main Quicken data file today was originally imported and converted from MS Money in 2010.
    One suggestion you might want to consider:  Since you will not be able to use the Quicken subscription online services you might want to instead consider downloading and installing Quicken 2013 Deluxe, instead.  You can download it for free from Quicken 2013 for Windows.  You can continue to use Quicken 2013 Deluxe for free for as long as your system supports it.  If you subscribe, instead, you will need to resubscribe every year to prevent a marketing reminder banner from taking up about 20% of your screen.  Your subscription version will still be able to be used manually after the subscription expires but many people find that banner to be a nuisance but the only way to get rid of the banner is to resubscribe every year.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R54.16 on Windows 11)

Answers

  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2022
    Quicken and Reckon are two totally separate and unrelated companies.  Quicken used to have a Quicken Australia product but that was discontinued and all rights were sold to Reckon many years ago.  
    That Quicken Australia product and Quicken USA were separate products and were not compatible with each other back then and nothing about that is any different today.
    I suggest you contact Reckon to see what upgrade option(s) they might have for you (https://www.reckon.com/au/personal/plus/).
    Another option you might want to consider if Reckon does not work out for you is to create a new data file with that Quicken Deluxe 2013 (USA) installation you already have and then manually enter all the information in there.  It would be starting from scratch but when done you will have a working program (no online services, though) going forward. 

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R54.16 on Windows 11)

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    @notsoez
    Did you try opening the Q2004 file using File | Open menu in Q2013? If so, what happened, were there any error messages?

    Typically US versions won’t open and convert files from non-US versions. The standard workaround is to convert the non-US version to Microsoft Money sunset version, then convert the Money file to US Quicken version.

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • notsoez
    notsoez Member ✭✭
    @Boatnmaniac thanks for your response, though to say they are totally unrelated seems odd to me as they are clearly related through their common product called Quicken. That they went separate paths is most unfortunate for anyone not in the US it seems.

    If we end up starting from scratch, then there is no way I would encourage further use of a Quicken branded product based on our past, and this current experience.

    We have the QIF files that I managed to create from Quicken 2004 Personal Plus that import (in part anyway) to another product that runs natively on the Mac. It sound like I either have to go that route, or set up a system whereby the virtual machine pulls the data from outside it's own file system (which is perhaps a good idea anyway), and just reset the virtual machine each time so that the installation of Quicken 2004 Personal Plus I have working inside the virtual machine never effectively runs out of activation free uses.

    @mshiggins yes I did try that and got an error saying something like "Unable to load data". I suspect I am, as you suggest, hitting the US <> Non-US problem. I'll try and locate the Microsoft Money sunset version and try that as my next step.

    Thanks to you both for your responses. It's just a very frustrating place to be.
  • notsoez
    notsoez Member ✭✭
    I've installed the Microsoft Money sunset version into the virtual machine and at first glance, it seems to have imported the Quicken 2004 Personal Plus data correctly. We need to spend more time in it checking balances, etc, but so far that looks encouraging.

    We may just end up sticking with the Microsoft Money as a solution yet. Exporting from that to a newer Quicken format seems like asking for more trouble. I'm just not sure if my mother in law will be happy learning an entirely new application.

    Out of curiosity, if we were to take out a subscription for the latest and greatest version of Quicken, would it be able to import either the MS Money files, or the QIF files that MS Money can export? Are there any gotcha's by going that route?
  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2022 Answer ✓
    notsoez said:
    @Boatnmaniac thanks for your response, though to say they are totally unrelated seems odd to me as they are clearly related through their common product called Quicken. That they went separate paths is most unfortunate for anyone not in the US it seems.
    I understand the frustration and you are not alone in that.  At one time Quicken was owned by Intuit and Intuit had versions for UK, France and Australia (and maybe a couple of other countries), in addition to the US and Canada.  But several years ago Intuit sold the Quicken Australia name and product rights to Reckon and also discontinued Quicken UK and Quicken France.  In 2016 Intuit spun off Quicken (US/Canada).  So, while both companies share the name "Quicken" they are separate unrelated companies today.  You might find this Factsheet to be an interesting read: 

    QuickBooks and Quicken changes - Factsheet - Reckon

    To make matters more confusing, Intuit over the last 20 years or so licensed out the "Quicken" brand name to several other different unrelated companies that have no relationship with Quicken financial software whatsoever....Quicken Loans and Quicken WillMaker (personal legal software) being the two main ones. 
    All of these things were driven by Intuit and other than for branding and some support services (like data aggregation) Intuit is for the most part involved anymore.
    notsoez said:
    I've installed the Microsoft Money sunset version into the virtual machine and at first glance, it seems to have imported the Quicken 2004 Personal Plus data correctly. We need to spend more time in it checking balances, etc, but so far that looks encouraging.

    We may just end up sticking with the Microsoft Money as a solution yet. Exporting from that to a newer Quicken format seems like asking for more trouble. I'm just not sure if my mother in law will be happy learning an entirely new application.

    Out of curiosity, if we were to take out a subscription for the latest and greatest version of Quicken, would it be able to import either the MS Money files, or the QIF files that MS Money can export? Are there any gotcha's by going that route?
    Yes, you should be able to import and convert your MS Money file into Quicken.  You might want to read the following Support Article for how to do this:  https://www.quicken.com/support/how-do-i-importconvert-my-microsoft-money-work-quicken-windows.
    There is a caution in that Support Article warning people to not do the conversion because MS Money was not designed for use in Windows 10/11.  I am running Windows 10 and just last month I launched MS Money Sunset and opened my old MS Money Sunset data file without issue.  I also then imported and converted that MS Money Sunset file into Quicken without issue.  Also my main Quicken data file today was originally imported and converted from MS Money in 2010.
    One suggestion you might want to consider:  Since you will not be able to use the Quicken subscription online services you might want to instead consider downloading and installing Quicken 2013 Deluxe, instead.  You can download it for free from Quicken 2013 for Windows.  You can continue to use Quicken 2013 Deluxe for free for as long as your system supports it.  If you subscribe, instead, you will need to resubscribe every year to prevent a marketing reminder banner from taking up about 20% of your screen.  Your subscription version will still be able to be used manually after the subscription expires but many people find that banner to be a nuisance but the only way to get rid of the banner is to resubscribe every year.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R54.16 on Windows 11)

  • notsoez
    notsoez Member ✭✭
    Thanks @Boatnmaniac for that response. That was indeed very informative and helpful. With your combined responses, I think we've managed to settle on a solution. Many thanks.
  • Boatnmaniac
    Boatnmaniac SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    You are very welcome.

    (Quicken Classic Premier Subscription: R54.16 on Windows 11)

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