I can't update my accounts and get a blank window over the updating one. Now I have lost everything!

Kneecap
Kneecap Member ✭✭
edited September 2022 in Installing and Updating (Mac)
Who do I contact? I have been using the Mac OS 10.13.6 version of Quicken subscription for years. Today, when I tried to update the accounts, I got a larger white window that was mostly blank, but had "Cancel" on the bottom. I was told to uninstall the app, and then reinstall, by the customer service chat. I panicked, just thinking about it, but was assured I would not loose my data. However, when I tray to install the latest version of Quicken, it did the same thing, opening a large white window. PLUS, I have lost access to ALL my data and cannot go backwards. They would not give me a link for one version back to try. I don't want to upgrade because I am a retired graphic designer, and I will loose the ability to use my Adobe Creative Suite 5.5, and cannot affair the $60 a month to use the apps. Does anyone have suggestions?

Answers

  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @Kneecap First, you haven't lost anything as long as you still have your Quicken data file. There's just a puzzle to figure out to get your Quicken back up and running. So take a deep breath… and let's calmly try some things.

    First, the current version of Quicken Mac does still run on macOS High Sierra. Quicken Support will tell you the official policy that Quicken requires the current of two most recent operating systems, but the fact is that while there are some new features which require macOS Catalina or higher, the program still runs under Mojave and High Sierra. (You might consider updating your macOS to Mojave, which will still run your 32-bit Adobe apps. I have a computer I still have on Mojave just to keep running my Adobe CS 6.0 software — and it runs Quicken fine.)

    Second, here is a link for prior subscription versions of Quicken Mac:

    https://www.quicken.com/support/reinstalling-and-patching-your-quicken-subscription-version-after-your-membership-has-0

    But I'm confused by why you want an older version. Did you update today to the newly-released version 6.9, and want to try returning to 6.8.3? If so, click on the July 2022 link and you can download 6.8.3. I'm not sure why any older version would help you. 

    Also, Quicken always makes a backup before installing an upgrade. So if you look in your Trash, you'll see the prior version of the app, with a name like "Quicken (608.44884.100).app". You can drag that out of the trash and try to run it. 

    However, if your data file got updated to 6.9 format, you can't go back to a prior version of the app. However, there's still an opportunity to move backwards, because Quicken also makes a backup copy of your data before installing any upgrade. Navigate to the folder with your Quicken data file, and in the Backups > Automatic Backups folder, you'll see a file with a name like "BACKUP (Pre-Update) - [your file name here] 2022-08-24", which is your pre-update data file. Make a copy of that before you do anything, then try opening it in your restored version of Quicken 6.8.3.

    So… that gives you multiple paths to recovery, even before asking if you have backups. Do you use Time Machine to back up your Mac? OR any online backup service? If not, I'm going to take a second to urge you to do so. We're all vulnerable to a Mac or hard drive suddenly dying, and without backups, you;'re at significant risk to lose everything. Please don't be one of those sad stories; get yourself a backup system a.s.a.p. Time Machine requires only an external hard drive, so even if you don't have one available, for less than $100, you can get a large hard drive and turn Time Machine on; it's automatic with nothing to configure or control. End of public service announcement. ;)

     I'm curious what this large white window was. One guess is that it's possible that you were logged out of Quicken.com and it was trying (and failing) to get you to log back in.

    So another thing you can try is launching one of these versions of Quicken without opening your data file, by holding down the Shift key while double-clicking on the Quicken application. It will likely ask if you want to open the file you had open previously, but click Cancel instead of Open. This will bring you to the Let's Get Started page. Pull down the Quicken menu to Sign Out, then pull down the Quicken menu again to Sign in, and proceed to sign back into Quicken.com. After doing that, let's see if your Quicken data file will open correctly. Quit Quicken and relaunch it, this time without the Shift key held down. Does it open your Quicken file correctly, or do you get the large white window again? If you do get the white window, can you capture a screen shot and post it here so we can see if it gives any clue as to what's happening.

    I'll stop there for now until hearing back from you. But don't panic that all is lost, as there should be multiple paths to get you back running again.


    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Kneecap
    Kneecap Member ✭✭
    @jacobs. Wow! Thank you for all your advice and information. You go all out, don’t you? :p

    So I did update to the latest version of Quicken about a week ago. I was hoping an earlier version might work. I went back on my Time Machine and pulled an earlier version of the app back. However, I am getting that same white window when I try to open it. I think it is trying to log me in to quicken, but none of the text fills the window. I restarted my WiFi, I even set my phone up as a hotspot and connected to see if it will go through, and I am getting that same error.

    So I went ahead and decided to “bite the bullet,” and updated to the latest MacOS. The files in Quicken are much more important. At first, I had the same issue, but after opening and closing the window a few times, the login page finally appeared. You were right. I didn’t lose any data. Thanks for your kind, calm and informative words. It helped “talk me off the ledge!”
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