The Quickening

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SOFTWARE By Will Fastie My relationship with Quicken has gone from friendly to annoying to infuriating over the past ten years. But is my opinion just
[See the full post at: The Quickening]

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Will,

Went through a similar experience and replaced Quicken with Moneydance Have been quite satisfied with it for several years now. I recommend you try it out. I think you will find it is a good replacement for the old form of Quicken. No subscription required.

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Duggem, mcbsys, windbg

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All I can say is “Ditto”!  I’ve been a consultant (now retired) since ’83 and using Quicken Home all that time.  But… in 2001 I received a bundled copy of Quicken with a new Dell laptop and heard a little voice say, ‘This works just fine, no need for upgrades.’

So… From Windows 3.0 then XP (with original Quicken) through Windows 7, 8.1, 10 and 11 (!) I’ve just ported that 2001 version to each OS and it continues to purrr along very nicely.  I saw the handwriting on the wall with the Intuit and Quicken morphing magic.  Don’t need no stinkin’ new icons!  It maintains my accounts just fine — as is.

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I have 2007 Quicken on window XP, can you or anyone help me and show me how to install it on window 10 and window 11?  TIA

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My experience with Quicken 2002 is you just install it from the CD and it will install as normal. then point it to your old file. Yo will probably need the installation key. If you don’t have it, Belarc Advisor will probably reveal it from your old machine. Good luck

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Same issues, but dumped Quicken years ago. I finally settled on KMyMoney (KDE). It is free and has provided excellent support and updates over the years. They respond to bug fix requests and have a development pipeline. I will do an update once a year or so just to check if there are any new features worth the update. Since I do not use the online or investment features, I haven’t actually kept the update since 2022. (Apparently the online features are the ones that keep changing.)

I use online banking but I am a firm believer in manual reconciliations. The bank does make mistakes.

KMyMoney does basic accounting very well and reports can be configured to your heart’s content. For the few things it doesn’t do well, I have built workarounds. Free with active support makes up for a lot.

 

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John

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How well did the export from Quicken to the import into KMyMoney go?

Any glitches?

I’ve been using Quicken for a very long time, but hate getting reminded every time I open Quicken that I renew my subscription.

 

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On Quicken to KMyMoney.

I don’t use it for investments since that is all online and just easier to do a monthly update. I also enter all my own transactions, but I do know KMyMoney has the capability to do so.

The latest release version is from 2022. But they will be doing a new release in the next few months including a number of enhancements.

My only issue is you cannot hide payees. But I have developed prefixes for sorting.

Finally, it took a day of messing around to import since I had many years of transactions/accounts. But the only real issue is the qif format does not handle transfers well which was all I could get from Quicken at the time.

The help file is extensive and the forum is great.

https://docs.kde.org/stable5/en/kmymoney/kmymoney/index.html

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John

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Oh boy, Will! I feel your pain. I think I encountered the same roadblock a few years ago when trying to move my wife’s Quicken+Data to a new, Win11 machine. Talk about FRUSTRATING! Talk about ANGRY!!

However… I stumbled upon a solution by googling something or other that was pertinent and found some obscure post describing a solution. I didn’t expect it to work, but it did! Of course, I don’t remember what it was, but hopefully anyone reading this with the same problem might also be able to find an online solution. YMMV…

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I started using MS Money H&B in the 90’s, mainly because Quicken did not have Hebrew support but also because Money is robust, problem-free and easy to use.  In 2010 MS discontinued support for all versions of Money but did offer free downloads to all comers for the last version (aptly named “MS Money Sunset Microsoft Money Plus Sunset Deluxe – Free download and software reviews – CNET Download), this version had all the features except online services (with the sophisticated banking websites now available I don’t see this as an issue).  At the time I tried to find a replacement that supported Hebrew and featured and flawless migration from Money. Since Quicked still didn’t support Hebrew there very very few options.

Since I really like MS Money unless the above situation changes I will happily continue to use it as long as Windows keeps supporting 32 bit applications.

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teuhasn2

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Welcome to the Club Will.

I’m thinking most of us Quicken users are frustrated by Quicken’s actions of the last several years. I too have been using it since the Days-Of-DOS.

Several years ago when Quicken was starting its roll to the evil side, I looked at the then available alternatives for basic, functional programs. Everything was so limited, so narrowly focused, and/or not really user friendly. Like everyone else I was stuck with Quicken.

Glad to see suggestions of alternatives. Will be giving them a test run.

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bwsantana, windbg, dvhirst865

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Second the Moneydance option. I also got fed up with Quicken about the time you renewed in 2015.  Moneydance and theirs support have been a great replacement. One of the biggest or best things about it is that I no longer have to put my account information on somebody else’s server. It’s all local base software. The moderate subscription fee for auto downloading my bank account info is worth it.

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Duggem, bwsantana, windbg, milleron

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Your mistake was to install B&P and to alert quicken.com to your presence.  If you had stayed on Quicken 2015 H&B you would probably been unaffected.  I have been using Quicken 2013 since I upgraded from Quicken 2003, without a problem.

I was somewhat disappointed that I was unable to read their user forum, as I was overseas, though why that made a difference, is beyond me.

True, I don’t have your invoice challenges.

My cheapskate philosophy is to use back-level software until it will no longer work e.g. Quicken 2013 and Nero 9. My Lotus Wordpro failed to install on Windows 10, but LibreOffice will read .LWP files happily so I can avoid the MS Word random-indent feature.

Peter

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bwsantana

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i’m still using quicken 2016, w11, you can reinstall with modification to quicken.ini

i then block quicken from phone home and any type of inet connection

 

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How do you block Quicken from phoning home?

I want to do the same.  Thanks for the help.

 

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I’ve always felt that Microsoft Money was superior to Quicken, and I know Microsoft abandoned it in 2013, but it continues to function just fine.  The H&B version also includes an invoice designer that appears to be quite similar to Quicken’s.   You’ll find everything, including links to the software on my blog @ https://microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com/ and you should be able to import most everything (invoices might not) from Quicken via qif.

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lmacri, teuhasn2, milleron

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I’ve been using Quicken since forever (and Managing Your Money before that). The version I’m on now is H&B from 2011 and it seems to work just fine and installed with no issues on my newest Windows 11 computer last year. As you say, accounting principles haven’t changed much lately so what do upgrades actually offer?

I don’t know whether you’d be able to move your data from your later version to an older one that installs without issue – I have no idea whether the data files changed in the interim or not.

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Quicken 2011 has worked on every version of Windows since it came out am now on Windows 11 Pro.  Any version of Quicken prior to 2015 should work ok as long as you don’t need the download features for investments or banking.

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Good to hear the comments RE: Q2011.  I’m the treasurer/recorder of a bunch of Masonic groups and pretty much use 2011 to keep track of the checkbooks and print checks.  The banks we use let me download the transactions as CSV files and I use that to manually reconcile the accounts.  I dump the Q reports that I need into a spreadsheet and then clean it up from there.  Noted several years ago when I was looking to update that they’d moved to a subscription model so crossed appropriate body parts and stayed where I was.  Good to hear that others are doing the same thing!

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> “.. from friendly to annoying ..”

My experience as well but I have (so far) avoided “infuriating”. Like other users, I started with Quicken on Windows© XP and was annoyed that it wouldn’t work when migrating to Windows 7, so I purchased Quicken Home & Business 2011 and have been using it since. I also had the same experience (and reaction) as you when contemplating upgrading because I hate the subscription model (Office 365, etc…) and refuse to succumb to it.

So maybe downgrading to a previous version (if you still have the CDs) would work?

I no longer need invoices and such; I used QuickBooks© but that was 20 years ago. Steep learning curve but very powerful.

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I share your frustration with Quicken. For whatever reason around the end of last year, Quicken disconnected all data links between JPMorgan and my accounts (more than 6 personal and business accounts). Reconnecting took me several hours of trial and error, including repeatedly running the procedure to override (coding?) errors.
I am not a tech Luddite. I am still receiving an error message which I know from time spent (see above) is caused by overlapping accounts, a possibility which obviously didn’t occur to Quicken coders? Or is it JPM’s fault? Note, this was not a problem before the disconnect. It is clear to me that the bust is unfixable at the moment
I hate error messages even those I know are error messages in error, and I hate having a false error message embedded in my financial tracking system.

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I share your frustration.  I managed to buy the 2016 version just before the forced subscription came into effect.  I have been using Quicken since it was a DOS program and like you, upgraded every 3-4 years.

What put me off from the subscription were the reviews that said when you stopped paying Quicken would block 25% of the screen with its own ads.  That makes the program unsuable, so I have resisted.

I recently had to set up a new laptop and installed from my usual archive.  And yes, it refused to install when the call home failed.  I searched on the Internet and was lucky to find a fairly convuluted procedure which successfully allowed me to install, so I am good for the life of my current equipment.

I have looked at alternatives, but the features in Home and Business including the investment portfolio just aren’t there if you are outside the US.

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ken10254

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Some of you may find this useful. Not only can you continue to use MSMoney, but it will also convert old Quicken files to Money.

Microsoft Money Plus Sunset Deluxe v17.0.120.3817

Designed by Microsoft to be a free replacement for expired versions of Money Plus Essentials, Money Plus Deluxe, and Money Plus Premium versions.

https://www.oldergeeks.com/downloads/file.php?id=4488

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Yes MS Money Plus still works with Windows 11. Good suggestion for free software.

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teuhasn2

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However, my recommendation for Moneydance is because it works on pretty much every OS including MacOS, iOS/iPadOS and Android as well as Windows.

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Another “since the DOS days” and very FRUSTRATED Quicken user. Have no business needs, but have enough in investment accounts that it is worth the headaches to simplify my life with downloads.  Many, many years ago my husband was frustrated because he no longer had an ongoing  picture of our finances once I started using Quicken and no longer had occasional “balancing” issues that he had to correct!!!

I also have been severely frustrated since Quicken separated from Intuit and the quality control level seems to have slipped.  I also used to upgrade every 3 or 4 years and really thought that was quite fair, but am annoyed by the current subscription service which I need for the downloading capabilities which is my favorite feature.

Also have had annoying times when the bank connection fail – – particularly to a local bank in the Texas Hill Country.  But have not found anything to replace.  I will look at Money Dance suggested above, but the $40/yr for the downloading capability doesn’t seem much different from what I am paying now . . . and a learning curve for anything new.

Any other replacement suggestions appreciated!!

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bwsantana

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“I do not like Quicken’s continued scare tactics. ”

Will, I agree.

I walk away from any sales pitch that tries to scare me rather than listen to me and reason with me.

But then I also walk out of stores where a sales-clerk tells me that “this offer is only good for today”.

Cheers, Chris

Unless you're in a hurry, just wait.

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Will,

My experience exactly. Through trial and error I found that Quicken H&B 2008 was about the last version they would let you use without interfering too much.

I fiddled with GnuCash and it’s importing of QIF files and eventually found that, after changing the header I found something that would import into GnuCash.

Since then I have been quite happy with both the software itself and the community of users that populate the mailing list that serves as a support vehicle. There are a half dozen or so of the primary developers that are active on the mailing list resulting in rapid response to both bugs and new feature requests as well as general how to do it inquiries.

An added major Plus for those of us that use Linux in addition to Windows/Microsoft, there is a native version that runs on Linux.

DW

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Not only Quicken, but QuickBooks has switched to a subscription plan. It seems that ALL of their service prices have more than TRIPLED in the last three years. I used to buy QuickBooks Desktop every three or so years. As you mentioned in your article, Will, one update would do as the improvements from year-to-year were minimal. Starting a few years back, you are now FORCED to upgrade every year. And the price of my QuickBooks went from about $250 for the new version to about $650 PER FRIGGIN’ YEAR!

On top of that, if you used their payroll services, they tripled the prices on that. Fortunately, there were plenty of competitors, and it was easy to switch away from Intuit for those services. I’m in the process of finding another accounting program so I can hang up on Intuit forever.

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Hi all,

I, too, have a 20+ year love/hate relationship with Quicken.  Since they started charging for Bill Pay, I’m using my BofA’s bill pay (1990’s UX, but it get’s the job done).  So now Quicken is just a consolidator for me and I would eagerly ditch it if something could provide that same, now-diminished functionality.

Regarding the possible replacements (GunCash, KMyMoney, MS Money, MoneyDance), what are anyone’s thoughts on security (in the app and the culture (e.g. patching schedule))?  How about the vendor’s “survivability”?.  I hesitate to pay nothing since “no revenue” is not a sustainable business model for my vendor.  I want them to remain viable and to pay someone to stay on top of security (at least), and I recognize that all of that costs money.  And if they go belly up then I’m a pickle.

thanks,
-g-

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windbg

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With the IRS now weaponized plus 87,000 new IRS employees just hired;  it’s time to pay the piper and use a CPA.  For small enterprise  owners have an attorney on stand by.

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Cybertooth

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Perfect timing with this article. My Quickbooks 2021 version will cease bank downloads next month and I can’t wait to ditch it. Only used it to be familiar with it for my clients. For ~$200/3 years I could live with it, but not with what they charge now. I despise it. Old Quicken was much nicer for what I do with it.

Ha! Switching from QB, Outlook and Office within the next month. Windoze can’t be far behind! 🙂

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I’ve been using Quicken 98 here in the UK for I think at least 20 years. Must of started on Win 98, then XP then 7 and now 10. I think for XP, 7 and 10 I had to copy the Quicken application folder on F: across and copy the ini files in the Windows directory:

Copied C:\Windows files QUICKEN.INI and intuprof.ini
Copied F:\Quicken files FILIST.QFI, QW.CFG, QWCOLOR.INI, QWREMIND.INI, WPR.DAT, WPR.INI

I was using Quicken for a small business and used Quicken’s vat (sales tax) accounting feature. The authorities never complained (I had to say what accounting software I was using). Never used the on-line facilities (bank or share values) and they stop working years ago anyway. I was happy with the invoice function and it was fine for helping to produce my company tax returns (via spreadsheets).

I have 47 accounts (bank, savings, investments) and probably another 30 hidden (closed) accounts (this is domestic). The user interface is a bit frustrating handling so many accounts when they have similar names (both active and hidden accounts are listed in the report definition dialogue box and long account names get visibly truncated so it can be hard to differentiate similar named accounts. Still, better the devil you know!

I found it very reliable. Very occasionally crashes and I will loose the last transaction but never lost everything, but there is a daily backup anyway.

PS Quicken is one of the things that stops me going to Linux but I think I did get it working under Wine on Linux many years ago and I could run it in a Virtual Machine. Modern PCs are so powerful it only takes seconds to fire up a virtual machine – I do that daily to run some old Windows 8 bit software.

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…I don’t know HOW I originally missed this article in March…

I have been using Quicken98 for at least 24 years now. I actually started with an earlier version, but when it was discovered that the earlier version would not properly deal with Y2K, Quicken gave me 98. I don’t need most of the online features and it works just fine. I have little reason to change!

Don’t know what Microsoft O/S I originally started using Quicken98 with,  but it’s worked fine with XP and Win7Pro.  And if it works with Win7Pro, it should continue to work with 10 and maybe 11. I think I had to “tweak” something to get it to run on Win7Pro.

My only bitch is the various changes and incompatible updates to the Quicken Interface Format (QIF). I don’t even know what they are using today… (QFX?) There are converters, but haven’t found one that works well. I’d like to import current electronic files for my 401(k) accounts…

 

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I understand Will’s frustration but must say a bit FOR Quicken.

I have almost 30 years of financial data in my database, download transactions from seven financial services plus stock prices every day, send electronic payments through my bank, and reconcile everything every month – all with only a few minutes work each day.

The “Classic Deluxe” version of Quicken currently costs $60/year (but will probably go up); which is not a bad price for everything it can do.  At least some of Will’s complaints appear to be based on the fact that he needs an F-150 and they want to force a Ferrari on him.

I would love to see an alternative to Quicken but am not optimistic.

 

 

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We’re all in a love-hate relationship with Quicken.com. I actually did succumb to the subscription model immediately because I consider the syncing off accounts between my desktop and my phone to be essential. And it wasn’t an insult at first other than the subscription model being a clear indicator of customer hostility on the part of Quicken.com.

What has finally made me furious is their doubling of the annual subscription charge since moving to the new model. The price raises the past couple of years have been so ridiculous and rapacious as to suggest that Quicken.com is run by people with no conscience, let alone any customer loyalty. I have been forced to buy copies of Quicken Deluxe when on sale at Newegg. Then, during the last six months of the subscription period, we’re allowed to enter that product key to extend the subscription another year. This practice lowers my annual cost from about $72 to about $36, but I’m sure that in the long run, it will fail, as the robber barons at Quicken.com will continue to take foolish advantage of their customers until they manage to kill the goose that lays their golden eggs. So far they’ve made no move to suggest that they have any ability to restrain themselves; I now expect none in the future.

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gort77, Cybertooth

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I’ve disliked Quicken from the very beginning and still using an old DOS 3.3 accounting program with vDos on Win 11 and I’m happy with it. Easy 38 years now. At the end of the year I export the data to a .txt file then import it into Excel. Then I use the dreaded TurboTax Home & Business and key in the data. My fear is TurboTax will be heading in the same direction as quicken.

The main reason for my post is this, by any chance do you still have an old version of quicken from 10-20 years ago that you can install? If you do I’ll bet that it won’t try to connect to Intuit’s servers.

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I’ve been using MSMoney Sunset Ed. since it came out as I had switched to it when Quicken became untenable in my estimation. The earliest entry in my checking account is for 2008! I have archived some stuff though. Granted I don’t run a business with it but I did create several custom reports one of which prints out all the information I need to file my taxes every year. It also does a great job of keeping track of my credit cards as I enter every charge reconciling the statements are a breeze.

There was only one hiccup when one new version of Windows (can’t remember which) wouldn’t run it. A hack was posted and soon after MS fixed the problem and it hasn’t occurred since.

MSMoney gets a +1 from me.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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RonS wrote:

The main reason for my post is this, by any chance do you still have an old version of quicken from 10-20 years ago that you can install? If you do I’ll bet that it won’t try to connect to Intuit’s servers.

Quicken still offers a free version and download of Quicken Deluxe 2013. I have been using this for my budgeting this last year. I have been using the current subscription version for downloading my banking and investment transactions, but for the last few years, my investments have been limited to monthly interest, so I think I might just quit paying for the current version this May. Like @milleron , I typically get a physical disk annually from Ebay and key in the card code.

ETA: Oh, you can NOT just downgrade the data file from 2024 to 2013, and there are no good export/import options. I had to manually re-create my database.

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bwsantana

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Thanks for this Will! I am of the same mind as you, but with fewer software needs.

I bought my last Quicken in 2016 (Deluxe). I have been able to move it to newer computers and reinstall it, with some fancy work-arounds. I have it on at least two computers just in case.

It works fine on W11. I do not use any of the online stuff, basically a fancy checkbook with reports. I also looked at GnuCash, but found it too complex for my basic needs. I looked at MoneyDance and that may be my next experiment, but as long as Quicken 2016 keeps on working, I’ll keep using it.

I found some excellent instructions for reinstalling Quicken 2016 on their forums, and I have kept all the updates needed to get to an up-to-date Quicken 2016 Deluxe. At one point, the update failed to install, and I had to create a new user in Windows that was only one word (!) and install the update from there. After that all I had to do was finish updating and import my data file and I was good to go. A royal pain, but it works. Not planning any changes going forward.

I really dislike any subscription model; I avoid them like the plague.

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I seem to have hit a nerve.

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gort77, opti1, PL1, bwsantana, windbg, M. N., DLivesInTexas

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When I recently upgraded my computer to Win 10 I downloaded the latest version of Quicken and attempted to install it. Wrong!

I had to jump through a lot of hoops ending up finally downloading the version when my account with Quicken was current (4 years ago!).

I am now looking for a good alternative as I absolutely do not want/need to download anything from my CU to Quicken. I totally prefer to manually reconcile.

 

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I also have used Quicken for MANY years. After similar experiences in moving to a new PC I went with the new Quicken about 2021 and have been paying ever since. This year i will find a alternative.

Be forewarned, when your annual subscription expires you get a large block stating that your subscription has expired. It takes up about 40% of the screen making it difficult to continue using. This does not ever expire. Thus, the ability continue to use Quicken after the subscription is expired is almost useless to me.

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windbg

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Like you and many others in this thread, I have been using an old version of Quicken for many years, having originally upgraded every 3-4 years. I am currently on Quicken Deluxe and Business 2002 (sic) and have been able to move it to new PCs whenever I upgraded – currently it works fine on Win10. I stopped the upgrade path when Intuit withdrew from the UK market soon after I bought 2002.

I used it both for personal matters and my consulting business (since retired). I really like the reporting functions. The one major problem I had was that the VAT reports were wrong – rather a fundamental problems since it compromises tax compliance. I reported the problem to Intuit but got  no reply, which was not very encouraging.

This version does not try to go online for updates and I never got into downloading bank data, and I prefer to do my own investment analysis rather than using their system, so the program never goes online for anything. Although posts elsewhere have been nervous about file size, I have had no problems  with a file at 35MB and counting. It is a bit slow on reconciling big accounts (it only uses one thread of the CPU for the sort) but that is a minor issue.

Ultimately, presumably, my version of Quicken will not run on whatever OS we move to. At that stage I will move to Moneydance, that my son and wife  use – both are perfectly happy with it and I believe it will import Quicken data.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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Chris, my Quicken file is 85 MB – and I do worry occasionally about what happens if the file goes seriously awry. Over the years I’ve occasionally had Quicken crash for whatever reason and needed to use the validate function to tidy things up, but (so far) haven’t lost any data.

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To WSila:

Our Quicken data file is currently 102 MB and I’ve seen people report data files that were much larger.

Whenever I finish a Quicken session, I instantly do an online backup. Every few days I do an image backup of the entire data drive to an external HD with Macrium Reflect (the OS and programs are on C: and all the data is on D:).

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Chris B

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It looks like I’ll be out of step with the rest of the commenters on this thread, but I think that Quicken is well worth the money. I do not use it for a business, only for personal finances.

I’ve been using Quicken since 1989 and am currently using it (Quicken Classic Deluxe) under a subscription. Was I happy that it went to a subscription model? Not really, but I understand the rationale behind it. I used to update the program about every other year, back when Intuit owned it and used to offer annual updates. I do download transactions for my accounts and reconcile with the online balances (after having first entered my transactions manually), but I do not use Quicken Mobile or the web app; I keep all my data on my PC.

I’ve always been a big fan of Quicken. It’s one of my favorite and most helpful programs. In this era of mostly online statements and bills, it enables me to keep track of everything and to plan properly. For example, what did I pay for those PUR water filters last year or when does that magazine subscription expire? Easy—look it up in Quicken. And I seriously don’t remember when I last kept a balance in a manual checkbook register. Why should I? It’s all in Quicken.

Especially if you’re running a business with it and making a good buck, the expense of buying a subscription for Quicken seems to me to be a rather minor issue in the scheme of things.

P.S. Will, as an aside, what does Quicken Business & Personal do that Quicken Classic Deluxe does not (aside from invoicing, I mean)? If you don’t do many invoices, it wouldn’t seem terrible to me to do them in Quicken just to keep track of them but to keep doing the actual send-to-client invoices in Word. Just a thought.

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gort77

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I have also been using Quicken for a long time – starting well before it changed over to Quicken.com.

Electronic connections:
I don’t use Quicken’s electronic connection to financial institutions – I’d rather do that myself, so I understand the details of every entry & every line item on credit card transactions. In particular, Quicken’s ability to download my credit card data. That sounded great at first. Then when I tried that, it brought over way more than what shows up on my credit card statement – it brought over EVERY credit card entry, up to my last credit card transaction from yesterday. So my payment for the monthly statement is one amount, but the total of the download is a larger amount. How do you reconcile that difference? Also, the Categories that Quicken auto-selected for the downloaded transactions were maybe 30% correct – so I had to review every transaction to adjust the Categories. I also add Memos to credit card transactions, so I know what I purchased, not just the vendor, so I have to touch every entry anyway. I did that download once, then when I saw what it did, cancelled that ‘feature’ and deleted all of the downloaded transactions. Downloading transactions does not save much time, if any.

Reporting:
I often need to look for a transaction, sometimes just searching for the Payee, sometimes a certain Category. If I wrote a check, the search works fine. If it was a credit card transaction (which is 90% of the time), the report simply shows the total credit card payment & I have to manually dig down into the credit card details to find the line item I was looking for. Quicken won’t show me the line item that fits my search criteria. When I asked Quicken about that, I was told I have to use the electronic download method to do credit card entries. Well, I’m not going to do that for the above reasons (download brings more than the items on the statement).

Constant ‘updates’
I don’t open Quicken every day, more like twice a month, maybe even once a month. Often, I bring Quicken up to date with my checkbook only once a month during my bank statement reconciliation. Most of the time, when I open Quicken, it wants to ‘update’ itself. What could change that Quicken needs to ‘update’ its software multiple times a month? Maybe the list of what it can connect to electronically? Since I don’t do downloads from banks or vendors, I don’t need their latest list. I have some investments but they are all handled by the investment firm I use. I track those in Quicken at a very high level, not every security. But I still have to let Quicken ‘update’ itself nearly every time I open the software. That usually only takes a minute or so but then, it askes me if I want to continue opening Quicken! – Well, I clicked on the Quicken icon, so Yes, I still want to open Quicken – why are you asking?

Other:
I use the “Memo” field for most entries, always for credit card entries (for what was purchased & date). When the “Tag” field was added some years ago, I couldn’t figure out what to use that for, so I don’t use that.

2 users thanked author for this post.

opti1, windbg

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To KingGeorgeN:

Electronic connections:
It sounds like you may not have set up credit card accounts within Quicken to record the individual charges and that you’re just recording your payments to the credit card companies and using a split transaction to record the details of what each payment covers (please correct me if I’m wrong). When I first started using Quicken back in 1989, that’s what *I* did. I quickly realized that was *not* the way to handle things. That method really mucks things up since (among other problems) the date that you pay the credit card bill is not the same date as the transaction dates for the various charges that the payment covers. That can be especially problematic when it comes to items that affect your income tax returns. For example, you may have charged a charitable contribution in 2022 but not have paid the credit card company until 2023. If you itemize, that is properly a 2022 deduction, not a 2023 deduction. You can see how that would play havoc with any Quicken tax reports.

I, too, record all of our transactions manually, with memos, into the appropriate credit card accounts, pretty much as soon as they occur or shortly thereafter. I also download transactions from our credit card companies, usually once or twice a week. As a result, almost all the downloaded transactions are marked as “Matched.” Those matching transactions are already properly classified (because I manually entered them). All I have to do is check them off as “Accepted” for purposes of reconciling with the credit card online balance. Sometimes the downloaded transactions do include some that I have not manually entered, for example, Amazon purchases that get charged as the goods come in. No problem; I just verify them by going to my Amazon account and looking at my orders. Then I can accept the transaction and edit it to properly classify the items that I bought, usually with a split transaction with memos for the items bought. Then I reconcile my Quicken credit card balance to the online balance that the credit card company shows.

Reporting:
I do searches all the time, usually doing a “Find All” to search across all accounts for a particular transaction. I’m *guessing* that your poor search experience is related to the issue mentioned above.

Constant updates:
Quicken often fixes bugs or improves certain things in the program. Sometimes the updates may also have something to do with online access but usually not. I actually like that Quicken regularly rolls out updates to make things work better. I’m in Quicken almost every day so the frequency doesn’t strike me as happening too often. I just checked—there were two updates in January, none in February, and so far in March there have been three updates. If you go to “Help/Release Notes” in Quicken, you can see all the updates that Quicken has installed and what issues they addressed.

You’d love our other PC that runs Linux; there are update notifications for the OS and programs pretty much every day.

Other:
I hardly use tags, either. About the only time I’ve used them is to group various charges together regarding various trips. You couldn’t get a meaningful report using categories or payees since they are all different. If you add a tag like “California 2024” to those transactions, then you can group them and get a report for all the expenses for that trip.

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To: Kobac:

Electronic Connections:

My major problem with downloading credit card data is that it brings in entries that are past the end date of the Statement.  So my payment to the credit card doesn’t match the entries brought by the download.  If I use the downloaded data, the balance of my checking account is lower that it actually is.  A bank reconciliation would not balance.  How do you deal with that?  I know, in the long run, it will balance out, but bank reconciliations will never match.

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I also am a long-time Quicken user, frustrated with the mandatory upgrades to continue full program functionality.  Quicken is the only reason I still use Windows.  I was happily in the Linux world for several years, but didn’t like having to multi-boot or use VMs to use Quicken.

As far as I can tell, except for Microsoft Money there has never been another software product that comes close to the functionality of Quicken. For whatever reason it seems this is not an area that other developers and entrepreneurs find interesting.

This comment stream points to several alternatives I hadn’t heard of.  I’ll take a new look at those, and hope that there is one that meets my needs and runs on Linux.

Thanks Will, and to those who posted such helpful comments.

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I too was a MS Money user until it was discontinued. I do download transactions so I started using Quicken. Money was excellent at dealing with investment transactions, including trading stock options. Quicken was not. I still have some problems with options transactions. I too hate the annual subscription, I had to switch to it about three years ago when the standalone version of Quicken I purchased would no longer do downloads. I have thought about trying the MS Money sunset edition but I am afraid that I would not be able to move my current Quicken data into it. I do not like Quicken.

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Quicken is

• old,
• unupdated,
• clunky,
• crashes repeatedly,
• doesn’t use Windows standards and
• doesn’t publish its data format so I can have access to my data.

Next!

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To <span class=”bbp-author-name”>Mitchell Hymowitz</span>:

That has not been my experience.

1 user thanked author for this post.

gort77

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Dumped Quicken in 2018, went with Moneydance and have not looked back.

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Duggem

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Quicken 2016 Premier still works for my simple finances. I have it installed on a virtual machine with NO network connection, which prevents the Quicken logon dialog from popping up. I have kept copies of the update patches and just recently installed it on a new VM on a new Windows 11 host. I update stock quotes daily using a CSV file, which comes from Vanguard and requires just a small bit of Excel editing to make it compatible with Quicken.

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Kobac wrote:

it wouldn’t seem terrible to me to do them in Quicken

I know enough about accounting to use regular quicken to set up the necessary accounts so the bookkeeping works, which is what I did at one point. But H&B (B&P) has all that built in, including customer records and the ability to manage expenses associated with projects. There’s little question in my mind that it is more efficient than using my DIY invoices.

It is true that I’m sending fewer invoices these days, probably about 25% of my peak, but I still do them about weekly. They’re usually less complex than they used to be. And they are more efficient than doing the accounting manually. That’s what makes me stick with a program than can fully handle invoicing and expenses.

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I was never a fan of Intuit or Quicken. I was a happy user of MoneyCounts until Intuit bought Parsons Technology, discontinued its software, and graciously offered to sell Quicken to MoneyCounts users. That’s how I became a Quicken user 30 years ago.

Like Will, I think the UI has not improved in a long time. While the program’s features have grown, they are much more that I need.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find an acceptable substitute that meets the needs I do have — including access to all that historical personal data. Running Quicken is one reason I stay with Windows instead of migrating to Linux.

A while back, there was an interesting comment on the Quicken user forum. It was something like: Quicken is just keeping the desktop version going until the old people like us who use it die off and everybody is on an online tool.

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Just browsed this : Microsoft Money Plus Sunset Deluxe v17.0.120.3817

Designed by Microsoft to be a free replacement for expired versions of Money Plus Essentials, Money Plus Deluxe, and Money Plus Premium versions.

All versions of Money Plus sold at retail and online, required users to perform an “Online Activation” step in order to keep using the product, even if online services had already expired. Online Activation was also required for every machine onto which Money Plus was installed. Now that Money Plus is no longer available for purchase, the online activation step will eventually become unnecessary and unsupported. This Money Plus Sunset package is targeted at removing the activation dependency. There are two versions of Money Plus Sunset. The Money Plus Sunset Deluxe version is meant to replace Premium, Deluxe, and Essentials versions of Money Plus. The Money Plus Sunset Home and Business version is meant to replace Money Plus Home and Business. Please note that Money Plus Sunset versions come preconfigured with: · No online services (no online quotes, no bill payment, no statement downloads initiated by Money, no data sync with MSN Money online services, etc…) · No support services (support services are limited to online self-help only, see Money Plus Sunset EULA and Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle pages for more details) · No need to activate the product
..

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IBM1130 wrote:

until the old people like us who use it die off and everybody is on an online tool

Gruesome (thanks) but probably true. My kids don’t keep books.

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Hi Will, wow, that’s a great piece. Thank you. I still use Quicken Deluxe subscription so I can get support if needed; the last call they told me that using the copy transaction function wasn’t supported (but it has worked since day1) Sigh. It’s a computer. Best, Carl

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I used to do it like you, Will. I was a sole proprietor as well. I started out invoicing on Microsoft Works! Finally switched over to Quickbooks and that freed up an enormous amount of time for me. It was well worth it.  But my last version was 2000  😉

But if you’re using Microsoft Word for your invoicing why not just use Excel for your data?

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I am not happy with the price increase $55 two years ago.   $64 last year and $72 this year.

I don’t use any of the investment functions.  I think the excel template might just be what I need.

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Wow!  Lots of feedback here.  Like so many others, I have been using Quicken for years–  Premier for the last several.  I use Quicken for everything; my entire life is on it.  For security, I keep the database files in a VeraCrypt file container. In a pinch, if one of the accounts has a download issue, I have downloaded transactions into Quicken from the site’s website.  Transaction download errors are much less frequent than they used to be and generally proceed without issue.  I “need” the ability to click on “one step update” and watch as all the new transactions over several different accounts come through.  Several of these transactions are matched, as I manually enter checks, credit card purchases, utility bills, etc.  Most of my investments are handled through a financial service, and the number of buy/sell transactions can be significant.  There is no way I would even attempt to enter those manually.  A few years ago, I explored some alternatives, but could find nothing that could do all the things that Quicken does.  Of the programs mentioned, can any of them do the same?  I’m talking checking, credit cards, investments, keeping track of things like insurance policies, setting up reminders, creating reports for tax record purposes, and other stuff besides.  I too don’t like the annual renewal, but it seems everyone is going down that path.

Casey H.

1 user thanked author for this post.

PL1

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I don’t think it’s a Quicken issue, but an Intuit problem.

 

I’ve used Intuit Turbo Tax for over 15 years. After retiring and collecting Social Security, I was using the Online Free version of Turbo Tax. This year, they tried to make me pay $150.00 for the Online Deluxe Edition. It kept telling me I had a “Foreign” account and couldn’t use the free edition. There online chat is total garbage as they also said I had a “Foreign” account, but they couldn’t show me where.

 

The last time I was out of the country, February 1992 when I went to Panama for “Jungle Training” when I was in the Army.

 

!5 minutes later, H.R. Block online and my refund was approved.

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Will, you have hit a hot-button issue! I have been muddling along with Quicken 2009 since, well, 2009. Quicken user since 1992. (MoneyCounts from Bob “Go Daddy” Parsons was the OG back in the day until he sold out to Intuit. I still have images of the MoneyCounts floppy disks but have never tried installing them inside a DOS VM. Who woulda thought the CPA from Cedar Rapids would become a billionaire?) Although I never used the product, I noticed that Intuit is killing Mint this year and pushing users to Credit Karma. I do not think Credit Karma has anything to do with bookkeeping.

I don’t track investments and I don’t need connectivity with my bank. All I want to do is download the transactions in CSV format (which my bank does provide), assign categories, and then convert the modified CSV file to Excel. My version of Quicken imports QIF files only. Neither my bank nor Quicken 2009 supports the newer OFX and QFX formats. To convert the finalized Excel file to QIF, I use a tool called Excel to QIF Converter from Big Red Consulting. The Quicken reports tell me everything I need to know. My goal is to determine where the money came from, where the money went, and identify tax-related transactions.

Quicken gave me no more grief about registering the product after I edited the Quicken.ini file to show RegistrationCount=99999. My version is so old that it won’t connect to any Quicken server. It has continued to function since 2009.

I don’t need any new functionality, but I need a new program. Quicken 2009 is a long-in-the-tooth 32-bit program. I fear it will stop working one day after a Windows update. I refuse to consider Quicken Classic Business & Personal because I refuse to store my data in the cloud (although my bank already has stored it in the cloud somewhere).

I am considering Moneydance. $65 gets you a lifetime license plus an upgrade to the next version (e.g., if you buy version 2024, you get a free upgrade to version 2025). After that, you can use it for as long as you like without buying an upgrade, unless they add some new functionality you can’t live without. I’m also considering KMyMoney, which is FOSS. KMyMoney offers Windows, Mac, and Linux versions, too.

I’ve looked at MS Money Sunset Edition, but it looks awfully old and kludgy. I never used MS Money back in the day, so I think I’ll be better off with a newer program.

Another potential contender is Tiller, which works with either Google Sheets (no thank you) or Excel. It is some kind of Super Spreadsheet Template that provides connectivity to download transactions. However, it is a subscription product so I am not likely to use it. At first glance, it looks hideously complicated.

I’m a little frustrated with Moneydance tech support, who insist that I import QIF files only, despite documented functionality to import CSV files. The documentation is, however, pretty vague. Moneydance tech support refuses to provide a data map for importing from CSV. I want to import ~10,000 transactions. Making the necessary modifications in a CSV file would be much simpler than modifying all those transactions in Quicken and exporting the QIF. I may wind up making the modifications in Excel and then using Excel to QIF Converter to create the QIF file, but once again, Moneydance won’t explain their data mapping. Maybe their tech support does not understand the concept of data mapping.

Whatever program I choose must be able to export the data to CSV or some other universal format. I refuse to use a program that holds my data hostage in a proprietary format. I like the fact that neither Moneydance nor KMyMoney stores data in the cloud, and that both offer Linux versions. Microsoft pushes me closer to Linux as my primary OS with every new update.

GnuCash is too complicated. I bought the documentation and still was unable to figure it out. I think GnuCash is overkill for the average, non-business user.

I’ve got my tax return completed for the year, so while I’m still thinking about bookkeeping, I want to migrate to a new program.

Except for Tiller, it looks like my ideas have all been covered in this thread. The data migration seems like the biggest issue to me, whatever program you choose.

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Ken_T wrote:

Any version of Quicken prior to 2015 should work

That’s a good thought. However, moving backward creates the problem of prior versions not being able to import data from newer versions.

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I can provide detailed instructions for converting “new” Quicken data to “old” Quicken data to downgrade to an older version. It is not intellectually difficult but can be tedious and time consuming. It will also require purchase of one of the Big Red Consulting tools, depending on the Quicken file format you need. Here are the basic steps with details omitted:

1. Extract all your data from new Quicken in CSV format.

2. Open the CSV file in Excel, clean up the layout, and make sure everything balances. I’ve attached a copy of the check register I use to (1) check the running balance, and (2) map the data to the fields Big Red expects to see. The important part of the register is the formula used to calculate the running balance. If you are a better formula writer than I am, you can probably improve on the template. The layout comes from Big Red. Credit card files require a modified formula.

3. When you’re happy with your spreadsheet, let Big Red convert the Excel file to the format needed for old Quicken, probably QIF.

5. Import the file to old Quicken and confirm that it remains balanced. Run a transaction report and skim through to see whether you see anything fishy.

There are more details and a handful of gotchas (to which I can provide solutions), but this process shows the general approach. I don’t want to belabor the details here unless you have some interest. If you like, I can post detailed instructions here or communicate by PM.

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I too was a committed user of Quicken for many years, but when it changed and was no longer with Intuit, I too tried GnuCash, and gave that up also. I now have my own system and am very happy with it. I use open office for all my work, gave up on M$oft and their outrageous costs as well as not wanting AI in everything I use. Of course Open Office is free where M$oft is a real pain and of course expensive. Spread sheets are easy to use, invoices are also not a problem.

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The number of alternatives offered in this thread makes me want to believe that there’s an alternative for me. However, I’m so set in my ways that I cannot even use the macOS version of Quicken. I’ve tried it three times and had to ask for a refund every time — i.e., I guess I’m an old dog so used to Quicken after 33 years that I can’t stand to think of the time required to switch to a new solution. I’m in the Mac world now, so I bought a barebones mini-computer from Asus (4″ x 4″ x 1.75″) that runs Windows 11 Pro, headless, like a scared deer. It’s dedicated solely to Quicken Windows and accessed on my 27″ iMac via MS Remote Desktop. All’s well. For me, it boils down to the necessity to pay the damned piper. Whatever Quicken, those dirty dogs, charge is the cost of keeping my retirement placid and pleasant. I wish it weren’t so, but I’m afraid it is.

But while I love the software, I rather hate the people who own and run Quicken.

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I’ve been using Moneydance since 2012, after years with Quicken. Quicken (a decade ago) was a bit slicker than Monyedance, but Moneydance works fine for me.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Duggem

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I used Quicken for years and years and years and loved it. Until it went to subscription. I searched around for alternatives and haven’t liked any of them, until thanks to AskWoody and its Freeware articles by Deanna McElveen, featuring oldergeeks.com software. Under their Accounting offerings, and “Personal/Household Accounting” is “Eqonomize! v1.5.5” (I didn’t like any of the other options). Eqonomize! Is simply FANTASTIC— To repeat F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C. It takes some getting used to but it’s worth it. I use it for reconciling and balancing my checkbook. I think you will like it as well.

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I will put in another plug for KMyMoney. It is actively supported (you can open a bug fix ticket) and will soon be putting out additional enhancements. The reporting is extremely flexible. And it is free.

https://kmymoney.org/

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same here but I am using the 2014 Deluxe version. Had a few problems 3 or 4 years ago which I think, based on internet info, related to having too much data. I archived or deleted a few years of checking and savings data which seems to have avoided the problem for now.

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CraigSH wrote:

I’ve used Intuit Turbo Tax for over 15 years. After retiring and collecting Social Security, I was using the Online Free version of Turbo Tax. This year, they tried to make me pay $150.00 for the Online Deluxe Edition. It kept telling me I had a “Foreign” account and couldn’t use the free edition. There online chat is total garbage as they also said I had a “Foreign” account, but they couldn’t show me where.

In December, I paid $48.87 including sales tax for the downloadable version of TurboTax Deluxe from Amazon.

I don’t know why you had grief regarding a foreign account. Maybe you inadvertently answered that question, “Yes?”

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WSbbeaudoin wrote:

I am not happy with the price increase $55 two years ago. $64 last year and $72 this year.

In December, I paid $48.87 including sales tax for the downloadable version of TurboTax Deluxe from Amazon.

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It’s justified and I can say that just reading the headline.

Intuit (be it Quicken, Quickbooks any edition, etc.) is horrible to work with on technical support, is developed poorly in a number of ways, and has lots of ways of weaseling out of support if they need to.

I can’t tell you about now, but for many years, Quickbooks (though it is a designed to operate in a client/server fashion) wasn’t supported on a virtual machine. Better not tell them that your Quickbooks Premium or Enterprise is running of a HyperV host (they wouldn’t automatically deny you –but they could, and if a problem was buggy or very hard to answer “unsupported configuration” is an easy way out. Their database is poor; are things chugging? Archive some data (so you can’t access it any more in the way you want) and start a new one, or, upgrade to the next up version of Quickbooks (until you reach Enterprise). Sometimes the database file breaks in unexpected ways -and yes, you should always have a backup, but repairing the damage can be difficult, and in some cases even sending them your database and paying costs to repair it.

I don’t know an IT tech that doesn’t shudder when they hear “it’s a Quickbooks issue” that they’re about to be handed. Unfortunately, there are limited options for competition, so there’s not an easy alternative in many situations. I admit it’s not exactly the same as Quicken, but given that and Intuit’s shenanigans about misleading people into believing they could do their taxes for free (only a very small percentage, the rest, you got most of the way and then had to pay –the US government finally put a stop to their misleading claims), I’d urge anyone to use a product from someone other than Intuit if that product does a good job.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

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I ran into this problem a couple of years ago trying to install Quicken 2016.  (I think the problem arises with Quicken 2014 – 2017 – before that, it didn’t have the “call home” feature.) After much googling, and trial and error, I came across https://www.quicknperlwiz.com/blanklogin2014-2017.html, which provided step-by-step instructions, which worked perfectly.  I can’t promise it will work for others, but it did for me.  It was a pain, though.

1 user thanked author for this post.

JC Zorkoff

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Hi Will.  I quit using Quicken about 10 years ago.  And this year Turbo Tax had so many of those annoying things that I switched to H&R Block.  The process was less painful although I could give them a list of items that they should fix before next year. Thanks Will.

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wavy

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I was “thinking” about renewing for another year, until I went shopping on Ebay and Newegg, and it looks like everyone is now selling Quicken Classic Deluxe for about $60 (except for Quicken themselves who are selling it for 1/2 price, for new customers only).

So, we have gone from approx. $30 every two years, to approx. $30 every year, to approx. $60 every year.

No Thank-You. That is not worth the ONE feature they are holding me hostage for, on-line banking downloads.  That is just greedy IMHO. 😱

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JC Zorkoff wrote:

How do you block Quicken from phoning home?

I don’t think you can.

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If you can find the IP or URL they call home with you could put an entry in the Hosts file to redirect it to nowhere. Of course, the software may not work if you do that.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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JC Zorkoff wrote:

How do you block Quicken from phoning home?

I want to do the same.  Thanks for the help.

 

I installed 2015 offline about 6 days ago and blocked the following with no ill effects so far.
qw.exe, quickenPatch.exe, qwsubprocess.exe, qwPatchDownloader.exe, qwul.exe

Happy to be away from Quickbooks

2 users thanked author for this post.

JC Zorkoff, GaryB

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cyberSAR wrote:

JC Zorkoff wrote:

How do you block Quicken from phoning home?

I want to do the same.  Thanks for the help.

 

I installed 2015 offline about 6 days ago and blocked the following with no ill effects so far.
qw.exe, quickenPatch.exe, qwsubprocess.exe, qwPatchDownloader.exe, qwul.exe

Happy to be away from Quickbooks

cyberSAR, that’s really interesting.  Can you be a little more specific on how you blocked those various .exe files from running?

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Windows defender firewall. Go to advanced settings and set up a rule in incoming and outgoing for each.

2 users thanked author for this post.

JC Zorkoff, GaryB

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One thing I forgot to mention was that after install but before first launch I edited the quicken.ini file in Program Data with my old registration info and set
[WebConnect]
keepAlive=0
askIfSaving=0
On first launch, after having blocked in firewall, I went through settings and disabled privacy, update and online settings. Then rebooted and connected back to LAN.

1 user thanked author for this post.

JC Zorkoff

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Today, I was able to install Quicken 2016 from the original CD onto my Laptop.

I ran the setup from the CD with the internet disconnected.

I  ran the Patch file QW2016R19.5MPatch.EXE downloaded from HERE

Then I copied the config folder from my working computer to replace the one created during the installation.

I followed CyberSAR’s instructions to BLOCK Quicken from phoning home.

Last, I enabled the internet connection and started Quicken.

Quicken 2016 is now up and running on my Laptop.

Thank you to all who have provided the information I needed to do this.

 

 

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windbg

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@JC Zorkoff When I launched Quicken today it stated it couldn’t connect for updates, closed and then worked when I relaunched. Checked the Quicken.ini file and noted
Periodic_update_period=4
Periodic_last_update=3/20/2024
Played around with changing 2024 to 2054 (worked) Changed update period to 54 (worked) and am now using the setting below which also seems to work fine.
Periodic_update_period=0
Periodic_last_update=3/20/2024

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JC Zorkoff

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I feel your Pain:
Been a Quicken user it seems forever. My function is investing, so the updates to stock prices are very important to me. When they went subscription I also rebelled then came back quickly. After finding no decent competitor in this field is surprising. I am not a fan of cloud based financial programs and do not use the cloud access of Quicken.
Years ago there was Microsoft Money as the main competitor, I would love to see them back in the business (i think).
Just my FYI, I annually purchase my quicken version from BestBuy, Office Depot or any other online retailer having a sale. I only need that code to update my existing version, no need to reinstall on PC.
Can you say MONOPOLY?

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windbg

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gort77 wrote:

Just my FYI, I annually purchase my quicken version from BestBuy, Office Depot or any other online retailer having a sale.

Currently, Newegg (through Walmart) has deluxe on sale for $32.

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gort77

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Thanks PL1, you just jogged my memory to do my annual search and purchase Quicken Premier.

Your site had premier for 42 after using all the discounts and I went directly to New Egg for the same price where I already have an account.

Ye Ha

 

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PL1

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