Re: Running Quicken on two computers

Posted by R. C. White on July 3, 2006, 11:59 am

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Hi, Don.

I agree with DrB. You folks are making this far too complicated.

The only real question is the physical one: how to get the files from one
computer to the other? Whether you use a floppy, a CD-R, a network drive -
or a USB drive (probably the simplest these days), the procedure is
basically the same. Assuming a USB drive, do this:

On your desktop, open Quicken with your data file. Press Ctrl+B to Backup.
In Box 2 (the destination for the backup), Browse to the folder on your USB
drive (or type in the destination FOLDER, not the filename - Quicken will
handle that part). Then click OK.

On your laptop, insert the USB drive, then browse to that backup folder.
Click on the .QDF file. That should open Quicken with your file loaded.

When you get home, put the USB drive back in your laptop and reverse the
procedure: back up from the laptop to the USB drive, move the USB drive to
your desktop, then click the .QDF file to open the updated file in your
desktop.

Clicking a .QDF file should start Quicken; you don't need to have Q open
beforehand.

I've never used a network, but my understanding is that you can Backup from
Quicken on the desktop to a folder on the laptop HD, and vice versa. If
that is correct, then the process could be even easier.

A major caveat, in any case, is to be sure keep the files in sync. If you
enter transactions on the desktop, be sure to backup and transfer the
updated file to the laptop before making any new entries there. But, of
course, you knew that.

While I haven't used a network, I do dual-boot to both WinXP and the beta of
Windows Vista on my one computer. I've installed Q2006 Basic twice (once
from WinXP on F: and again from Vista on Q:) into the same "neutral" folder,
E:QuickenW, and I let Quicken default to keeping its data fileset
(E:QuickenWQDATA.*) in that same folder (and QuickenWBackup). No matter
which OS I'm running, I can access the same Quicken program and use the same
data file. From either OS, my Quicken manual backups go to the same
place(s) of my choice. Since I'm always using the same Quicken fileset, I
don't have to deal with physical media (except my HD) or worry about keeping
the files in sync.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
(Retired - no longer licensed to practice)
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net

> I'm going to be traveling and want to load Quicken data from my desktop

> to my laptop, update on the road, and then go back to my laptop. What

> do I need to do to make this work?

Posted by DP on July 3, 2006, 8:56 pm

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> Hi, Don.

> I agree with DrB. You folks are making this far too complicated.

...

> On your desktop, open Quicken with your data file. Press Ctrl+B to

> Backup. In Box 2 (the destination for the backup), Browse to the folder on

> your USB drive (or type in the destination FOLDER, not the filename -

> Quicken will handle that part). Then click OK.

> On your laptop, insert the USB drive, then browse to that backup folder.

> Click on the .QDF file. That should open Quicken with your file loaded.

> When you get home, put the USB drive back in your laptop and reverse the

> procedure: back up from the laptop to the USB drive, move the USB drive

> to your desktop, then click the .QDF file to open the updated file in your

> desktop.

> Clicking a .QDF file should start Quicken; you don't need to have Q open

> beforehand.

I'm not sure, but doesn't that leave a file on the hard drive unchanged?
Let's say my working Quicken file on my computer (I don't think it makes a
difference here if we're talking about the desktop or the laptop) is called
DATA06.
And that's also going to be the name of the backup file on the USB. If I
double-click on DATA06.QDF on the USB drive, it will open the USB file, but
it will do nothing to the file that's on the harddrive. When you close
quicken down, it will close and update DATA06.QDF on the USB, but will do
nothing to DATA06.QDF that's on the hard drive. Am I correct? (My head is
spinning.)

That means the only working file is the one on your USB and neither
machine's hard drive has an up-to-date copy. Right?
-dp

Posted by R. C. White on July 4, 2006, 3:40 pm

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Hi, Don.

Good point. Yes, by clicking on DATA06.qdf on the USB drive, you will open
that file and, by default, that's the file that will get updated during that
session and when the session is ended. After opening the file, use File |
Backup to put the updated file onto your HD. Then open it again from there.
(Actually, I was planning to use File | Save As - but I see that Quicken
doesn't offer that option.)

If you swap back and forth between computers frequently, this could become a
hassle - and if you forget to do it, you could have a problem. My
understanding, though, was that you would use the desktop normally and have
only a single round-trip transfer to the laptop before and after your trip,
which should not be too much of a hassle.

By the way, I hope "DATA06" was only an example. I've found that it is a
bad idea to name Quicken data files with names ending in numerals. When
Quicken does its automatic backup, it appends a single digit to the end of
the filename. A name like DON.qdf becomes DON1.qdf, which is quite
understandable. But DATA06.qdf might become DATA061.qdf, which could get
confusing. It won't confuse Quicken or Windows, of course, but it sure
confused ME when I first ran into the problem several Quicken versions ago.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
(Retired - no longer licensed to practice)
San Marcos, TX
rc@grandecom.net

>> Hi, Don.

>> I agree with DrB. You folks are making this far too complicated.

> ...

>> On your desktop, open Quicken with your data file. Press Ctrl+B to

>> Backup. In Box 2 (the destination for the backup), Browse to the folder

>> on your USB drive (or type in the destination FOLDER, not the filename -

>> Quicken will handle that part). Then click OK.

>> On your laptop, insert the USB drive, then browse to that backup folder.

>> Click on the .QDF file. That should open Quicken with your file loaded.

>> When you get home, put the USB drive back in your laptop and reverse the

>> procedure: back up from the laptop to the USB drive, move the USB drive

>> to your desktop, then click the .QDF file to open the updated file in

>> your desktop.

>> Clicking a .QDF file should start Quicken; you don't need to have Q open

>> beforehand.

> I'm not sure, but doesn't that leave a file on the hard drive unchanged?

> Let's say my working Quicken file on my computer (I don't think it makes a

> difference here if we're talking about the desktop or the laptop) is

> called DATA06.

> And that's also going to be the name of the backup file on the USB. If I

> double-click on DATA06.QDF on the USB drive, it will open the USB file,

> but it will do nothing to the file that's on the harddrive. When you close

> quicken down, it will close and update DATA06.QDF on the USB, but will do

> nothing to DATA06.QDF that's on the hard drive. Am I correct? (My head is

> spinning.)

> That means the only working file is the one on your USB and neither

> machine's hard drive has an up-to-date copy. Right?

> -dp

Posted by DP on July 4, 2006, 10:56 pm

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> Hi, Don.

It's not Don, but that's OK.

> Good point. Yes, by clicking on DATA06.qdf on the USB drive, you will

> open that file and, by default, that's the file that will get updated

> during that session and when the session is ended. After opening the

> file, use File | Backup to put the updated file onto your HD.

Which means this process is complicated. You originally posted this as a
simple alternative to others posted here. I don't know if you were thinking
of my post when you did that (I talked about Version A, Version B, etc), but
I think this discussion just goes to show it is not a simple process. You
have to think about what you're doing every time you open and close Quicken
to make sure all is in synch.

> By the way, I hope "DATA06" was only an example.

Yes. Just an example.

By the way, does windows still have the Briefcase? I never used it, but it
was supposed to be a way to keep files in synch. Maybe that offers an easier
way to do this, but I don't know for sure.