Section 7.45. Quicken

7.45. Quicken

If you've been keeping track of your personal finances in Quicken on your PC, you'll feel right at home when you move to the Mac. Quicken 2003 and later versions are available for Mac OS X.

In general, switching over is quick and painless. You can import into the Mac version of Quicken all of the actual transaction information, including accounts, the categories and classes you've used to group them, and stock holdings. Certain kinds of Windows Quicken informationlike schedule transactions, QuickFill transactions, online account information, stock histories, and loan informationdon't make it, however.

Here's how to transfer your financial life to the Mac:

1. Open up your Quicken file on the PC and choose List Account List. Click Options, and then turn on the View Hidden Accounts checkbox. Edit your account names , if necessary, so that none is longer than 15 letters and spaces long .

   That's a limit imposed by the Quicken Interchange Format, which you're going to use to transfer the data.

2. Choose List Security. Make sure that your stock symbols appear in ALL CAPI-TAL letters .

   If you've been using Quicken to track your investments, Intuit advises that you take a few minutes to edit those transactions in some fairly technical and tweaky ways. Full instructions appear (at least at this writing) on the Quicken help Web site: www.intuit.com/support/quicken/2003/mac/2159.html.

3. Clean up your file before exporting .

   "Clean up" means accepting all online transactions into the register, clearing up any outstanding transactions in the Online Center and Compare to Register windows, and deleting any pending payments.

4. Export your data to a QIF file .

   To do so, choose File Export. Choose QIF File as the format. Youll be asked what range of dates you want to include, which accounts, and which lists (categories, accounts, securities, and so on). Choose a location and name for the file you're about to export (such as Quicken Windows Export ), and then click OK.

5. Transfer your Quicken Windows Export file to the Mac .

   Chapter 5 describes a number of ways you can go about it.

6. On the Macintosh, fire up Quicken. Choose File New. Create and save a new document .

   When the Accounts window appears, click Cancel.

7. Choose File Import QIF. Find and double-click your Quicken Windows Export document .

   If the technology gods are smiling, the Mac version of Quicken should take a moment to import all of your Windows data, which now appears neatly in your Register windows, ready to use. Make sure the final balances match the final balances in Quicken for Windows. (If they don't, scan your Mac registers for duplicate or missing transactions.)