One was to find or borrow a newer Mac model that had not been upgraded to 10.7 Lion, install QE, and use it to convert my Q 2006 data file to the QE format. QE requires the Intel chip of the newer Mac models.Īt this point I had two options. I then tried loading the new QE program on that old Mac but it would not run on an old PowerPC Mac.

I was able to convert our Q 2004 data file to the Q 2006 format. I managed to find Q 2006 and loaded into an old Mac running an older Mac OS. So we first had to find a copy of Quicken 2006 or 2007. Further, QE can only convert files from Quicken 20, not from our ancient 2004 version. It had to be done on Mac OS 10.6 before one upgrades to 10.7 Lion. We needed our old Q 2004 data file to be converted to the QE format, but this could NOT be done on Mac OS 10.7 Lion. The newest Quicken product is Quicken Essentials (QE) which does run on the Mac OS 10.7 Lion. So after we upgraded our computers to Mac OS 10.7 Lion, we quickly discovered that Quicken would not run, and we had no access to years of financial data, most importantly our current tax year info and our current checkbook entries. Even the Rosetta translator is not supported. The new Mac OS 10.7 Lion does not support old PowerPC programs at all. We were oblivious to the PowerPC and Intel incompatibility that was to become a critical issue with Mac OS 10.7 Lion.Īpparently, the previous version of Mac OS, 10.6, still had a way to read old PowerPC programs (including our old Q 2004) by way of a translator called Rosetta that worked in the background. The latest Quicken problem for Mac users has to do with converting Quicken data files to be compatible with Apple’s new Mac OS 10.7, aka “Lion.” Both Intuit (maker of Quicken) and Apple are to blame: Quicken for not keeping their Mac products current (as Apple moved from PowerPC to Intel chips) and Apple for not loudly warning Quicken users of a major incompatibility, knowing it would affect household and business financial management for Quicken users upgrading to Lion.Įvery year, Princess Gail and I ask ourselves if we shouldn’t upgrade our old Quicken 2004 (Q 2004) but it has always worked well, and we couldn’t see how a program that simply adds and subtracts numbers could change all that much. Princess Gail and I use Quicken every day to keep track of our vast empire (ROTF LMAO!) 😀 This is my very occasional geeky/techy article, written because this problem was a major PIMA!īy way of brief background, I have used Quicken to manage my finances since the late 1990’s, and have remained a faithful user despite a few little issues over the years.

Quicken for mac lion