12-18-2009, 12:37 PM

After an extensive test of my first IMac, (5 days), and deciding that I liked it, I am going to replace my wife's PC with a Mac Mini. She is not a techie and all she uses her PC for is business accounting with Quicken 2000. Believe it or not, she is using a 1996 IBM 300 GL with Win 98 that has never had a problem and still doesn't (They made computers to last in those days.)

Since Mac Quicken looks just like PC Quicken (at least in all the googling I have done) she shouldn't have too much problem with a new system. Apparently it is virtually impossible to import an account from PC Quicken to Mac Quicken, but the new year is about to start so that isn't a problem. She will just start a fresh account.

However, in my researching, there is a vast number of users who are dissatisfied with the Mac version of Quicken. I know that most people who post are the ones who have had problems, but in this case the dissatisfaction percentage seems to be overwhelming. I can still use the PC Quicken with Parallels if needed (at least everyone I have talked to has said there will be no problem) but I would rather just move entirely to OSX. Don't really want to support XP or other bloatware anymore. Especially since my last Windows experience was at least 8 or 9 years ago.

Anybody got any experience with Mac Quicken?

Thanks

12-18-2009, 02:50 PM

I have been using it, having come to mac from PC. Don't remember how I imported my PC files to mac Quicken, but I did. It works for the simple stuff, but I am ready to change. Apparently the new version coming out next year cripples even more of the PC features. It is NOT the same program as on the PC. Since Moneydance has just been updated (in the last week or two), I'm ditching Quicken for Moneydance. The reviews are good, and they say that Quicken users will have no problem making the move.

02-28-2010, 03:29 AM

I have been using Q2007 since it came out, and have no plans to downgrade to Quicken Essentials for Mac. While it does sometimes quit unexpectedly (usually if I have a report open and am making changes to investment information), it does all the investment transaction types I need (including allowing me to add categories for things like Partner Distributions, Return of Capital as an income item (separate from the "RC" type, which won't show up in investment reports), and even doing sub-categories for dividend income (non-qualified, foreign, US), so I can get a very complete report.

I've looked at Moneydance and iBank; neither of these does a good job with unusual investment transactions, and iBank doesn't seem to have usable investment or category reports - it's focused on graphical representations.

Now maybe because as a CPA I prefer reports that look like financial statements, I'm partial to what Quicken 2007 offers, or maybe I'm a slow learner with financial programs that have a different presentation style. And because I have some clients using Quicken for PC, I've had a chance to see how that operates; I'd just as soon stick with Quicken 2007 for Mac. For me it's a more intuitive program to use.

I've never liked the automatic downloads because it's too hard to deal with split transactions, transfers, and getting names that mean something to me. So I prefer adding all transactions manually. I mean, if I have to go through each transaction anyway, why bother with the download?

As for doing the conversion from PC to Mac, it takes very careful review of the names of accounts and categories before trying the conversion. I've done it for a couple of clients, and it just takes a lot of time to get it right. Always work with backup copies. And compare net worth and category summary reports to make sure they are identical. I've found some useful Excel Add-ins at Big Red Consulting that can help with the conversion.

Anyway, you asked for experience with Mac Quicken; I have it.