Intuit intros long-awaited Quicken overhaul for Mac - Page 3

I have been wondering that for years. It's ridiculous.

I have 2 shares of Apple stock. To show my disdain for this guy, I ALWAYS withhold my vote for Bill Campbell as a board member. I know it doesn't do any good, but it makes me feel a little better.

Is it really true that they removed reports? That's about the only worthwhile feature in Quicken.

Looks like I'll be staying with 2005 until I find something better, something not made by Inuit.

There are several options I could recommend for you as an alternative. Quicken for Mac 2007. Does it have all the features of Windows??? Apparently it doesn't but it's close and it's a very similar interface. You can probably find it cheap now.

If you must use the windows quicken (probably can get by with Mac version 2007) you could run it with a program called "Crossover" which will let you run windows programs WITHOUT installing and running Windows. It fully supports Quicken on the PC and you can get it from Codeweaver. You can even install the demo to try it out with Quicken. You don't have to partition your hard drive at all which is the best way to run these programs. They also run full speed. It's really cool.

The last option you have is to try the good Mac alternatives out there. Having glanced at the most recent version of Quicken for the PC though, it looks like the PC version is headed more where this new Mac version is.

Have you tried Quicken 2007 for the Mac? It can do a lot of custom reports. It can also open your windows files. Also, if the only program you are running on the PC side of your mac is Quicken, then you should think about running it in CodeWeaver's "Crossover for Mac'. This let's you run Windows programs on your mac without installing Windows or partitioning. It will put the PC Quicken icon in your Dock and you launch it just like any other Mac app.

In the past, I used Microsoft Money exclusively. The last version of MS Money I used was MS Money 2003. In early 2006, I was notified by Microsoft that my MS Money 2003 would expire in April of 2006, I decided to go ahead and migrate to Quicken. I bought Quicken 2006, and spent a few days in complete agony. I hated that application. Microsoft Money's interface was so much better. I just could not believe how aggrevating Quicken's interface was. However, one thing that MS Money was lacking was the stability of the database. My MS Money data file crashed quite often, and the only thing that Microsoft knew was to "start from scratch" approach. Continuing to use MS Money was pure insanity. So, kicking and screaming, I pushed through the initial shock that I had from Quicken and learned how to do everything I needeed in Quicken. One thing that really Quicken does well is is the stability of the database. I have not lost my data file one time since 2006; neither did it get corrupted once. If I have reconciled my transactions, they stay reconciled forever, which was not the case in MS Money, where one day your accounts do not reconcile anymore, and you find out that they are out of sync several years back. How did THAT happen? Well, the data file got corrupted!

My Quicken 2006 expired in 2009, so I had to upgrade to Quicken 2008 (since everyone hated Quicken 2009). The upgrade was almost painless, and Quicken 2008 looked almost identical to Quicken 2006. The interface was still extremely confusing. There were several places (all looking different from one another) where you could do exactly the same task. However, Quicken 2008 still had a very solid database, and the data file contunued to stay in good shape.

I am concerned that Intuit is going to retire Quicken 2007 for Mac soon like they do with Windows software. Even if Intuit decides to keep Quicken 2007 afloat, banks are going to stop supporting Quicken 2007 for Direct Connect. Without Direct Connect, the financial software is useless as far as I am concerned. Every so often Quicken releases a new version of the server software, which runs on banks' servers. Newer versions of their server software do not support formats used by older Quicken client software. In order for banks to support Direct Connect with different versions of Quicken, they must run different versions of Quicken server concurrently. Quicken charges banks a hefty fee for each instance and each version of the server software. So, banks tend to discontinue support of older versions of Quicken for Direct Connect to reduce the fees they have to pay Quicken. Therefore, even if Quicken decides not to "end-of-life" Quicken 2007 for Mac, banks may start dropping support for Quicken 2007 as soon as Quicken releases a newer version of server that does not support Quicken 2007. It seems that on average, people are forced to upgrade Quicken every 3 years. So, Quicken 2007 may be coming up for the "end-of-life" either by Quicken or by banks this year or next year.

I have heard of "Crossover" before, but it seems that they only support Quicken 2007 for Windows to run on the Mac. I am currently using Quicken 2008. Even with Quicken 2007, the support is experimental (with the stability of Quicken 2007 support not given the highest rate like other software that Crossover supports). So, entrusting my finances to something as experimental as Crossover does not seem to be a prudent solution to me.

If you guys think Intuit U.S. is badly run, you have never had the spectacular misfortune of having to deal with the lazy, incompetent outfit known as Intuit Canada.

You so bring out some good points. You're right, on paper Codeweaver's program does only support 2007 deluxe, however, they allow you to download a demo of their software and try it out. They even have a tutorial about how to completely remove it too.

On the Mac side of Quicken I can honestly say I used 2003 for the Mac forever. It wasn't until last year that I upgraded to 2007. The functionality of 2003 remained active as long as I used it. I can only speculate it will be the same with 2007. Quicken uses as certain protocol to connect to banks. I venture to say that Essentials uses the same protocol as Quicken 2007 but I could be wrong. Intuit says it will continue to support Quicken 2007 for the Mac for those people who need the features that Quicken Essential does not offer.

That said there are quite a few financial programs like iBank and Moneywell. Moneywell is getting great reviews as creating custom reports seems to be it's thing. Both of these programs seem to have extensive lists of financial institutions and both have free trials to try. They also import quicken files. If you would like, If you send me a private message, I could send you a .pdf file of the instructions that come with Quicken 2007 for the Mac and you can see if it will do what you need it to do. You should be able to find a copy of it cheap online now. I don't think financial institutions will just stop supporting it. If they change a protocol, Intuit will update as long as they are going to support it. This will more than likely happen until they release a Quicken Deluxe version for the Mac (coming soon, next year). This would give you at least a year to use 2007 for Mac. You may also consider reverting to Microsoft Money on the PC as it is also supported with Crossover.

Just trying to help a fellow mac user survive the quicken gap.

I've been using Quicken on the Mac since My last PC which was in the '90's. At that time I purchased Quicken for the Mac and found it on parity and VERY close to the windows interface. Through the years Quicken has added features to the Mac but the User Interface has remained un changed. In my opinion, there's not really that much wrong with the old interface, it's okay, not great, not bad. I do not use investments on Quicken so maybe this is where I need to understand the difference, But I'm interested in knowing between Quicken 2007 (not essentials) AND Quicken 2008 for Windows what the Windows product has that the mac version didn't. Most of what I have heard are small things like..

1. there's no built in calculator
2. There's no way to select a field when you type

These are minor things, but what are the big things that Quicken 2007 didn't have that windows did? I'm not asking to debate, I'm asking because I just don't know. Quicken 2007 on the Mac worked fine for me. It did everything I needed it to do and more. (Except being able to scan in a receipt and link it to the transaction. I think moneywell does this). Can someone make a list of the things it doesn't do? It would be interesting to see.

I use Moneywell. I switched couple years ago after using Quicken for over 5 years. Doesn't look like new Quicken has anything over cheaper apps like Moneywell.

I just got this product, only after they announced that they would be adding back in several key features in the next few months. I actually like it. It doesn't do everything Quicken 2007 did, but everything it does do it does better, and it's interface is a dramatic improvement. For years we've wanted software companies to rewrite their programs in Cocoa (or, at least a lot of us on here have called for that), and Intuit was always towards the top of that list.

Well, now they've done it, and this new release looks like a pretty solid foundation for future iterations. I won't buy another version until I get my check printing features back, but I'm confident that they'll get that in here soon enough. For now, using it just to track and budget (though the budget tools are lacking), I'm pretty happy with it.

QuickBooks has had a couple of good updates in recent years, too -- particularly QB 2010. I hope this is a sign of Intuit finally putting some muscle into its Mac products.

Sorry to resurrect the thread. I was just surprised that I ended up kinda liking this program. I was expecting a disaster, and instead it's a feature-starved but promising application. Frankly, it's what Intuit should have released for OS X back in 2003. Alas.

Yeah, I didn't understand all the negative comments over at MacWorld when Intuit announced the additional features and price cut. It is a clear statement that the new admin is trying to rectify the situation, and is a good response to customer feedback.

Intuit has bought Cha-Ching.

Cha-Ching certainly has the look of a quality Mac finance app.
Looks like Intuit is serious about upgrading Quicken for Mac after all.

Thanks for your Post, Frank777!!!!

When did that happen? So does it mean that Quicken for Mac will be re-written? I almost forgot about this Thread. I vaguely remember a lot of complaints here about Quicken for Mac...

I was once allowed to install my Quicken 2004 on Macbook Pro, earlier in 2010, it did install, and I was able to do a few transctions in a dummy account I set up! If my Quicken 2004 will run on Macbook Pro, which it appears it does, I'll be happy!

Then, if Quicken for Mac is re-written, we all shall live happily ever after! But, when will that be? Hope I'll be able to Export/Import my Quicken 2004 into whatever version of Quicken that is latest, and not have to hear about that version being 2nd Class Citizen compared to Windows Version!

Please folks, post the latest here, as Frank777 did just now! Anyone out there still keeping an eye on this Thread/Topic?

Any votes for what is the best replacement for Quicken is? Reminder: I am on Quicken 2004 and I'd need to Export/Import it!!!! Also see my signature below - my current Mac configuration

It happened this week.

Quicken for Mac has already been rewritten from the ground up. The new version is called Quicken Essentials for Mac, because not all the features have been worked into the new code.

Since Cha-Ching is fairly modern code itself, its developers shouldn't have a hard time integrating whatever features Intuit saw in the program and liked so much.

I hope Intuit U.S. is taking Canada into account when coding the new program, since the Canadian division of the company is utterly useless.