Are there problems using Quicken with Dropbox?

Question

I wanted to start using Quicken 2011 and thought it would be a good idea to use it with Dropbox so my wife can access the file from another computer and we'll also always have an online backup. I don't care about simultaneous use (only one of us will pay the bills at time anyway). After doing some research it seems people encounter a problem with this setup. For example: http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=32044

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Edit: In case it matters, we use Windows 7 64-bit, the newest version of Dropbox, and will buy the newest Quicken (2011).

Answer 1

There is a way to use dropbox with Quicken. I have been doing it for a month or so now and I have it installed on four computers. I wanted to find a way to access my quicken data no matter where I am at. Here is how to do it. On your first computer, place all of your quicken files in the dropbox folder. Let it sync to the cloud (your dropbox account). Close quicken on that machine.

Then install dropbox on the next computer and let it sync. Then install quicken on that computer and direct it to the dropbox folder for the data files. You can continue this on an unlimited number of computers if you desire. The key to remember - you can only have Quicken running on one machine at a time. The next thing to remember to make this work is before you open Quicken (on whatever computer), you have to pause syncing. You do this by "right clicking" on the dropbox icon in the tray.

When you close Quicken, remember to resume syncing. This process will let Quicken write to it's local data files without any interuption from Dropbox, and whenever your through and resume syncing, it will bring all other computers up to date. It works great for me. Just remember, one person at a time in Quicken, pause syncing before you open Quicken, and resume syncing after you close.

Answer 2

Do not use Dropbox to backup Quicken.

I loved Dropbox. I love Quicken for Mac 2007. I do not love them together. Everything was working fine for 3 months but today Quicken crashes when I try to reconcile my account. My data files are corrupted from Dropbox.

I spoke with Quicken Support via Chat and they do not recommend Quicken backups with Dropbox. Thankfully I can print (saved as PDFs) all my registers for reference, but the files are unusable to Quicken. I will have to begin a new data file now. Learn from my mistake!

Answer 3

I've been running Quicken & Dropbox for some time now. But, I don't have Dropbox running directly on the same system as Quicken.

Earlier this year, my Windows desktop died. So, to get Quicken up and running again (and later TurboTax), I installed the apps into my VirtualBox Windows XP guest on my laptop (host OS is Ubuntu 10.04LTS). Since Dropbox in the Guest made things slow, I had opted to share the Dropbox folder to VirtualBox and access it that way. Automatic backups work fine, and usually Manual Backups (on exit) usually work too.

I opted to do similar when I rebuilt my desktop.

The problem I have is making sure only one running Quicken at a time.

Answer 4

I have been using Quicken with Dropbox for well over a year. I have not had any issues at all with corrupted files or Windows hanging as described above. You do need to remember to close out Quicken, however, before you start Quicken on a different computer. If you don't, Dropbox will accidentally create a duplicate.

I make regular backups...I keep them all on Dropbox. Also, to the person above who had corrupted files...the great thing about Dropbox, is that if that really did happen, then you can login to Dropbox and revert to an old version.

Answer 5

Had Quicken 15 including backup files on several files. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Online backups as well as backups to other computers.

After a few months or so I started to notice that I was saving 'conflicted copies' in the same folder as the original data. The newest data was on the conflicted copy.

I was able to restore Quicken to the c-drive of one computer and I used the quicken online backup service $10/yr. No more conflicted files. Every two weeks, I now delete and then recopy my quicken files including the backup files, to dropbox while quicken is closed on the one computer. I don't overwrite the files to dropbox directly although I guess I could.

Quicken therefore never directly accesses files from dropbox and Dropbox only receives quicken files when the Quicken program is shut down.

We only use Quicken once a week on average, so we can't lose too much data.

Good luck

Answer 6

Just print the account when you have reconciled - select save as .pdf - and save the .pdf to dropbox. That way any number of people you choose have transparent access to the register, and can ask questions or discuss.

Answer 7

Yeah its not really possible to use the Quicken QDF file in a Dropbox folder due to the way that Dropbox constantly accesses the file. Quicken needs a persistent open link to the file, and Dropbox will hang your entire Windows Explorer if it is trying to get exclusive rights to a file.

From experience, just do your backups to your dropbox- don't put your production QDF files in it.