How do I copy or import Quicken files into Vista?

For Vista, Quicken should be installed in the "Quicken" folder under "Program Files". The Quicken installation program has permission to update this area but you as a user don't. All your data files should be in the "Documents" folder for your user account. Your user account has full access permissions for the "Documents" area. My Quicken data is in Documents\Quicken. If multiple user accounts need access to the Quicken data I think it should go into "Public Documents".

File -> Backup and File -> Restore Backup File are the safest ways to backup and restore (or transfer) Quicken data files, but copy and paste should work if you make sure you copy all the required files.

With Vista you may or may not have problems accessing the data on your backup medium if it's a hard drive in NTFS format. If you're using flash drives, CDs or DVDs you should have no problems. Quicken Online Backup was broken for Vista when I dropped the service several months ago; hopefully you aren't depending on it.

I just copy the entire \Documents\Quicken folder including the BACKUPS subfolder to the same location on the new computer.

Great idea, but only if she has her Quicken data under My Documents\Quicken on her old XP computer.

But since she mentioned concern that "changes are not supposed to be made in Programs" (and never mentioned Documents or My Documents) I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that her old computer had her working Quicken data files in the Programs\Quicken folder and that she wanted to know where to relocate them for Vista and whether or not she could copy-and-paste her backup disk copies to that location.

It really does not matter where the files were located on her XP machine. They should be copied to the Documents folder on the Vista machine. A simple File>>Open then navigate to the documents folder allows you to locate the files any where you want to on your hard drive.

My apologies Laura. I meant to say "as long as her data files aren't mixed in with the Quicken program files in her Programs\Quicken folder." That's where many people kept them in early Windows releases that didn't have the My Documents concept and that's where I assumed hers still were.

Yes, my data files were mixedin with the Quicken program files. I had simply accepted the default, and that's where they were placed. That also meant that I had to manually go through and select all the *.mbx and *.toc files (and also NNdbase.nnt and NNdbase.toc) to make copies. Actually, everything seems to be working fine now. I had double-clicked on the path in Eudora's "About" (as suggested here), and I can now make copies from that source without having them mixed in with program files. I copied the files there before I saw Laura's message about customizing, but I think everything is working correctly.

I really appreciate all the help I received from this NG.

MaryL

Ooops! Please ignore that last message of mine -- it won't make any sense at all. I was also dealing with issues on how to copy files for Eudora, and that message referred to how they were copied. That said, there was one common theme to the two. That is, in each case (Eudora and Quicken), I simply accepted the default. As a result, my data files were mixed with program files in each case. Quicken and Eudora are both working correctly now (Eudora via the method I mistakenly posted here and Quicken by using the simply "restore" method that someone described in an earlier message in this thread).

My apologies...and also my thanks for the help.

MaryL