Hi, I have been having a few problems with my computer so I have taken a straight copy of my quicken folder and put it onto a removable drive (I have quicken 2001). Now I have had to reformat the computer and have reinstalled the program. This has happened before and I think I just copied 3 files from the backed up folder into the newly created one replacing then new ones. Can someone please tell me which files I need to transfer over to bring my version of Quicken back to the state it was in last time I used it. Thanks Lenny
Copying files often doesn't work, especially since Window's Registry doesn't get updated with perhaps needed operational entries that copying doesn't do. Why not simply reinstall from your Quicken CD? Better yet, consider buying a newer version of Q - 2001 is quite old anyway!
If talking about data files, the file set consists (I have Q2006 Dlx R5) of files with the same name but extensions of IDX, QDS, QDF, QEL, QPH, QTX, and maybe NPC.
John Pollard and others have written often of which files can be blown away and recreated. I quote from one of them (don't remember whom, just copied text in early 2006 for future reference):
.QDF Contains all your transactions, a dictionary of addresses of unprinted checks, descriptions in split transactions, and all the items that Quicken memorizes for you (categories, classes, memorized transactions etc.)
.QSD Contains your custom icons, Financial Calendar notes, extra account information, and information about your loans (NOT THERE FROM
2006 ON)
.QEL Contains your online services data. Appears only if you use online banking or online payment services
.QTX Contains your tax planning data. Appears only if you use the Quicken Tax Planner.
.QPH contains your investment price history
.IDX is just an index file that permts faster access to Quicken data. It is automatically recreated by Quicken if missing.
Jay Apple has given you some good information about the Quicken data files and their contents.
There's an easy way to get from where you are to where you want to be. As I understand your situation, you have reinstalled Q2001 on your reformatted computer and have your prior Quicken (or QuickenW) folder intact on your removable drive.
In Windows Explorer, just browse to your Quicken folder on the removable drive and click on the *.qdf file you should find there. (QDATA.qdf unless you have assigned a different name, as Jay said.)
That's it. Clicking any .qdf file should start Quicken with that file loaded. When you Exit Quicken, it will save the .qdf file in your new Quicken folder. Next time, you can just click the Quicken icon on your desktop and it should load Quicken with that same file.
Then use Quicken's Backup (+B or click Backup or File | Backup) and for the Backup screen's destination, Browse to the folder where you want to store a backup of your Quicken file. Your removable drive would be a good choice, since you can remove the drive and store a copy of your Quicken data separately from your computer. Backup strategies are a topic of their own; let's not get into those now. But you should also find the Quicken\Backup folder on your removable drive, containing the set of most-recent automatic backups that Q2001 had made before you copied the original Quicken folder (including Backup and other sub-folders) to it.
As you probably know, a Quicken "file" is actually a set of related files: the ones mentioned in Jay's post. In this newsgroup we often refer to the group as a "fileset" to emphasize the we are talking about all of them and not just the .qdf file. If you let Quicken do the file copying, backup, etc., it will automatically handle the whole fileset, even though only the .qdf file is mentioned. But if you use another tool, such as Windows Explorer's drag'n'drop, you'll have to remember to indentify and copy all of the individual files in the fileset. Quicken won't work right without the entire set.
As Jay said, the specific files used in YOUR case depends on how YOU use Quicken. And they sometimes vary with a new version of Quicken, so your Q2001 files might not have the same extensions as my Q2007 files.
Lenny - I assume you received your replies from RC et. al about the files you need. Good luck!
Others - I'm the one who 'maintains' the list that Jay quoted (at least, that looks like the appends I've made in the past). I do note that .npc was listed, and I've seen this in other places as well. on the web.
So, does anyone know what .npc files contain or contained? I personally don't recall ever seeing a filetype of that ilk in my Q data directories. I'd like to update my doc.
I'm sure you do without a doubt! - I've seen Intuit refer to them on their website; I just don't know what they are for. Perhaps some folks are using some function or facility within Q than I'm not. I just don't know.
Han - no, as I said in my original append (maybe it wasn't clear?) that I personally have never seen these in my Quicken data directories. Until Lenny mentioned them in the first post in this thread, I was unaware of their existence. Thus, my eagerness to update and repost the doc that Jay referenced. So, do *you* know why they might appear in your use of Q, since apparently you have them?!
"Andrew" wrote in news:d0F9h.95$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe08.lga:
I have no idea why I have the npc files. I use quicken for tracking investments (I download quotes just about daily). I use ONe-Step-Update for checking, savings and credit cards, and use it for paying a number of payees (mainly through Citibank). I make some reports every once in a while.
The npc files seem to have a datestamp that recently recurs once a week, but why Tuesdays? And why did it start 6/24/2006?
My profile matches yours, Han with the exception that I don't use pay bills (BillPay?) directly within Q. My local credit union has that, and I manually enter the transactions in my checking register that ultimately get reconciled. Interesting...
"Andrew" wrote in news:WGK9h.163$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe09.lga:
As someone else had done, I deleted all the *.npc files on drive with Quicken (leaving them for now on a backup drive). Quicken started normally, I did a backup, and that didn't generate npc files either. So maybe indeed the npc files are a relic of a previous version, and (certainly now) are superfluous.
I have them too: Q2005 Deluxe, R5 (but they were around before I updated to R5).
I did not do exhaustive testing, but the file seems to be related to Online Billpay. It was not present when I created a New Quicken file. It was not present when I added a new checking account with online access but no billpay, and did a download. But it appeared when I added a new checking account with online access and billpay via Quicken. From that limited testing it seems it might be a temporary file used when downloading billpay transactions. (Actually the only time I could get it created was when I first Activated the checking account that had billpay, which downloaded some billpay transactions. Deactivating and ReActivating the billpay checking account - after deleting an online payee in Quicken - did not cause the file to be recreated.)
Thanks John - cool. As I mentioned in my post to Han at 550 PM yesterday, the fact that I didn't use BillPay seemed to be the only difference (limited info as it were) between his and my general usage of Q. So I'll add .npc to my doc as a preseumed temporary file relating to BillBay/Downloading transactions pending any further clarifications. Next time I post the doc, it'll be there.
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