[Update: Intuit released a Lion-compatible update of Quicken 2007. You can buy it here. Quicken 2007 can import data files from Quicken 2005-2007 as well as Quicken Essentials. They have a helpful FAQ page.]

Intuit recently announced that it plans to release an update to Quicken 2007 that will make it compatible with Mac OS X 10.7, aka Lion. This news is a big relief to a number of my clients who have intentionally held off on updating to Lion. Those clients use Quicken 2007 and migrating to another application is not a simple task. iBank and Quicken Essentials are two applications that users could consider as a replacement, but an update to Quicken 2007 simplifies the entire situation.

When Lion was released in July 2011, Tidbits had an article talking about finding a replacement for Quicken. One colleague switched to iBank but due to differences in how iBank handles investment accounts, he spent many hours cleaning up his Quicken data after it was imported into iBank and needed assistance repeatedly from iBank’s tech support staff. A few of my clients who used only the account registers and reporting features in Quicken were able to use Quicken Essentials. Quicken Essentials for Mac was released in 2010. It is not really an update for Quicken 2007 users. Instead, you could think of it as a successor to Quicken 2007, but one that lacks some of Quicken 2007′s features. As its name implies, it is a bare-bones financial management application. It is enough for some, but not for all, Quicken 2007 users. Thus, the announcement of this Quicken 2007 update is welcome news.

Intuit indicates that this Lion-compatible update will be available “soon.” Elsewhere, I’ve read that it’ll be early-spring 2012. Users will be able to update their Quicken 2005, 2006 and 2007 data files into this updated version of Quicken 2007. Please read Intuit’s note about this update as well as Tidbit’s article about this Quicken update if you’d like more information.

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Here are instructions on how to reindex your Quicken Data File.

• Open your Quicken data file.
• Open the Accounts window and then simultaneously press the Command, Option and B keys on the keyboard.
• The reindexing will begin. Once it has finished, then go to the File menu and select Save A Copy. Give your file a new name and save it to your desired folder.

You can read a more detailed explanation of these reindexing instructions in this troubleshooting article on Intuit’s web site. The article does also suggest exporting the data in QIF format and then re-importing the data into a new file if the reindexing fails or does not solve your problem.

I’ve supported many people who use Quicken, and this is the first time that I’ve had to reindex a Quicken data file. I was not even aware that Quicken included this feature. I’m pleased about this since it’s common to have to do maintenance on large database files from time to time. I wonder why Intuit has hidden this feature, but I’m glad I know how to do it now. I discovered this procedure while working with a client recently.

This client had a damaged Quicken data file that was fixed after we reindexed it. My client was a long-time Quicken user and this data file had been in use for many years. He used it to track his checking, savings and investment accounts. I provide all of this detail to indicate that this file had seen a lot of activity over many years. Apparently, out of the blue it started to give him problems. Specifically, the symptom was that he would add a transaction to one of his accounts, close and then re-open the data file and the balance for that account would have changed radically.

Intuit’s web site indicates that there are a host of symptoms which can be signs that you need to reindex your Quicken file, including these:

• Categories/classes are missing from your Categories & Transfers list.
• You are unable to assign a Category to an item in a split transaction.
• You are unable to open a backup of your data file.
• Your reconciliation is off in a previously reconciled statement and you have not made changes to previously reconciled transactions.
• Duplication or “Unknown” items are listed in the Payee column of the QuickFill Transactions list.
• You receive errors when performing a Save a Copy.

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