Quicken Freezes When Attempting To Open A Data File Prior To 1/1/09

Overview

You may not be able to open Quicken files created prior to January 1, 2009.  When attempting to open Quicken, the program freezes or stops responding.

Cause

This issue is caused by damaged scheduled transactions that are set to Auto (Automatically enter into the register).

Resolution

1. Close Quicken.
2. Temporarily change your computer's system date to a 2008 date (such as 12/31/2008) by double-clicking on the clock in the lower-right corner of your screen.
3. Reopen Quicken.
4. From Quicken's File menu, choose File Operations, and then choose Copy. The Copy File window should open.
5. If desired, change the location and/or name of the file copy in the Copy the current Quicken file field.
   Note: Do not use any of these characters in the file name <* ? | " : \ / > Also, do not add the .QDF file name extension; Quicken does that for you.
6. Click OK, and then click New copy when the file has copied successfully. Click OK again.
7. Now you must "Super-Validate" the copied file by pressing and holding both Ctrl and Shift keys down during these 2 steps:
   1. From the File menu, choose File Operations, and then choose Validate.
   2. Select the copied file and click OK. You'll see the message Super validating file... along with a progress bar.
8. Once the validation is complete, release the Ctrl and Shift keys.
9. Close Quicken, and then change your computer's system date back to today's date.
10. Reopen Quicken and double-check your scheduled transactions. Some scheduled transactions may have been removed during the validation process; if so, you'll need to re-create them.

Community Content