The short version: Quicken says it can convert MS Money files to Quicken, but it can’t. The Quicken support team can’t help you.

The long version: Like many post-college types, I had problems keeping track of my finances. I found that Quicken really helped. I think I started in 1998. I’ve tracked everything since then – cash, checking, credit cards, investments, stock options, everything. It helped me see where I was spending. I used that information to get out of debt and save money. A few years ago I bought a new computer and MS Money came free, so I gave it a try instead of Quicken. MS Money wasn’t as good. I struggled sometimes to get transactions recorded the way I wanted, the reports weren’t as good, reconciling monthly statements was harder. I was lazy and didn’t bother buying Quicken; I struggled along with MS Money for a few years.

Last month I bought a new computer and was ready to switch back. I bought Quicken at the same time as the computer. Before I bought Quicken, I made sure I could convert my files. Quicken’s FAQ assured me that I could. It got to be bill time, so I copied my MS Money data to the new computer, opened Quicken up, and told Quicken to open my files. It turned out to be not that easy. Quicken can’t actually read the MS Money files. When you search the help, you find a utility that needs to be installed. And, the computer has to have both Quicken and MS Money on the same computer. I crossed my fingers and hoped that it didn’t really need MS Money, only Quicken. I installed the converter utility and ran it. After a couple seconds, it threw an error – “CreateQWPAManager could not be found in qwutil.dll”. I sighed.

So, I installed Quicken on the old computer (Windows XP, the new one is Vista). I downloaded and installed the converter. I carefully followed every step in the instructions. I ran the converter. Same problem – “CreateQWPAManager could not be found in qwutil.dll”.

I did a google search. I found other people with the same problem, but no solution.

I opened a chat with Intuit chat. I typed in all of the error codes and information and opened the ticket. 30 seconds later, the guy disconnected without saying anything other than “Hi dan.”

I opened a second chat. I typed in all of the error codes and information and opened the ticket. I walked through the problem with the support person. The support guy gave such gems as “The issue is because of the critical configuration related,” whatever that means. The end result is that Intuit wants me to export each of my accounts, one by one, and import them into Quicken. I have 55 account! (Yeah, I know I told the support person 60. I’m a dirty person. I still don’t want to do 55 exports, 55 imports, and the manual clean up of each account, 55 times.)

I know this problem exists on multiple operating systems; I can prove it to you. I know that other people are seeing the problem. I guess I’m idly curious whether this converter works at all – I’ve got at least 6 data points that it doesn’t, and no sucessful data points outside of the Intuit site. (I even found this post – but note that the person admits they haven’t tried it themselves!). Quicken’s marketing team is way out in front of what it’s tech and support teams can deliver.

Bottom line? I’m unhappy. MS Money doesn’t do what I want. Quicken doesn’t do what I want. My bank keeps sending me those paper ledger books with my checks – maybe I should use them?