Switching guides

How to switch from Quicken without losing your history

About 15 minutes. Switching from Quicken Classic takes one file: export an all-accounts QIF, bring it into TallyBeacon in one step, then reconcile one account to check the numbers. Every account, with its categories, payees, tax lines, splits and transfers, comes over together. From Quicken Simplifi or a budgeting app, a CSV export works the same way.

Prefer to watch? The 5-minute walkthrough shows the whole move, from the export to your first forecast.

The walkthrough video: Leaving Quicken? Bring your history. See what's ahead.

Step by step

  1. Export everything from your old app

    In Quicken Classic for Windows, open the File menu and choose File Export, then QIF File. Under the account to export from, choose All Accounts. Set the dates from your first transaction to today (Quicken's default end date is years ahead, which brings along future-dated entries). Tick Transactions, Account list, Category list and Memorized payees, and save the file somewhere easy to find.

    On Quicken Simplifi, Quicken Classic for Mac, YNAB or Monarch, the export is a CSV file instead. How to export from each app, including what to do before your subscription ends.

  2. Create your TallyBeacon account

    Sign up free with your email. No card is needed, and every new account gets 30 days of Plus.

  3. Bring the file over

    Open Import and use Moving from another finance app? at the top. Choose your file and select See what's in it.

    TallyBeacon's Import page: Moving from another finance app?, with the export steps open and a button to choose the file

    You see every account in the file, with how many transactions it has, its dates and the balance it ends on. Each one becomes a new account (its type is filled in for you) or goes into one you already have. Untick any you don't want. Nothing is saved yet.

    What's in your file: four accounts (checking, savings, a Visa card and an auto loan) with 424 transactions, each set to become a new account
    Sample data.

    Choose Bring everything over. Transfers between your accounts, like a card payment from checking, are linked once rather than added twice, and anything already in TallyBeacon is recognized, so it's safe to run again.

    Everything's here: 4 accounts brought over, with the transactions added to each and its balance

  4. Check the balances

    Compare each account's balance with your bank's. To be sure to the penny, open checking and choose Reconcile: enter your last statement's ending balance, tick off what's on it, and finish at $0.00 difference. More on reconciling.

    Reconciling a checking statement: statement balance and ticked so far both $1,850.00, a difference of $0.00

  5. Confirm your paycheck and bills

    Scheduled transactions don't travel in a QIF file, but TallyBeacon looks through your history and suggests your paycheck and regular bills. Confirm the ones that are right and add anything it missed. More on paychecks and bills.

What carries over and what doesn't

From your old appIn TallyBeacon
Accounts and their historyEvery account you choose, with every transaction, in one step.
CategoriesIncluding subcategories, income or spending, and tax lines. You pick which to add.
PayeesWith the category each is filed under, so the next one is filed the same way.
Split transactionsKept as splits.
Transfers between accountsLinked on both sides, never counted twice.
Loans and mortgagesThe account and its balance. Set up the payments once to split each into principal and interest.
Investment transactionsBuys, sells, dividends and the cash beside them, from a QIF file. Enter current prices by hand.
ClassesAdded to each transaction's memo.
Scheduled transactions and remindersNot in the file. TallyBeacon suggests them from your history instead.
Budgets, security price history, attachmentsNot imported.

Then see where your money is headed

Once your paycheck and bills are in, the Overview shows your balance day by day, up to 90 days ahead on Plus: your lowest point before it happens, and the days you can pay your card and still keep a cushion in checking. That's what your old register couldn't tell you. What else TallyBeacon does.

The Overview's day-by-day balance for the next 60 days, with a paycheck and a predicted Visa payment picked out
Sample data.

Questions

Will I lose my history if I cancel Quicken?

Not if you export first. Quicken says Deluxe and higher editions of Quicken Classic keep letting you view and export your data after a subscription ends, while Starter becomes read-only. Quicken Simplifi isn't covered by that promise, so export before you cancel.

Can I import more than one QIF file?

Yes. Anything already in TallyBeacon is recognized and not added twice, so you can bring over a second file, or the same one again, safely.

Does my Quicken data stay on my computer?

Your Quicken file does. The QIF file you export is read by TallyBeacon and its transactions are saved to your TallyBeacon account; you can export them again, or delete everything, at any time.

Do I need to pay to import?

No. Importing, reconciling and unlimited accounts are on the Free plan. Plus adds the 90-day forecast, predicted paychecks and bills, alerts and bank sync, and every new account gets 30 days of it free.

What if something doesn't come over right?

Email [email protected] with what you see, and we'll sort it out with you. Every message is read by a person.

Bring your history over tonight. Free to start, no card needed.

Moving your history over? Book a free 30-minute call and Robert, who built TallyBeacon, will do it with you.

Create your free account

Steps last checked October 17, 2026. Menu names can differ between versions. Quicken, Quicken Classic and Quicken Simplifi are trademarks of Quicken Inc.; YNAB and Monarch are trademarks of their owners. TallyBeacon isn't affiliated with any of them.