What if I can't find my Quicken data file?

Your Quicken data file contains all of your financial records, including account balances, transactions, budgets, reports, and planning tools. If you can't find this file, Quicken won't be able to open your accounts or display your financial history. Fortunately, there are several ways to locate it.

This topic walks you through the most common places to check, how to review your file history in Quicken, and how to restore from an automatic or manual backup if needed. It also explains how to move your data file if you want to store it in a different location.

If you're seeing an error when opening Quicken or an unexpected file opens, it's likely that Quicken can't find—or is pointing to—the wrong data file.

Step 1: Check the default Quicken folder

By default, Quicken stores your data files in:

Documents\Quicken

To check:

1. Open File Explorer.

2. Go to This PC > Documents > Quicken.

3. Look for files with the .QDF extension.

Tip: If you see more than one .QDF file, check the modified date or file name to choose the correct one.

Step 2: Check the File menu in Quicken

If you're unsure which file you've been using:

1. Open Quicken.

2. Select the File menu.

3. Review the list of recently opened files at the bottom of the menu.

If you don’t recognize any of the names:

• Choose File > Open Quicken File.

• Browse the list in the Open Quicken File dialog box.

• Select the file you want to open.

Reminder: If multiple .QDF files appear, make sure to open the one with your most recent data.

Step 3: Restore from a backup

If you can’t locate your current data file, try restoring a backup.

Check automatic backups

Quicken creates automatic backups in the Documents\Quicken\BACKUP folder. By default, a backup is created every five times you use Quicken (unless you changed this setting).

To find these:

1. Open File Explorer.

2. Go to Documents > Quicken > BACKUP.

3. Look for files with names like:
   YourFileName-YYYY-MM-DD.QDF-backup

Important: Don’t open a backup file directly. Instead, restore it through Quicken by selecting File > Restore from Backup.

Check external or manual backups

If you’ve backed up to an external drive or cloud service, check there as well.

• Use File > Restore from Backup and browse to the backup location.

• Choose the most recent backup you trust.

Optional: Move your data file to a custom location

Quicken stores data files in the Quicken folder by default. If you prefer to store them elsewhere:

1. Create a new folder in your preferred location.

2. Copy your current .QDF file into that folder.

3. Open Quicken and use File > Open Quicken File to open it from the new location.