Review by MagnumMan

Call me the eternal pessimist but I can usually find something wrong with programs others find extraordinary. Windows 7 to me is nothing more than Vista with window dressing and many of the old bugs Vista had; however, many reviewers find it to be the best thing since sliced bread.

Recently I’ve been seeing incredibly negative reviews about Quicken Essentials for Mac. Not only that, but I don’t believe Intuit has seen a positive Quicken for Mac review in the last 6 years. Something about Macs and Quicken apparently don’t mix.

Keep in mind I already have the negative mindset just from the other reviews so I’m expecting trolls to leak from my hard drive and wreak havoc on my accounts. Sorry, no green, hairy trolls ever appeared.

In fact, I was shocked. For the intended purpose, this program does what you pay it to do. It keeps track of your accounts, bank or otherwise and downloads updates as you request.

True, it’s a little quirky, but so are most Mac programs when compared to Windows equivalents and that’s part of the problem. Essentials is for Mac not for Windows so the comparisons are unfair.

This isn’t to say it’s all a bed of roses for those coming from Windows. Converting Windows based Quicken files is difficult and here’s a clue - don’t bother. It just won’t work and what you’ll see in the end isn’t what you had in the beginning. If you’ve got 25 years of financial matter then you had better consider using a virtual machine or going back to a pc.

By this point you’ve figured it’s easier to just download your account information from banks and brokerages but this is where Essentials does fail the Windows user.

You first have to download the information as a Web Connect file to your desktop and then drag and drop it to a box in Quicken at which point it’s loaded as an account. Sound familiar? If you use Quicken’s online equivalent at […] this is nearly the same procedure minus the drag and drop. This means you’ll have to open a browser, go to your bank or brokerage, open the account, download the file to the desktop, close your browser session and then drag and drop the desktop file. Once you delete the desktop file you’ve just completed seven steps to create an account.

And who thought this up?nn However, once that procedure is done you’ve got your accounts up and running. Minor inconvenience compared to the original Quicken I used many years ago that required manual entries and had nothing in the way of internet connection.

Other complaints seem to focus on the lack of online bill paying through this Quicken, a feature I never used or appreciated in the Windows version because it wasn’t free. I’ve just used my bank’s free only bill payment feature therefore I can’t comment on what I don’t use.

Yes, you could use equivalents such as Moneydance, iBank or iCash but none offer online updating - Quicken has a lock on that feature.

In addition, you can’t lose with Quicken because of the 60 day unconditional money back guarantee. If you don’t like it, return the software for a full refund. I’ve used the refund procedure one time (last year when a relative gifted me a Starter edition when I wanted Deluxe) and they do honor it. Buy Moneydance or iCash and there is no refund since they offer a free trial.

Overall I just didn’t see much to be negative about with this program. It does what it was designed to do and does it well. It won’t please advanced users expecting minute-by-minute stock updates and flashing lights, but it does an admirable job for the intended purpose.