forum.mthbuilt.com

I have been using MS Money since 2000 but due to a bad virus I had to reinstall Windows XP. I made a backup of my MS Money file (version c. 2000) I believe but when I went to restore with a CD that has MS Moeny 2001 on it, I found that the backup file could not be restored due to data file's having been backup with an incompatible version of MS Money. I must have been using the UK version of Money all this time.

The backup file's not a CSV file.

This hidden data incompatibility and the seemingly ever-mutating versions of MS Money I find unsettling.

Any ideas on how I might retrieve my data and import it into superior competing products that might be available, please?

We can't speak on behalf of Microsoft, obviously, but based on our experience the most rational way to get the backup back is to use exact same version of the software that was used to back things up.

If the backed up data is important to you then you really need to try to get the version of MS Money you were using at the time, older ones are routinely sold at ebay and other auction sites sites. Invest a few dollars and get your data back, any other version, including from Microsoft or from competition means that you will be taking chances because so many things change from version to version that you simply can't trust the integrity of the restore operation.

If your data isn't that important you can restore it using other means, for example most banks in the US will allow you to download your banks statements up to 6 month back for free and up to 3 years for a small fee. You can restore your banking transactions over a dedicated weekend importing these statements into other software, of course if you have cash accounts that aren't held at banks you will need to either start from scratch or put some sort of ballpark figures just to get going.

Hope this helps,