Reverting to a previous version of Microsoft Money

If you try the trial version or purchase a retail version of Microsoft Money, and don't like it, you would usually revert or downgrade to the older version again. You will need to uninstall the newer version, and then install the earlier version.

When starting up the older version of Money, it won't open your file - typically giving a message such as 'a password is required'. It will give this error even if you've never had a password on the file. The cause is that MS Money will not open files created or used in later versions of Money.

When you convert a Microsoft Money file, it saves a copy of your existing file before the conversion. This is to ensure it is simple to revert to the earlier version. The table below shows the saved extension from your former version. Look for the extension, take a copy of the file with that extension and rename the file. The renamed file should use the extension .MNY and then double click. This is your file before you installed the trial or upgraded to the retail version.

Version	Extension	Notes
Money 2006	.M15
Money 2005	.M14	See Note Below
Money 2004	.M12
Money 2003	.M11
Money 2002	.M10
Money 2001	.MN9
Money 2000	.MN8
Money 99	.MN7
Money 98	.MN6
Money 97	.MN5	(Money 5.0)
Money 4.0	.MN4
Money 3.0	.MN3
Money 2.0	.MN2
Money 1.0	.MN1

If you don't have this backup version, then you have two further options to get your data back. The first being to use another backup made in the earlier version of Money. The second is to reinstall the later version, and then export the data from that version as QIF. Then uninstall the later version and reinstall the earlier version and import the data. See Article 28 for more information on QIF export and import.

Note: If you have reverted back from Money 2006 to Money 2005, note that Money 2005 requires an update for it to work (see Article 42)