Quicken Electronic Library file
File type: Accounting, financial and tax file
The .qel file extension identifies a Quicken Electronic Library file, a supporting file created by older versions of Quicken personal finance software.
A QEL file is associated with a Quicken data file and is not normally intended to be opened as a standalone accounting file.
File type category:
Accounting, financial and tax file
Date updated: October 11, 2026
Quicken, originally developed by Intuit, used QEL files to store supporting information associated with a Quicken account, including online banking information. Quicken is available for Microsoft Windows, and Quicken Essentials was available for Apple macOS and Mac OS X.
Older Quicken data sets used a group of related files. The main accounting file was the qdf, which contained account information and transactions. Files with the same base name could also include QEL, QPH, QSD and QTX files. Quicken managed these supporting files automatically.
QEL files are now a legacy part of the Quicken file structure. Newer versions of Quicken no longer use these separate supporting files; the supporting information has been incorporated into a single Quicken data file with the qdf. Older supporting files could be recreated when the associated qdf was opened.
As far as we know, you can use .qel files only in Quicken.
A QEL file is a supporting Quicken file and cannot normally be converted independently into a useful document or accounting format.
To move the underlying financial data, open the associated data file in Quicken and use the program's available export options. This exports account data rather than converting the QEL file itself.
Software applications that handle other tasks involving qel files:
Microsoft Windows
Apple macOS / Mac OS X
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