Updating of investment account share balances in Portfolio Window following booking of reinvested di

Unknown

I converted Quicken for Mac 2007 to Quicken for Mac 2017  (version 4.6.6) last week, on an IMAC operating OS 10.12.6.  I did not choose to have any transactions downloaded from any brokerage house of  financial institution, preferring to manually entering all my new data myself. Everything seems to work fine except:  When I manually entered new reinvested dividends for a mutual fund, in the transaction window, the resulting increase in share balance DID NOT appear in the share column of the Portfolio window. I tried to obtain a solution via the Quicken Chat line and that resulted in the answer I should reinstall Quicken 2017 with no explanation as to what that would fix. Therefore, I decided to try to seek help from others who are knowledgable Quicken for Mac users. So,  I have attempted to follow the chain of answers on this site to others who have had similar problems but I can't seem to find an answer which works for me.  For example the discussion about Placeholder transactions; I cannot find any placeholder transactions in my data file, etc etc etc.  Anyone have any "See Dick & Jane" solutions?  I will be eternally grateful to you for your help.  Greg Mason

jacobs

As you have picked up, quite often during the migration process, Quicken will create a placeholder transaction in one or more accounts where it thinks it has an incorrect balance or is missing cost basis information. Until that placeholder transaction is changed, Quicken will try to maintain what it thinks it the correct balance of share or dollars, rolling anything you enter into the placeholder transaction amount. It would be comical if it weren't so frustrating: no matter what you enter, your account share balance remains unchanged.

I know you said you didn't see any placeholders, but I'm pretty convinced from your description that you do, indeed have a placeholder transaction which is causing your problem. Try scrolling back to the beginning of time in each account. What you're looking for is a gray transaction which is dated the day before your first transaction. Here's an example from my conversion from Quicken 2007:

 

When you find it, open the transaction and you'll see a window like this:



Depending on the nature of your issue, you can often just delete the placeholder. (In this example, Quicken has a problem with rounding, and thinks it's off by 0.000000000001 shares.)
 

Unknown

jacobs said:

As you have picked up, quite often during the migration process, Quicken will create a placeholder transaction in one or more accounts where it thinks it has an incorrect balance or is missing cost basis information. Until that placeholder transaction is changed, Quicken will try to maintain what it thinks it the correct balance of share or dollars, rolling anything you enter into the placeholder transaction amount. It would be comical if it weren't so frustrating: no matter what you enter, your account share balance remains unchanged.

I know you said you didn't see any placeholders, but I'm pretty convinced from your description that you do, indeed have a placeholder transaction which is causing your problem. Try scrolling back to the beginning of time in each account. What you're looking for is a gray transaction which is dated the day before your first transaction. Here's an example from my conversion from Quicken 2007:

 

When you find it, open the transaction and you'll see a window like this:



Depending on the nature of your issue, you can often just delete the placeholder. (In this example, Quicken has a problem with rounding, and thinks it's off by 0.000000000001 shares.)
 

JACOBS:  Many thanks for your explaination.  However, I have checked 4 different accounts and I cann't discover any transactions that are greyed out in any of them.

RickO

jacobs said:

As you have picked up, quite often during the migration process, Quicken will create a placeholder transaction in one or more accounts where it thinks it has an incorrect balance or is missing cost basis information. Until that placeholder transaction is changed, Quicken will try to maintain what it thinks it the correct balance of share or dollars, rolling anything you enter into the placeholder transaction amount. It would be comical if it weren't so frustrating: no matter what you enter, your account share balance remains unchanged.

I know you said you didn't see any placeholders, but I'm pretty convinced from your description that you do, indeed have a placeholder transaction which is causing your problem. Try scrolling back to the beginning of time in each account. What you're looking for is a gray transaction which is dated the day before your first transaction. Here's an example from my conversion from Quicken 2007:

 

When you find it, open the transaction and you'll see a window like this:



Depending on the nature of your issue, you can often just delete the placeholder. (In this example, Quicken has a problem with rounding, and thinks it's off by 0.000000000001 shares.)
 

For a quick check, type "placeholder" in the search box.

Unknown

RickO:  Thanks for the suggestion. I tried your suggestion and the response back was none for my entire investment database, some going back 20 years.  I appreciate your help and am looking for anything that will work.  Best wishes, Greg

RickO

What happens if you enter as separate DIV and BUY transactions?

jacobs

jacobs said:

As you have picked up, quite often during the migration process, Quicken will create a placeholder transaction in one or more accounts where it thinks it has an incorrect balance or is missing cost basis information. Until that placeholder transaction is changed, Quicken will try to maintain what it thinks it the correct balance of share or dollars, rolling anything you enter into the placeholder transaction amount. It would be comical if it weren't so frustrating: no matter what you enter, your account share balance remains unchanged.

I know you said you didn't see any placeholders, but I'm pretty convinced from your description that you do, indeed have a placeholder transaction which is causing your problem. Try scrolling back to the beginning of time in each account. What you're looking for is a gray transaction which is dated the day before your first transaction. Here's an example from my conversion from Quicken 2007:

 

When you find it, open the transaction and you'll see a window like this:



Depending on the nature of your issue, you can often just delete the placeholder. (In this example, Quicken has a problem with rounding, and thinks it's off by 0.000000000001 shares.)
 

Hah, yeah, that is easier!

Unknown

RickO and Jacobs: Yes, RickO suggestion of separate Div and Buy transactions seemed to work.  The correct total of share balance is now displayed in the Portfolio view window.  So as a work around, it does work but at TWICE the labor.  I'll keep this in my hip pocket, but I really need a fix to the Quicken software that makes it an automatic one shot entry.  Any other suggestions will certainly be appreciated.  Thanks to both of you for your help so faar.  Greg

Unknown

By the way:  Does snyone know if there is a User Guide documentation for Quicken 2017 fr MAC like they have had before?  I can't find one on the web site and also not in the application.  Thanks, Greg

jacobs

Greg Mason said:

By the way:  Does snyone know if there is a User Guide documentation for Quicken 2017 fr MAC like they have had before?  I can't find one on the web site and also not in the application.  Thanks, Greg

No, there is no comprehensive user guide like there was for Quicken 2007. Sign of the times, I'm afraid -- so much software no longer comes with a complete manual.

RickO

As a troubleshooting step, how about setting up a new manual brokerage account in Quicken and then enter a new (single) Reinvest Div transaction. Then we'll know if has to do with the particular account(s)/securities or a wider problem with your database or Quicken installation.

BTW, I am on the same versions of macOS and Quicken as you are. I just set up a new manual brokerage and IRA and did Reinvest Div transactions and the shares were added correctly each time. I also tried in an existing account and that also worked correctly.

RickO

Greg Mason said:

By the way:  Does snyone know if there is a User Guide documentation for Quicken 2017 fr MAC like they have had before?  I can't find one on the web site and also not in the application.  Thanks, Greg

If you go to menu Help > Quicken 2017 Help, it will bring up the Mac help file for Quicken. It actually has a fair amount of info there, although not in a whole lot of depth.

There's an index to FAQ's in the community compiled by Mr. Mayer:

Quicken Mac FAQ: List of Mac FAQs | Quicken Customer Community

And a bunch of links to other help resources he put together:

Mac FAQ: Where to find a Help Guide

Unknown

Thanks, I like this approach to trouble shootiing.  However I  leave early toomorrow on a busiiness trip so won't be able to try this until later in the week (mayibe thursday).  I'll let you know what happens.  Best wishes, Greg