Need a tool to really, truly, repair data corruption (13 Merged Votes)

Rocket J Squirrel

Most Quicken users have been using Quicken long enough that we virtually all have some form of irreparable corruption in our files. I'm sure Quicken Inc. knows this because their current go-to troubleshooting step is "create a new file and see whether the bug happens in that file."

People's data are getting more corrupted over time.

We desperately need a tool which will reliably find and fix all data corruption.

Quicken is going to die as a product unless a remedy is provided.

Unknown

As part of trying to resolve a mobile sync issue, I used the Validate File function on my QDF. The resulting DATA_LOG.TXT file contains four entries that say 'fixed a damaged category'. It also says to check my category list--presumably, what was fixed is evident; however, I don't notice any changed categories in the list, nor any categories missing. Is there any way to determine which categories were 'fixed'? Why wouldn't the tool's authors include that key piece of information in the log?

UKR

> "Why wouldn't the tool's authors include that key piece of information in the log?"

Now there's the $64 question that I've been asking myself for quite a while.
I think the answer is "programmer forgot to code this tidbit" and "it's not a critical bug".
I hope the programmers eventually get a round tuit and fix the oversight in a future version of Quicken.

Henry

I ran the validate function yesterday on 2017 and it showed the transactions fixed

Unknown

Henry said:

I ran the validate function yesterday on 2017 and it showed the transactions fixed

Transactions yes, categories no. Been this way for awhile

Unknown

Henry said:

I ran the validate function yesterday on 2017 and it showed the transactions fixed

D'oh! Well, at least more info is provided for transactions.

So, short of opening a backup file and then taking screen shots of the scrolling category list ... and then meticulously comparing that to the the list from my current file (assuming that will provide obvious differences) ... is there no way to know what categories have been 'fixed'?

Unknown

Henry said:

I ran the validate function yesterday on 2017 and it showed the transactions fixed

I display the Category List and just look at all the categories and all the columns. I can sometimes see something that could be related to the problem.

PutterFlutters

IDEA ... Validation report identifies which scheduled transaction is/are offending.

After validating my data file for Quicken Windows 16 r11 ( and all previous versions)  the validation log file reports:

2 scheduled transactions corrected
Validation has completed.

That validation report error continues infinitely making it appear that the transactions are NEVER corrected.

I have MANY scheduled transactions and can not isolate offending transaction if in fact there is one.  The report itself might be in error; who knows.

Why doesn't the report specifically report which scheduled transaction is offending?
-or-
Fix the problem if generating erroneous errors.

At least at that point I could delete it and generate a new one.


Yah...I know it this is similar to previous ideas.... but I haven't seen one that asks to ID the offender.

mshiggins

Good idea, thanks for posting.

Unknown

What do we need to do to have this be addressed in the next version of Quicken?

Surely, including the name of the category that was 'fixed' can't be too difficult to add to the log!

NotACPA

cgwaters said:

What do we need to do to have this be addressed in the next version of Quicken?

Surely, including the name of the category that was 'fixed' can't be too difficult to add to the log!

But if the name is unrecognizable, which results in the error, what should be printed?

What if it was corrupted to include special, unprintable, characters?

Unknown

mshiggins said:

Good idea, thanks for posting.

This is a continuing problem for me. I imagine if you have 2 or three scheduled transactions, this is no big deal. I have 33... and it is a big deal, since, as a result of your report, I need to go through every transaction, hoping to find what you 'corrected'.

Unknown

cgwaters said:

What do we need to do to have this be addressed in the next version of Quicken?

Surely, including the name of the category that was 'fixed' can't be too difficult to add to the log!

The error could say something to that effect and display whatever characters *are* displayable. As it is, it doesn't give any clue as to what the problem might be.

UKR

We had a similar discussion last year:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7776408/add-export-import-to-from-text-files-for-purpose-of-identifying-and-removing-corruption

Still waiting. Still hoping.

GeoffG

Given that cloud sync is causing data corruptions that cannot be addressed under current validate/super validate routines, this cannot wait another year. I used online billers for a number of months until numerous repeated data corruptions made me back away. How many SUs don't use for this very reason?

Rocket J Squirrel

UKR said:

We had a similar discussion last year:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7776408/add-export-import-to-from-text-files-for-purpose-of-identifying-and-removing-corruption

Still waiting. Still hoping.

Yes, I initiated that specific request for a Quicken -> Text -> Quicken converter because I believe my production data file is corrupted in a particular way that no automatic validation could possibly detect.

I pay my bills via Bank of America Direct Connect Bill Pay. When I reconcile and go to pay either of my 2 most recently added (years ago) credit cards, Quicken puts the wrong string into the Payee name. It puts the Account name there instead for both credit cards. I have to manually correct Payee in every payment to these 2 cards.

Since the account names are valid strings, I doubt any automatic validator would notice that they are not payee names as well.

miklk

We have been asking for a proper export import for many many years. Data integrity is just not as big a priority as in the distant past as proven by mobile Sync still causing corruption and is not being addressed as the priority it should be. I have given up hope for that one

Jim_Harman

Another helpful Validate improvement would be to check for anomolies in security price history. Looking for zeros would be a good place to start.

Also changes of more than say 25% from one entry to the next would be helpful, but there might need to be some time limit on this, since long gaps in the price history might lead to valid jumps. A common source of these errors is problems caused by the recently-fixed issues with mutual fund share class conversions.

Craig Hollister

After a Validate and Repair, with Correct investing price history checked, and Repair selected I get:

Repair price history: 3 price(s) repaired.

Is there some way to see which price history records were repaired?

This is R18.16 on Windows 10.

NotACPA

I know of no way to view that in any Q product.

Rocket J Squirrel

Quicken's validation log has always been skimpy with the information it presents. I don't know why. It shouldn't be difficult to display some specifics when changes are made during validation. I voted for this.

Rocket J Squirrel

I’m disappointed to see this idea is still in the New state after 5 months. It should be classified Must Be Done. Maybe it needs a bump.

Bump.

reichg

I received the following error messages the other day:
1) Repaired your data file by removing a damaged category. Please check your category list for missing categories by going to Tools>Category List.
2) Quicken found a damaged scheduled reminder and removed it. Please check your scheduled reminders by going to Tools>Manage Bills and Income Reminders.

Here’s an idea: Provide Details of what categories and reminders are being removed.

The Data Log gives Transaction Details - why not Categories and Reminders?

splasher

@cgwaters

Evidently you and the rest of the folks commenting on your idea don't think much of it, NO ONE HAS VOTED FOR IT, NOT EVEN YOU.

You have to click on the triangle under the # in the blue box at the bottom of your idea.

Rocket J Squirrel

@splasher I voted for this earlier, but apparently my vote didn't survive the migration to the new forum. I had to vote again just now.

I find it an annoying limitation of this platform that you can't see whether you voted for an idea. You have to click the triangle and see whether the count goes up or down.

UKR

Rocket J Squirrel said:

@splasher I voted for this earlier, but apparently my vote didn't survive the migration to the new forum. I had to vote again just now.

I find it an annoying limitation of this platform that you can't see whether you voted for an idea. You have to click the triangle and see whether the count goes up or down.

Yes, you can see whether you voted on an Idea or not.
Break out your magnifying glass:
A grey triangle says you haven't voted.
A black triangle says you have voted already.
Unfortunately you can't see the names of people who have voted (no popup when hovering over the vote count or triangle)

Jim_Harman

Or if you don't have a magnifying glass handy, you can click on the vote count. If the count goes up, you just voted for the first time.

If the count goes down, you have already voted. Click again to restore your vote. 

whodiini

There needs to be a more robust way to fix file corruption. The one thing that quicken used to have but removed was the ability to EXPORT in text file form ALL the transactions and the ability to IMPORT ALL the transactions in text file form back into a new file. THAT WAS THE MOST ROBUST FILE REPAIR method of all for 4 reasons: 1) export and import corrected most issues. 2) You could manually wade thru the text and identify where the problem was and fix it before importing into a new file. You can iterate and eliminate issues and not lose all your work 3) It would open up smart people to write and sell software to fix the common issues 4) you did not have to send your financial info to a stranger at quicken to repair your file. Why did they remove that capability? They wanted to protect the file structure from any competitors that could use that method to export the data into microsoft money, for example. Before someone says that there are aftermarket tools that use .QXF to text and back, I have tried them and they dont work very well as well as adding an extra step.

JRod

Data corruption repair feature should fix internal categories with Tax Schedules like _DivInc that if broken/corrupted is unable to be fixed by current validate file utility. Since an internal Quicken Category, it is not possible for the end-user to fix by creating a category and moving transactions to a temporary category and back to repair. Since this is an internal software controlled category, Quicken should develop a way to repair or fix these categories so that Tax Planner and other Tax related reports work properly by accurately picking up the transactions with these categories.

This internal category corruption and need for a fix has come up in these community discussion threads:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7866840/quicken-tax-reports-not-using-divinc-internal-category-its-missing-the-tax-attribute#latest

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7866432/system-category-named-divinc-is-missing-tax-line-assignment-i-e-schedule-b#latest

JRod

Is Quicken working on this data corruption repair fixing _DivInc category and other internal categories so that it properly has the associated tax schedule?

This internal category corruption and need for a fix has come up in these community discussion threads:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7866840/quicken-tax-reports-not-using-divinc-internal-category-its-missing-the-tax-attribute#latest

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7866432/system-category-named-divinc-is-missing-tax-line-assignment-i-e-schedule-b#latest

Rocket J Squirrel

This thread is a year old and still in New finally in Planned status.

I suspect the devs know the desired tool will be very difficult to create.

But here's a bump anyway. Bump no longer needed, hooray!