I made the bank connection but now this new account has vanished! Deleted by accident?

Josh Fass

I had made additions to the new Quicken account, and would hate to have to do them again.

(Have posted this query a few minutes ago, but can't see that it went through to the Community.

jacobs

So do you have two different Quicken data files in your Quicken folder? If you're sure that you don't need one of them, you can simply throw it in the trash. If you're not sure, you can launch Quicken by double-clicking on the one you want. Quicken will continue to open the same file each time you launch Quicken (until/unless you open a different file or move the file such that it can't find it).

Josh Fass

This is using Quicken 2019 for the Mac. Hoping now the Community people will SEE this! Thank you in advance!!

jacobs

Josh could you go back and scribe what happened in more detail. I don't know what you mean that you "made the bank connection" and "made additions to the account". Are you describing creating a new account and selecting your bank? Did you manually enter transactions, or download them from your bank? Was the account name ever visible in the left sidebar? And is it now gone? 

P.S. This site is primarily a user-to-user support forum; it's not Quicken Support, which is also available to you. 

Josh Fass

Thanks very much to you. I had opened the new Quicken for the first time, and gave the information about our checking account. Details of cleared checks and balances were downloaded (or came in) from the bank, and an account name appeared in the sidebar on the left.

I then added to that file. I put in some checks which hadn't yet cleared, a few checks I'd just written, and I changed some information in the items that came from the bank, the names to whom the cleared checks had been written. I did NOT change any of the AMOUNTS shown as cleared.

I then added a new account, importing one from an old version of Quicken from an older Macintosh. The new account also appeared in the left sidebar.

I next had quit Quicken...and when I opened it later, that file which began with the cleared items from the bank was gone.

I did give the bank information again, and a new file was opened, with the cleared items. But of course, not with what I had added to the first account earlier. Now, this morning, after quitting Quicken last night and opening it again this morning, the two accounts are shown in the sidebar. The one from my bank, and the one I imported.

But of course, what I've lost is the account from the bank with my editions. I hope all this is not TOO much detail. I will try to take up the problem with Quicken support on Monday. I had purchased Quicken Deluxe 2019 for the Mac on July 4th--

Thanks again to you...and to others of the Community who might respond about these woes.

***

Josh Fass

The Quicken version for the Mac: Version 5.11.1 (Build 511.25673.100)

Quicken Harold

Hello Josh. Appreciate your question.

For this issue, we would recommend contacting Quicken Support so that one of our Mac agents can look into the issue and work towards a resolution. Please request a screen share. 

Respectfully,
~ Quicken Harold.

jacobs

Josh, thanks for posting the details about what happened. You sometimes used the word "account" and sometimes "file" in your description, and although I think I followed and you sometimes just used them interchangeably, since they refer to different things, I want to make sure we're on the same page.

A Quicken data file is a self-contained file on your Mac which contains all your data for all your different financial accounts. In Quicken, an account is a single bank checking account, credit card, investment account, cash, loan, etc., each of which is represented in the left sidebar.

You were very clear describing the creation of your original data file, creating your bank account, downloading data, and editing that data.

I'm curious about the next step you described: "I then added a new account, importing one from an old version of Quicken from an older Macintosh. The new account also appeared in the left sidebar." To my knowledge, there is no way to selectively import a single account from an older Quicken data file, so I'm curious about this. What version of Quicken were you importing from? How did you import only the single account? What type of account was it: savings? credit card? other?

So at this point, your Quicken was showing two different accounts in the left sidebar. One was connected to your checking account. Was the other connected to a financial institution online, or just the imported data?

Then you quit Quicken, and when you came back and launched Quicken again, it had only one account in the left sidebar -- the one you had imported -- and the one linked to your bank account was completely gone. Is that right? This seems highly unusual, and so I'm wondering whether it's possible that you have more than one Quicken data file and opened one which was not the one you had last been working on.

For instance, if the file you imported from was a stripped down data file with only one account in it, it's possible Quicken opened that file (or converted it to a Quicken 2019 file), and so what you were seeing if the file you imported from, not the file you had been working in.

Let me ask this: have you moved your Quicken data files at all since starting, or are they living wherever Quicken put them? I'd like to check that folder to see if there's more than one data file at play here. By default, Quicken stores data files in your Library folder -- a folder which Apple, in its infinite wisdom hides from users. To get there, in the finder, hold down the Option key and select Library from the Go menu. (Library is only visible if you're holding the Option key.) Now open the Application Support folder, and there you should see a Quicken folder, plus perhaps a folder for your older version of Quicken, if it was Quicken 2015, 2016 or 2017. Inside the folder called just "Quicken", open the Documents folder. This is where Quicken stores data files by default. Is there just one data file there, or more than one? Make note of the date and time stamps on them if there's more than one.

Let me stop there and hear what you answer on some of the questions above. Hopefully, we'll get to the bottom of it! 

Josh Fass

Many thanks to Quicken Harold. I will call Quicken Support first thing on Monday.

Josh Fass

Following your directions, Jacobs, I have found the "lost" file! It is the account as opened via our checking account, and including the additions I made earlier yesterday! Now the only question is how to retain it showing in the left sidebar and available for use. Thank you!!! I will write further and try to respond to your questions about the other file/account (?) and what exactly I imported from the old version of Quicken...and I'll do this a bit later today. More thank you!!

jacobs

So do you have two different Quicken data files in your Quicken folder? If you're sure that you don't need one of them, you can simply throw it in the trash. If you're not sure, you can launch Quicken by double-clicking on the one you want. Quicken will continue to open the same file each time you launch Quicken (until/unless you open a different file or move the file such that it can't find it).

Josh Fass

Now we're in proper shape, thanks to you! Yes, two different Quicken data files. One is the "checkbook" I've imported, which has entries going back to 2003. The other is this new one, now all current and complete, with its connection to the active bank account. Thanks to you and this valuable Community!!

jacobs

Josh, glad it's all sorted out now. If you're keeping both files around, you may want to rename them so it's clear to you which is which and you don't mistakenly work in the wrong one.

Josh Fass

And another good idea. I'm sure we can then use the new Quicken far more effectively. I hope all is well today with you, yourself!