Merging accounts with QIF files from same file

jlz0418

I have multiple credit card accounts from the same institution that I'm attempting to merge into a single account. Upon importing, it appears that the Special Handling function for Transfers is not working as the process created new payment transfers from the checking account while leaving the originals intact. The attached contains screen prints of each step and the results. Any suggestions

UKR

To move reconciled transactions from one account to another within the same Quicken data file:

First block-select all the reconciled transactions you want to move. Except: Never move the Opening Balance transaction of an account.
Right click one of the selected transactions.
Select Reconcile Status and then mark these transactions as cleared.
Now block-select all the transactions you want to move, cleared and uncleared.
Right click one of the select transactions
Select Move transactions and specify the destination account.

Switch to the destination account register.
Block-select all the cleared transactions and mark them as Reconciled again.
Done. And all transfer transactions correctly changed.

NotACPA

Why not simply select all of the transactions from an account, and move them to the account where you want them?

After selecting all of the transactions, RIGHT click on any selected transaction and click on  MOVE

jlz0418

Two problems with that. First, I find no Select All which means you would have to select transactions one at a time. Not ideal when you're looking at moving a few thousand transactions between accounts. Second, and not sure that you're aware of this, but when you move a split transaction between accounts it will no longer synch with mobile web. If you want it to synch you have to delete it from the account you moved it to and re-enter it. I reported this some time ago but it was never addressed. I know I may be listed as a newbie on this sight but I've been using quicken as long as I can remember and do have 30 years of IT experience. I typically don't look for help on forums but this one had me stumped. I've found that this product has been degrading with the years but there's not a suitable replacement.

NotACPA

" I find no Select All which means you would have to select transactions one at a time"

UNTRUE.  Click on the 1st to select, Hold down the Shift Key and click on the last to select.

And I started programming in1968 ... so I've got you by 20+ years.

jlz0418

OK so that seems to be an undocumented function and does work in terms of selecting all transactions. But when you try and move the selected transactions, you're forced to validate each of those that have already been reconciled. Additionally, any split transaction will not synch to Mobile Web. Not a viable solution. Importing should be the way to go. Why Quicken creates additional new payment transactions without removing the existing ones is beyond me. I can see leaving the existing payments as they are, but new transactions should never be created on an import. There's no way any account should have more transactions following the import then prior to it. Yet the Checking Account (which is used to transfer into the credit card account) starts with 1288 transactions and ends up with 1363 and the balance of that account swings from a balance a positive $1600 and change to a negative $79,000 and change. If their documentation is correct use of the special handling option is supposed to take care of this. It reads "Select the Special handling for transfers check box if you've exported to several QIF files from a number of Quicken accounts in the same file and are using Import to re-create all the transactions by importing from several QIF files. This choice prevents duplicate transfer transactions when you import data from both the to and from accounts involved with transfers." So either there's a bug in the process or the documentation is incorrect. Appears to be no easy way to handle this. Guess the next step is to check with the Support Team.

UKR

To move reconciled transactions from one account to another within the same Quicken data file:

First block-select all the reconciled transactions you want to move. Except: Never move the Opening Balance transaction of an account.
Right click one of the selected transactions.
Select Reconcile Status and then mark these transactions as cleared.
Now block-select all the transactions you want to move, cleared and uncleared.
Right click one of the select transactions
Select Move transactions and specify the destination account.

Switch to the destination account register.
Block-select all the cleared transactions and mark them as Reconciled again.
Done. And all transfer transactions correctly changed.

jlz0418

OK so this appears to be the best option. I was able to consolidate accounts in this manner. One minor hitch was I had to validate each transaction that was a transfers when the move was performed. Since these were transfers from the checking account there were only about 60 of those in total. Too bad some of this stuff isn't better documented. Still don't understand the duplicate payment transactions when doing the QIF import since it appears the Special Handling Check Box was intended to prevent this. Thanks for the input.