Like to see Auto Attach credit card Receipts to Credit Cards Transactions & Bank statements etc

BRETTB

I think is would be a great idea if Quicken through it's relationships with credit card companies and banking institutions could do the following:

1. Credit card companies already have receipts on files and we are allowed to download transactions, so taking this to the next level also include the receipts of transactions and auto attach to the transaction.

2. Banking Institutions - like to have cancelled checks and copy of deposits automatically attached to quicken transactions and also download bank statements as they come due.

This would make it a truly a digital system where all information is in one place if we have to refer to something or in case of an audit.

This would be a great selling point for Quicken, Banks and credit card companies!

smayer97

If there was ever a way to pull this off it might be a great idea... but seems like a very tall order, given that it is hard enough for Quicken to get transactions and some bills in, and doing it without corrupting the database.

Chris_QPW

I hate to say it, but I in fact thing this is terrible idea, not in the sense that some people would like the feature, but in the sense of what it means in the real world.

Quicken is already filled with "half working" features, that sometimes cause more pain than they are worth.  And this would be right up that alley.
Here is a small list of why I think that.

1. No standardization of what a given financial institution even provides on their website.
2. No standardization of how a program like Quicken would get access to that data.
3. The attachment system in Quicken is terrible.  You can only deal with one attachment at at time.  There isn't any kind of management functions to properly deal with attachments.

All I see for this idea with the current situation is more headache for everyone.

NotACPA

I agree with @Chris_QPW that this is a HORRIBLE idea.  In addition to his points, attachments in Q cause terrific file bloat with miniscule benefit.

Find a good graphics manager (say, PaprPort) instead. 

BRETTB

Anything that can be automated if done correctly, will increase productively.  I am looking at time saving solutions. 

All the components are there.  You have the ability to download transactions automatically.  Quicken already has the attachment field, so if there is a way to have it automatically attached would be a great benefit to those doing this manually.  I would think the Quicken credit card would be a great credit card company to see if this could be added.

Storage is cheap.  There is ways of implementing to not add bloat to the main quicken file.  It could be a link to the institution which has the receipt, or it could be downloaded with the normal download into a subdirectory sorted by register with a link to the file.    

This feature should be able to be turned off by those users that don't want it.

Chris_QPW

BRETTB said:

Anything that can be automated if done correctly, will increase productively. 

And that is the whole point, I don't believe it can be done "correctly".

BRETTB said:

All the components are there.

No they aren't.  The missing component is that currently there is no way to get at the receipts, check images, and deposit images.   First off not all financial institution provide them.  What's more how you "locate" them is different for every financial institution.  Also Quicken (actually Intuit) can't just go on the financial institution's and grab off anything they want.  They have an agreement with the financial institutions on what will be provided, and in what form.  To get this extra information would require getting the financial institution's approval, build a system for Intuit to get it and store it, and then another system for Quicken to retrieve that information from Intuit's servers, and then finally code Quicken put that in as an attachment.