Why does an account from my File A suddenly show up when I open File B ?

rbolmsted

(BTW I am trying to post my first question. After reading a bunch of FAQ answers I finally found a place to Ask A Question. When I entered the question I pressed Enter to move to the next line and instead got an error saying something like Body Must Be Entered. There is no label on the page that says 'Body' or anything like that. Above THIS box is a smiley with a drop down list that shows a bunch of different smileys. )

Here's the problem: (I know this is long. I write applications and reverse engineer bugs.)

Today is April 18 2020.

On April 14 I was working in my 2019-2020 Quicken file.

A question came up about older data and I backed up 2019-20 and then opened 2012-2018. While I worked in that file over several days I added splits to some transactions, recategorized some others, and added an account.

Today I opened my 2019-2020 file again (I did not restore the backup, but I will test that next). I did not look at the Accounts; I just clicked Refresh and went to get coffee. When I came back there was a popup window with green icons telling me all accounts were successfully downloaded. I did not review the list.

The issue is: the account list now contains 2 accounts that were NOT in the 2019-2020 when I closed it but are in the 2012-2018 file.

Each account contains 1 transaction dated April 14 2020 - 4 days ago - with a Payee of Live Opening Balance.

Review of Backups:

2019 file backed up April 14 at 6:05 pm does not contain the 2012 accounts

2012 file backup up by me with note 'before adding account' April 14 at 11:51 pm

2012 file had several automatic backups from April 15th at 12:30 AM until April 15th at 5:30 pm.

2019 file had automatic backup April 15th at 5:31 pm. I must have opened it to look at something or maybe when files are changed both the closing and opening files are backed up. This backup does NOT contain the accounts from 2012.

2012 file had several more automatic backups from April 15 at 6:50 pm to April 17 at 9:49 am.

2019 file had automatic backup April 17 at 9:49 am. This file does NOT contain the accounts from 2012.

(It appears that if I choose File>Open while in one file, Quicken may back up both the file it is closing and the file it is opening. In several cases I have automatic backup for both files in the same minute.)

2019 file had automatic backup April 17 at 11:00 am. THIS FILE HAS THE BAD DATA. This file contains the 2 accounts from the 2012 file. This might have been the first time since April 14 that I REFRESHED the accounts.

Research notes:

Note 1: There are at least 10 account names in the 2012 file that are not in the 2019 file, but only 2 were pulled in by mistake.

Note 2: When I made the 2012 file I turned off Transaction Download for all accounts, but did not remove their Financial Institution.

Note 3: Many of the account names in the 2012 file were linked to the same bank account as an account in the 2019 file, but have different names.

Note 4: The 2 account names that appeared in the 2019 file were linked to closed bank accounts that are NOT used in the 2019 file.

Note 5: The 2 accounts that appeared had only an opening balance entry in the 2012 file. No transactions were posted to those accounts in the 2012 file.

Note 6: Neither of the 2 accounts was the new account that I created on April 14th.

Why did this happen? How can I prevent it?

Is there a log file I can review that might show these accounts being added to the 2019 file?

It appears that the Account list must be maintained separately from the transaction data file. For some reason, accounts I worked with in the 2012 file were pulled into the 2019 file.

This is a bug, for sure.

Thanks in advance for guidance.

Bob

rbolmsted

Thanks John

rbolmsted

UPDATE: 2 other accounts that exist only in the old file were added to the new file. Both of these accounts were created in the old file within the last few days.

Bob

John_in_NC

Crosstalk between files, while rare, can occur in a very specific situation: 1) you have at least one Quicken Connected account and/or you have mobile sync enable and your newer file is a copy of your older file.

I suspect your newer file was created as a copy from your older file. Even though it might have a different filename, it still has the same internal ID. This causes the crosstalk when you update as Quicken servers see it as the same file to sync. Hence the older accounts get jammed into your newer file.

It is not advised to make copies of the same file to work with-keep each unique. That might not be possible for you, so if you continue to keep this setup, make sure you don't update/sync in the older file. Us regulars have to be very careful of this with the various test files we create to help with answers or during beta testing.

I suggest you get the correct file you want working correctly and then immediately go to Quicken:Preferences:Connected Services and follow the option to Reset Cloud data. This will purge cloud data/upload the data from your currently open file.

rbolmsted

Thanks John.

Yes, I made the older file early in 2019 by turning off updates in my 2012 to 2019 file and then backing up and restoring with a new name. Then I deleted the 2019 transactions from the 2012-2018 file; it does not do any refreshes but from what you say, maybe it is talking to the cloud somehow. Obviously I did change it by adding accounts.

As far as I know, I don't use any Sync features, but I will learn about that.

I suppose I could export the entire smaller file and then create a new file and import it. I will test and if that works perhaps my issue will be resolved.

Thanks again.
Bob

John_in_NC

Rob:

You have a few options: you could go into your older file and deactivate all accounts/mobile services. This will prevent updating/syncing when working in the older one.

You could also export/import via QXF into a new file and this will strip the ID. I don't suggest this, but it will work.

Alternatively, you could leave the older accounts in your newer file and simply Hide them. I personally am not a fan of breaking a file up, and this is the route I would go. That way, all your older data is (still) in a single file. If for some reason you need to access the older data, it is available without having to manipulate older files. I prefer all my data in a single spot.

rbolmsted

Thanks John