How can I disable the "live opening balance"?

Adam

I hate this "feature". It always causes me problems. When I create a new account manually I am given the option of whether or not to use it. When I create a new account with automatic downloads, though, it seems to be enabled automatically.

I'd love to be able to disable this for all my accounts, but failing that I'd like to be able to disable it for an existing account. Is there a way to do that, or must I create new accounts manually, making sure the opening balance is "dead", then later set up downloads?

Quicken_Tyka

Hello Adam,

I wanted to add that there is an option to toggle between a Live Balance Adjustment and a static adjustment.

This is located under the caret next to the balance in the top right-hand corner.





I hope this helps!

-Quicken Tyka

John_in_NC

No, you can't disable it (as in via a setting) for accounts you setup to download.

For an existing account, you can simply recreate the opening balance transaction exactly as the "live" one, and delete the latter. The one you enter will be static.

Note: the "Live" ones auto-generated upon account creation only are live for transactions entered/modified/deleted with a date before (or same day of)  the last transx date on initial import. Transactions entered after that date won't alter the opening balance. This feature was added so that users could add in older transactions and have the balance update accordingly.

Adam

Thanks for the speedy reply, John. I had feared as much.

I have no trouble deleting the automatically inserted "live" entry. It's zero anyway. I know from sad experience, though, that if an account is marked as "live" that over time Quicken will auto-enter figures that it believes will help my account to reconcile, but will in fact drive me crazy until I remember to look for them and delete them.

Now that I think about it, these automatic entries violate double-entry accounting principles, where every credit should have a corresponding debit. I know Quicken doesn't enforce that, but I wish it had a way that I could check for imbalances. That way I could avoid some mistakes.

Quicken_Tyka

Hello Adam,

I wanted to add that there is an option to toggle between a Live Balance Adjustment and a static adjustment.

This is located under the caret next to the balance in the top right-hand corner.





I hope this helps!

-Quicken Tyka

Adam

That's great, Tyka - thanks! I'll try that and hope never to see another "surprise" adjustment after going online. I've not kept a record, but I think it happens more often in brokerage accounts where Quicken is perturbed that the number of shares reported by the brokerage does not correspond to the number of shares in the ledger.

John_in_NC

@Quicken_Tyka

No, you don't want to do that. That will create an adjustment and the "Live Opening Balance" transaction lives on. 

The original live opening balance transaction has to be removed.

Note: there is a difference between a "Live Opening Balance" and a "Live Adjustment" (which you suggest.)