Why did 5 years of transactions disappear in one account?

jacasciato

I just noticed that several backups ago, the first five years of transactions in my checking account suddenly disappeared and were absorbed into a transaction called "Opening balance". In other words the balance as of 2/23/20 suddenly became my Opening Balance. Transfers from this account to my other accounts prior to 2/23/20 now show "Unspecified account" as the other account. How can I get those 5 years of transactions back? I don't want to start from that backup because I would then need to update all of my accounts from February manually. Any idea how this could have happened? And is there anyway of restoring at least the problem account to my current file?

Rich_M

I don't want to guess how this may have happened.  Since you have a backup containing the missing transactions, you can restore it as a copy of your data file, do not overwrite it.

From the copy, export the five years of missing transactions to a QIF file, then open your current data file and import them into a temporary cash account.  Afterwards you you can move them back to your checking account.

Before you attempt any of this make a backup of your current data file.

Rich_M

I don't want to guess how this may have happened.  Since you have a backup containing the missing transactions, you can restore it as a copy of your data file, do not overwrite it.

From the copy, export the five years of missing transactions to a QIF file, then open your current data file and import them into a temporary cash account.  Afterwards you you can move them back to your checking account.

Before you attempt any of this make a backup of your current data file.

jacasciato

Thanks, I will see if I can figure out how to do all that. But if I do, will the transactions that are transfers between this account and others in my Quicken file reunite? Or will the others continue to say Unspecified Account?

jacasciato

Got it done. It was painful and I hope it never happens again. Thanks for your help! :)

Rich_M

Yes, these things are always painful.  I would also suggest you do a Validate & Repair, you can find that under File Operations, just check Validate File.