Validation should specify what it changed [+32 Merged Votes]

ChicagoGuy

I ran Validate and Repair. Validation gives the message: "Repaired your data file by removing a damaged category. Please check your category list for missing categories by going to Tools>Category List."

That's a pain. Why can't it simply list the categories it removes?

Rocket J Squirrel

Moderator merged @ChicagoGuy 's thread into this one.

TTSguy

I whole heartedly agree, but I'm of the belief we have to be careful what we wish for. Look at the great ideas for Mobile and Web, then Schwab. Quicken may open a whole new can of worms....again!

Boatnmaniac

TTSguy said:

I whole heartedly agree, but I'm of the belief we have to be careful what we wish for. Look at the great ideas for Mobile and Web, then Schwab. Quicken may open a whole new can of worms....again!

FYI:  The current Schwab connection and download issues situation was inflicted by Schwab.  They changed their connection method and safety protocols and messed it up royally.

Chris_QPW

Boatnmaniac said:

TTSguy said:

I whole heartedly agree, but I'm of the belief we have to be careful what we wish for. Look at the great ideas for Mobile and Web, then Schwab. Quicken may open a whole new can of worms....again!

FYI:  The current Schwab connection and download issues situation was inflicted by Schwab.  They changed their connection method and safety protocols and messed it up royally.

At this point I don't put the all on Schwab.  It is quite evident that Schwab worked with Quicken Inc and Intuit and many more financial institutions to start changing over to this new process.  I personally think the new process stinks in comparison to OFX/Direct Connect, but in reference to secure all the "aggregators" it is a good move.  And just look at what Quicken Inc has been putting out, at least on the surface they have been broadcasting that they believe in this new system.

So, I wouldn't put this all on Schwab.  The bottom line is that the world is going to change whether we like the changes or not, or if they are actually better or not.

I know a lot of people believe in "If ain't broke don't fix it.", but this statement ignore two main facts.  One is that you need to change things just to maintain them.  And two, the world isn't going to allow you not to change.

As such I can certainly see @TTSguy's fear of changing anything because it seems like whatever the Quicken Windows developers touch, they break, that isn't going to stop them from making changes and you might as well lobby for the changes that you really want.

And as for the blaming of these problems on Schwab I would say that this was definitely a "group effort".  No matter the pain to change the connections from FDS to QCS, and the change from Express Web Connect to Express Web Connect + for both Capital One and Schwab, I have heard nothing, but praise and optimism for these conversion from Quicken Inc.  They aren't the "victim" they are active partners in this.

And here is something else to chew on.  Scan this forum for Capital One and Schwab Quicken Mac problems.  They are there, but they are far less frequently having problems even when you consider there are less Mac users than Windows users.  And I have seen where the Quicken Mac users are shy to complain.

q_lurker

@Chris_QPW The basic premise of this idea is to improve the messaging.  If validation removes something, tell the user what was removed.

Isn't it possible, or plausible, the the programming might not 'know'  what was removed?  I'm thinking some internal table pointer points to a particular record expecting a category there, but looking at that record, it finds gibberish.  So the validation removes that pointer and says it is removing a category.  Well a category used to be there and it is not know there, ergo, that category is removed.  But there is no way of telling if it was "Pet expenses" or "Suzy's Salary" or anything else.  Just my layperson's thought.    

Rocket J Squirrel

q_lurker said:

Isn't it possible, or plausible, the the programming might not 'know'  what was removed?  I'm thinking some internal table pointer points to a particular record expecting a category there, but looking at that record, it finds gibberish.

It's possible, but I doubt it. If the validator is about to remove a category (or anything else), it should know where in that record to find a string to identify it and display that in the log.

And who's to say what's gibberish? I just might have a category named "#$%*!ing Taxes". I would rather the validator make the effort to display something rather than nothing.

UserDavidC

q_lurker said:

Isn't it possible, or plausible, the the programming might not 'know'  what was removed?  I'm thinking some internal table pointer points to a particular record expecting a category there, but looking at that record, it finds gibberish.  So the validation removes that pointer and says it is removing a category.  Well a category used to be there and it is not know there, ergo, that category is removed.  But there is no way of telling if it was "Pet expenses" or "Suzy's Salary" or anything else.  Just my layperson's thought.    

I would think this is at least plausible, although as @Rocket J Squirrel said, I don't think it is likely.

However, if the content really is gibberish, then the error message needs to be more explicit. The current message is just too vague.

Phil Burton

I just ran a Validate on my Quicken file and got this error message:

Repaired your data file by removing a damaged category. Please check your category list for missing categories by going to Tools>Category List.

I would like to see Quicken specifically name that damaged category that got removed.

Rocket J Squirrel

If you had searched, you might have found
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7880500/validation-should-specify-what-it-changed-13-merged-votes/p1

Quicken Anja

Hello @Phil Burton,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your request.

I went ahead and merged your Idea to this active Idea thread regarding this topic.

Ideas are reviewed by our Development and Product teams to see what features people would like to have available in the future. Please, be sure to add your own vote as well by clicking the up arrow (see example below).

Thank you!

Frankx

Great idea and somewhat overdue.

Frankx

JstLukng

this might be fixed in R38.30 build 27.138.30
! ran a Validate this morning. Results had the 'standard' error found but then a new section listing two transactions (I xx out the account names and amounts). reviewing these accounts showed the Transaction's category was blank. I deleted and recreated them


[Sat Feb 26 08:57:05 2022]
QDF:
Validating your data.
Quicken found a damaged scheduled reminder and removed it. Please check your scheduled reminders by going to Tools>Manage Bills and Income Reminders.

[Sat Feb 26 08:57:29 2022]
------------------------------------------------------------
The following transaction(s) involving transfers appear to be damaged.
You should delete them and recreate as appropriate.

Account XXXXX: 3/5/2022 XXXX $$.$$

Account XXXXX: 3/16/2022 XXXXX $$.$$

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Ed V

Totally agree. Validation log should define what it corrects.

Ed V

Totally agree. Validation log should define what it corrects.

Ed V

Totally agree. Validation log should define what it corrects.

John Nastasi

It's very frustrating to run a validate or Super-Validate only to get cryptic information on the errors that were found. I propose the Validate program provide additional information to allow the user to more intelligently resolve problems. 

Rocket J Squirrel

[deleted]

Quicken Anja

Hello @John Nastasi,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your request.

Your Idea has been merged into this already existing and active Idea thread regarding this topic.

Thank you!

Phil Burton

This suggestion is so obvious, I have to wonder why it wasn't implemented a long time ago.

If the validation routine can identify an issue, how much effort is it to write out a log file of some sort, including the action taken?

Eric in AZ

This needs to be fixed.
"[Insert number here] scheduled transactions corrected." Which transactions? What was wrong with them? What did Validate do to correct them? What should I do to ensure that they don't need to be corrected next time?
Leaving users in the dark about their finances is not a good way encourage them to buy Quicken again next year.

Dick Latour

I am having a problem that, very frequently, when I try to go to Bills and Income, Quicken locks up and I have to shut it down and restart. Then when I validate, I always get the message: "Quicken found a damaged scheduled reminder and removed it. Please check your scheduled reminders by going to Tools>Manage Bills and Income Reminders." I have no idea what it removed and a few days later I have to go through this again. Please fix this so that it does not continue to happen repeatedly.

Ben

I would really love more detail with the validation log. I run validate often, just due to the number of errors I run into and corruption... I'd rather find out sooner rather than later that I have to restore a backup and re-process all my transactions since then.

Pilotbum

More detail would be helpful.

batstang2000

I just went through and edited and saved every scheduled transaction I have. I exited Quicken, opened it back up, ran validation and still receive the message - 3 scheduled transactions are damaged - How on earth can I find them? PLEASE let the developers know the USERS want to SEE the invalid scheduled transactions that need to be fixed.

George Dearing

What do we do now to correct the validation error?

Ken Derrenbacker

I have the same issue. What scheduled transaction(s)? How do we find them and what's wrong with them? I have 45 scheduled transactions many with splits. How in the world are we supposed to find them with a cryptic message like "4 scheduled transactions corrected"?

Dana

I got the same message, but when I followed the directions, I didn't find a missing category. It seems that it should show up in Recategorized, but doesn't.

JstLukng

still useless notifications...fix it QDF:
Validating your data.
Repaired your data file by removing a damaged category. Please check your category list for missing categories by going to Tools>Category List.
Quicken found a damaged scheduled reminder and removed it. Please check your scheduled reminders by going to Tools>Manage Bills and Income Reminders.