Why the new much longer back up filenames?

jrichard

I have the latest update of Quicken Premier. When I last downloaded transactions many were missing (essentially all checks and debits, leaving only EFTs). I was able to correct this by finding another older back up file. I noticed that the filenames are now much longer. Does this have any significance? Why the change? It makes finding files on my flash drive more difficult because the name is so long I can't tell if it's different from a previously saved one.

splasher

As you can see from @ps56k 's example, there should only be a single date in the file's name.   If your backup files have more than one date in them, you failed to remove the date portion when you did a restore, so the filename got longer.

You can rename the data file using Windows Explorer and then double click on the renamed data file to start Quicken and open the renamed file.  This will update Quicken's Recent File list (File menu) so that it knows the file's new name the next time you start Quicken from the program icon.

ps56k

What version ..... Help --> About Quicken

Not sure what you mean,
unless you were NOT including the date/time stamp on the backups,
and now you are.

Here are my Automatic backup filenames, and also my Manual backup filenames.

splasher

As you can see from @ps56k 's example, there should only be a single date in the file's name.   If your backup files have more than one date in them, you failed to remove the date portion when you did a restore, so the filename got longer.

You can rename the data file using Windows Explorer and then double click on the renamed data file to start Quicken and open the renamed file.  This will update Quicken's Recent File list (File menu) so that it knows the file's new name the next time you start Quicken from the program icon.

thecreator

jrichard said:

I have the latest update of Quicken Premier. When I last downloaded transactions many were missing (essentially all checks and debits, leaving only EFTs). I was able to correct this by finding another older back up file. I noticed that the filenames are now much longer. Does this have any significance? Why the change? It makes finding files on my flash drive more difficult because the name is so long I can't tell if it's different from a previously saved one.

Hi @jrichard ,

When you restored your Manual Backup File, you did not overwrite the existing but restored the file, with the Date Added to the filename. So when you continued to use the Backup File, you left the original File, still sitting in the folder and using File Explorer to rename the file back to the original filename, you  were blocked, by the system.

You need to use File Explorer, first to delete the original file, then you can rename the good file to whatever file name you want, as an example: Jrichard.

Do not add .qdf as it is automatically added by Windows. Whether you see it or not, depends on how you have File Options, configured,





The filename is "Creator 2020-2020-11-03-2020-11-20"

The original filename is Creator 2020.

You need to use File Explorer to rename the file.

A time saving procedure, is to Open Quicken. Click File and then click "Show this file on my computer". Minimize File Explorer. Close Quicken, otherwise, you can't rename an open file.

Highlight the file. Right-click and click Properties. Easier to rename using Properties, then using rename, I find. Once the file is renamed, click OK.
Now simply click on the file to reopen Quicken.

Real simple.

ps56k

jrichard said:  I was able to correct this by finding another older back up file. I noticed that the filenames are now much longer.

The question is....
when you "found" the older backup file, what exactly did you do with it ? 
Did you use Quicken to perform a Menu --> File --> Restore ?
Did you manually rename it to a .QDF file and open it as your current QDF file ?

jrichard

I was able to rename the file. But just to show I wasn't exaggerating, here is the filename before I renamed it: qdata-2020-07-31.AM07.27-R-26.23-2020-11-16.AM07.13-R-29.22 I don't know how it got this filename. Thanks to everyone who replied to my question.

splasher

jrichard said:

I was able to rename the file. But just to show I wasn't exaggerating, here is the filename before I renamed it: qdata-2020-07-31.AM07.27-R-26.23-2020-11-16.AM07.13-R-29.22 I don't know how it got this filename. Thanks to everyone who replied to my question.

How, easy. 
Normally, when you do a restore AND overwrite the existing file, the date is stripped from the backup file's name and would it would be called "qdata.qdf" (in your case) .
You did a restore (that did not overwrite) of a backup file that was named qdata-2020-07-31.AM07.27-R, but you left the name unchanged, so that became the name of the current data file.
Then you did a second restore (didn't overwrite) at a later date of a backup file named qdata-2020-07-31.AM07.27-R-26.23-2020-11-16.AM07.13-R-29.22.
If you don't overwrite, the data files name stays the same (by default) of the backup file.
During the restore, if you elect to NOT overwrite, you are given the opportunity to decide what the file's name should be, you did not change it to remove the date and slightly change the base (qdata) file name.

thecreator

One needs to be careful when restoring a Backup Data File, without overwriting the existing Backup file.

Why?

The Default folder, to save the restored file into, is the Original Backup Folder containing the Backups, themselves.