Enter cost in placeholder deletes Opening Cash Balance Transaction above it

When I Enter Cost in a Placeholder transaction, it deletes the Opening Balance "Deposit" at the top of the register. Why is it doing that and how do I get it to stop?

Answers

  • Quicken_Tyka
    Quicken_Tyka Alumni ✭✭✭✭
    Hello @Jeff Schwarz

    Thank you for taking the time to share the details of your experience and feedback with the Community, although I apologize that you have not yet received a response.

    We'll need a bit more information to be able to assist.

    Please take a moment to review the information available here and post back to let us know what version and release of Quicken you are using as well as the name of the financial institution associated with the brokerage account in question.

    How long have you been experiencing this issue? Also, do you actively sync to the mobile or web application?

    The more information you can provide regarding this issue will help the Community to better understand and assist.

    Thank you,

    -Quicken Tyka

    ~~~***~~~
  • Jeff Schwarz
    Jeff Schwarz Member ✭✭
    edited November 2020
    Quicken: 2020 R30.10, Build 27.1.30.10
    Windows: Version 2004 (OS Build 19041.630)
    Financial Institution: Charles Schwab

    This is the first time I've tried this function.
    I do sync, but I have no accounts selected. However, I have restored a backup (which had its own problems), so the old file may have been syncing some accounts. And I can't log on at Quicken.com without changing my password, which I don't want to do.
  • Quicken Francisco
    Quicken Francisco Alumni ✭✭✭✭

    Hello @Jeff Schwarz

    Thank you for reaching out on the community and telling us about your issue. I do apologize for the issue you're having. That is quite odd that this is happening. I'm wondering here if it might be relocatable. If you wouldn't mind could you take some screenshots of the issue to see if we might be able to replicate them as well. This should give us a bit more information on the issue. I'll leave a link on how to screenshot down below.

    https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7663259/faq-how-do-i-post-a-screenshot-in-the-community-from-a-mac#latest

    Once you get the chance let us know some more and we'll see what we can do.

    Thanks,

    Quicken Francisco


  • Jeff Schwarz
    Jeff Schwarz Member ✭✭
    Not really. Each time I do it I have to restore a backup. Each time I have restore a backup, I have to reconcile the past three months of several accounts. And each time I restore a backup It unlinks transfers from my checking to two of my credit cards. It's really time consuming.
  • Jeff Schwarz
    Jeff Schwarz Member ✭✭
    > @Quicken Francisco said:
    > Hello
    > @Jeff Schwarz
    >
    > Thank
    > you for reaching out on the community and telling us about your issue. I do apologize for the issue you're having. That is quite odd that this is happening. I'm wondering here if it might be relocatable. If you wouldn't mind could you take some screenshots of the issue to see if we might be able to replicate them as well. This should give us a bit more information on the issue. I'll leave a link on how to screenshot down below.
    >
    > https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7663259/faq-how-do-i-post-a-screenshot-in-the-community-from-a-mac#latest
    >
    >
    > Once you get the chance let us know some more and we'll see what we can do.
    >
    > Thanks,
    >
    > Quicken
    > Francisco

    OK, I did it again, and Quicken did it again. I'm using a Win10 machine (not Mac). Here's what I did

    Top of register: Screen00
    1/9/18 Opening balance 5520.53
    1/10/18 Cree +200 shares

    Click Cree 'Enter Cost': Screen01
    Click 'Enter Missing Transactions': Screen02
    Enter values for Date, Shares, Total cost (calc price paid): Screen03
    Click Enter/Done (have to click it twice for some reason): Screen04
    Click Done

    Top of register: Screen05
    10/30/14 Balance Adj +6430.95
    10/30/14 Bought Cree +6430.95
    01/10/18 Cree +0 shares

    Notice that there is no Opening Balance for 5520.53 on 1/9/18. I am sorting the register by Date, then Order Entered (but I can't find the setting right now to show you).

    Quicken is doing other strange things, too. It has lost one or more transactions in another investment account, so that it no longer balances. It balanced last month (I am a careful recordkeeper).

    I also have files to track my mom's finances and it has also lost some transactions in investment accounts.

    Quicken has updated itself since my last message. I am now using the following version:
    Year: 2020
    Version: R30.14
    Build: 27.1.30.14

    Please explain what is happening. This is really angering.
  • q_lurker
    q_lurker SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Jeff Schwarz  I'll offer what I suspect is taking place.  I have not tested this theory.  

    Your placeholder correction predates the in-place Opening Balance transaction.
    Your placeholder correction includes a Balance Adjustment transaction to 'pay for' the Buy Shares generated.  
    The programming MAY be saying, That Opening Balance transaction makes no sense since the balance amount is off and the date is off.  Therefore we will delete it. 

    You could test this if you are so inclined by backing up your Opening Balance to before the date of the 'corrected' Buy (before 10/30/2014) and then doing the placeholder correction. 

    Even if my theory is correct, the programming logic is still flawed and should be corrected.  I see no justification for deleting the existing Opening Balance transaction. 
  • Jeff Schwarz
    Jeff Schwarz Member ✭✭
    Yeah, maybe. It shouldn't do that. I'll wait to hear back from the moderator before I do any more experimenting. As it stands, I'm in the middle of re-reconciling a bunch of accounts which, as usual, did not restore properly.

    I've been using this program for 30 years, incidentally, and I have never been more frustrated. This absolutely horrendous.
  • Quicken Anja
    Quicken Anja Moderator mod
    edited April 2021
    Hello @Jeff Schwarz,

    Thank you for reaching out to the Community to tell us about your issue, though I apologize that you continue to experience this as well as for not having received a follow-up response yet.

    I do recommend you try @q_lurker's suggestion first and see if doing so will resolve the issue. q_lurker said:
    You could test this if you are so inclined by backing up your Opening Balance to before the date of the 'corrected' Buy (before 10/30/2014) and then doing the placeholder correction. 
    Should the issue still persist after trying this, then if you haven't already, I suggest you create a copy of your data file in an attempt to rebuild all of the internal lists and database tables. Then, try to Validate your data fileRebuild investing lots, and/or Correct investing price history - Repair, in the copied file by following the steps below. However, I do recommend that you also Save a backup of your data file first before trying these steps (just in case).
    1. Navigate to the File menu
    2. Select File Operations
    3. Copy...
    4. Leave the presets as is and click OK
    5. Wait for the copy procedure to complete
    6. Select New Copy and click OK                                                                              If Quicken reports an error when creating the Copy file, then hold Ctrl + Shift while you click File > File Operations > Copy. When prompted to "Ignore errors that prevent file copy?" click Yes. Note: Only do this if you receive an error as this may cause some data loss.
    7. Once the newly copied file opens, navigate back to the File menu
    8. Select File Operations
    9. Validate and Repair...
    10. Select Validate fileRebuild investing lots, and Correct investing price history - Repair (You can either select these all at once and run them at the same time or select and run them one at a time - either way is fine)
    11. Click OK
    12. Close the Data Log
    13. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
    14. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.
    You can also try to Super validate the copied file by holding down the Ctrl + Shift keys on your keyboard while selecting Validate and Repair... (step 9) which will give you the option to Super validate file instead of Validate file.

    If this does not resolve the issue, you can either switch back to your original file or restore the backup you saved prior to performing the above troubleshooting instructions (both the original and backup files should remain unaffected by the steps performed in the copied file).

    Follow the steps below to switch back to your original file
    :
    1. Click the File menu.
    2. Look near the bottom of the options list.
    3. Select the data file you want to open. 


    Quicken will list the most recently opened data files, with a checkmark next to the file you are currently viewing.

    Let us know how it goes!

    -Quicken Anja
    Make sure to sign up for the email digest to see a round up of your top posts.

  • Jeff Schwarz
    Jeff Schwarz Member ✭✭
    Validating and Super Validating fixed that problem, but a different one persists. I'll describe it below (or should I start a new thread?).

    First, why do I need to validate and super validate? Why so often (I only created this file back in January). Why can't it keep track of things accurately, as I go? Or, at a minimum, validate automatically when I shut down (or when I back up)?

    What causes the issues that require validation? So that I know when to do it in the future.

    New problem, which still exists EVEN AFTER validating and super validating. When I change the account of a transaction in using Calendar, it zeros out the Amount. Here are pictures.

    Screenshot 0: I clicked on a date in Calendar to get here. Notice the UPS transaction, Account BofA Visa, Amount -2.00. I click Edit

    Screenshot 1: Notice Account to use, Method, Amount. I press Alt-A, C, C, to change account to CitiMC.

    Screen 2: Notice Account to use. All other info stays the same. I click OK.

    Screen 4: I click on the same date. Notice the Amount. I forgot to include a screenshot of editing the transaction, but it was also changed from Payment to Deposit.

    Once again, Quicken has lost info.
  • Jeff Schwarz
    Jeff Schwarz Member ✭✭
    edited December 2020
    The original problem came back in a different account in the same file, AFTER I had done the validations. So it seems it only fixes the problem temporarily.
  • Quicken Francisco
    Quicken Francisco Alumni ✭✭✭✭
    @Jeff Schwarz

    Thanks for the update. I believe in this cast it's best for you to contact Quicken Support instead as you may need extensive troubleshooting done in order to have this successfully resolved. They also have the ability to screen share with you (if you feel comfortable doing so) and will be better equipped to help you accomplish and set up what you need.

    Click here to review Quicken Support's hours of operation.

    Thanks,
    Quicken Francisco