BoughtX and SoldX transactions handled on conversion yet?

Don Awalt

Just checking in, I am a Quicken Premier Windows user interested in moving to the Mac version of Quicken - but my thousands of BoughtX and SoldX transactions haven't converted across in the past so my data file account balances are grossly inaccurate. Are BoughtX and SoldX transactions handled in a file conversion from Windows to Mac yet? They even gave me a ticket number for the issue, 7759262, last June.

I am really hoping I can move to the Mac version of Quicken some day!

jacobs

@Don Awalt  I'm not aware that the developers have made any changes to the Windows converter. I found an old thread where you asked this in August 2019, and this was the reply from the product manager, Quicken Marcus:

We have not added the boughtx or soldx types from Quicken Windows but I thought we converted better than you described since this can be represented by 2 separate transactions - one for the buy and the other for the transfer.  Are your accounts single-mutual fund accounts or a 401K account without cash?  It's possible we may have problems with these types of accounts on import but I don't know specifically.

I then posted this reply to Marcus:

@Quicken Marcus From what would-be Windows converters have reported here, I have been under the impression that BoughtX and SoldX transactions do not work in the Windows conversion. As you suggest, I was always puzzled why the converter didn't simply convert them into two transactions. In any case, you should be aware that there have been lots of complaints, and many users who simply cannot convert from Windows, because these transaction types aren't converted correctly.

Unfortunately, there was no follow up reply that I saw from you to the question Marcus asked, nor from Marcus after that.

So… It would be helpful to hear from users who have converted from Quicken Windows to Quicken Mac in the past year, with Windows BoughtX and SoldX investment transactions. Did they convert correctly to two separate transactions, one for the purchase/sale and one for the transfer, or did they not convert correctly? If people who converted can supply recent data, perhaps this issue can be elevated to reach the attention of Marcus. It seems like it should be a pretty easy problem to solve if it hasn't been fixed.

Don Awalt

Thanks @jacobs for your reply and finding that post, I missed that part. Let me give it a shot, and I'll report back here what I find!

Don Awalt

OK @jacobs, here is my report! The conversion completed, but the accounts are nowhere close to correct. I would say 90% of them are wrong. I have 2 banks and ~20 brokerage accounts (mutual funds mainly). I noticed 3 things:

1) Lots of errors when it was done. First, transaction sync errors - you can see by this picture, it reported "Transaction sync errors", "General error" (what is that?), 2396 of them. I assume the means to my cloud account (I had it import from the cloud since it asked for that, although I pointed it to a copy of my Windows Quicken file). Now I checked some of them, they were in the register fine just like the Windows version. This one was a small Amazon purchase:


2) BoughtX transactions did not convert correctly at all. There was a pattern of creating 3 transactions for every 1 BoughtX, here is an example:

If the BoughtX transaction is buying 6,931.608 shares @ $10.82 for $75,000, the money coming from bank savings account. Then in the Mac it converts to:

- Buy 75,000 shares from mutual fund cash account for $1;
- Buy 75,000 shares for 0.00;
- Buy 6,931.608 shares @ $10.82 from cash account for $75,000.

So for this BoughtX transaction, shares are increased by 156,931.608 instead of 6,931.608; Cash account is drawn down $150,000; and the bank savings account is not affected at all. SO you can see why so many accounts are way off (my transactions start in 2005).

3) SoldX transactions do something similar - if <Y> shares at <P> price are sold to a bank account for <X> dollars, then 2 transactions are created on the conversion:

- Sell 0 shares for <X> dollars;
-  Sell <Y> shares at <P> price for <X> dollars into mutual fund cash account.

So mutual fund cash account correct (the 1st transaction adds <X> and the second subtracts it), the bank account is low <X> dollars (ie the proceeds went to the wrong place), and the share balance is correct. So this one is closer but bank account balances will get way off.

I'll keep this file around in case you/Quicken has any questions for me to answer from it, otherwise it's pretty unusable for me.

jacobs

@Don Awalt  Thanks for running to conversion test. I'm a Mac only user, so I can't test any of this; only report on what I've read from other users or Quicken folks.

For the first part of your post above, I'm not sure why cloud syncing should come into the picture at all. My suggestion would be to turn sync OFF when creating the new Mac file. (You can always turn on Quicken Cloud syncing later, if you use it.)

For the second part, regarding the BoughtX and SoldX transactions, that certainly seems to be a bug in the converter software. I agree that's it's unusable for anyone who has more than a few investment transactions in their file. I would suggest copying this part of your post into the Help > Report a Problem screen in Quicken Mac to report this. You won't get a reply (unless they want more information from you), but hopefully someone will take note. I will also flag this for a moderator here, to see if there's any way to get traction on this longstanding issue.

I'm just a fellow user, so I'm sorry I can't offer more specific help than that, but I'd love to see them get this fixed for you and many others who want to convert from Windows to Mac.

Don Awalt

I just sent it per your instructions @jacobs, thanks! I also included a link to this thread along with my post on BoughtX/SoldX above. Thanks for your guidance on this, it as very helpful! Let's keep our fingers crossed for a solution. Please let me know here if you do hear anything!

smayer97

BTW, BuyX, SoldX, ReinvestX, not converting is a known and still existing issue that has not yet been addressed. There has yet not been any update for this.

P.S. @J_Mike (a SU) has a lot of experience with this.

jacobs

@smayer97  The point here was that Marcus previously indicated he thought it worked correctly, and here we had a user test it with the current version of the software to demonstrate it doesn't work. So I think it's worth trying to raise again, because I'm not sure the developers are aware there's a problem here or have this on their list. 

smayer97

I do not deny the need to raise it again BUT the note by Marcus was a long time ago and I personally brought it to his attention after that note in the same discussion here ... and you even addressed his response here, so he is/was aware of this still being an issue. Whether it fell off the backburner or otherwise, who knows, but they have been made aware multiple times.

jacobs

It's not clear he is aware of it. Yes, I addressed a comment to him, but he didn't respond; he doesn't read every post on here, even those addressed to him.

tweaver1

Today I converted Q-Win file to Q-Mac, and the conversion did not correctly handle BoughtX/SoldX transactions between various mutual funds, that had been fine in Q-Win. Specifically, in Q-Win I recorded selling one mutual fund, and buying another, as a SoldX/BoughtX. What is being shown in Q-Mac, after conversion, is the correct # of shares in all of the mutual funds, yet the "cash" portion is wrong. For example, in the mutual funds that were sold, Q-Mac is recording an amount of cash in that account, equal to the size of the transaction - it's as if after selling the funds, I never then used the money to purchase the other! So my "sold" mutual funds have a higher total balance than they should. Similarly, the "bought" fund has negative cash.

Fortunately, I only have a small number of these transactions, so I have added "cash payments" transactions between the affected funds, on the correct dates. At least now the total balances tie-out. Was this the "best" way to resolve? Any other thoughts?

Don Awalt

Unfortunately for me I have way too many of these transactions over the years to manually correct it. It is amazing that Quicken ignores this major gaffe in file conversion, I have to think this affects a lot of customers who are investors. It's not like it's hard to duplicate and see the bugs. They might as well not even bothered with the convert utility for anyone doing any serious financial work. And yet, not a word from Quicken on this problem, for a long time.  Since I can't move my data to the Mac thru Quicken, all it will take is finding the right program that looks well supported and my subscription is not being renewed. I am so angry at them for the lack of support on this.