Adding a new opening balance

Question

I just got Quicken yesterday.  When I went to add my CC info it would only go back 88 days I would like to start at the beginning of the year how do I do this.  Credit card company starts on 4/24 so I have 12/24 1/24 2/24 and 3/24 statements that I would like to enter and reconcile.
 1. Do I just enter everything manually - not an issue I know how to do this
 2. How do I make a starting balance when i already have one entered by my automatic download? 
 3. I tried changing the date of the 4/24 and then adjusting the opening balance but it willl let me change the date but not the opening balance?

q_lurker · Answer

Your 12/24 statement may also give you the 'right' opening balance value to plug in, if you are trying to enter all transactions including payments after the prior statement.

The recommendation is that payments to the card from your checking account be treated as transfers from the checking to the CC account.  If you use that approach in entering these prior payment transactions you may need to be watching your checking account transactions and editing accordingly.

Mark1104 · Answer

1) yes, just enter everything manually
2) the beginning balance is goin going to be a forced number - whatever number is required to make the ending balance (as of the date of the last download) correct

Chris_QPW · Answer

#1 It might be possible to import more transactions if your financial institution allows you to export your older transactions using a Quicken Web Connect .QFX file.  You would download the file and open it in your web browser or Windows File Explorer and it should import into Quicken or use this menu:
File -> File Import -> Web Connect (.QFX) File...

On #2 and #3 you should be able to change both the date and the amount of the opening balance transaction (and this is how you would do this).  It will warn you that you are entering a transaction back into the same account, but in this case that is exactly what you want.  Note that you aren't changing the Balance column, you are changing the Charge column.

Example:

Changed to:

Final after selecting Yes a couple of times.