Previously reconciled transactions are reset to not reconciled (*DESKTOP*)

RJoQ99

Environment: Desktop only (no internet, no phone, no synching of any kind)

Problem Noticed: Randomly for several years, most recently today (8 Nov. 2021)

Reconciliation Frequency: Monthly.

Transaction types: Scheduled and unscheduled.

Observations: Nothing that "clicked" until day. Shortly after a required Windows 10 update I turned my attention to reconciling my Quicken accounts.

Before updating I closed *all* windows. After updating, I rebooted.
NO optional updates were done (and, indeed, never are).

Lo and behold! The very first account I clicked to reconcile showed unreconciled transactions going back to July. The other accounts seem (for now) to have retained their reconciliation status.

Might there be a connection between Windows updates and these random occurrences of previously reconciled transactions being reset to not reconciled?

Frankx

Hi @RJoQ99

I am sure that you've heard the expression "I thought that I'd seen it all, but..."

That is what I am thinking right now.  So, just to make sure I am not missing anything, you are saying:

That you use Quicken ONLY in what I would call a "disconnected mode" - that is:

• no downloading of any kind;
• no uploading (e.g. bill payments) of any kind, including using Quicken Bill Pay;
• no online investment tracking or transactions/balances updates (including, but not limited to, online investment quotes or downloads);
• you reconcile all accounts to paper statements only;
• none of your accounts display an "online balance";
• this problem surfaced after a basic WINDOWS update.

Please confirm or provide additional information/explanation if any of the above statements are incorrect.

I am going to get a drink now...

Frankx 

RJoQ99

Frankxx - Yes, you are spot on in understanding everything. To really dice things up, I'll add three more items:
* I am still using Quicken 99.
* Every keystroke has always been OFFLINE.

RJoQ99

The third item was to say:
* I have NEVER used any online downloading or synching or what-have-you.

q_lurker

I’m out of my league here but a 22-year old software package in a current OS seems like a risky operational mode … where anything might happen. 

Have you given any thought to jumping to at least QW2013?

RJoQ99

Hello q_lurker ~ I would be inclined to agree with you EXCEPT that long before I posted there were a significant number of other posts reporting the same problem.

In fact, when it started happening to me, I assumed that my trusty Q99 version might at last be getting rusty. That assumption was kaboshed with the preponderance of posts about the same problem with newer versions.

To be clear: I am not stating that there IS a connection between Windows updates and reconciliation rollbacks. I AM stating that after upteem times of experiencing the problem, I saw it in quick succession after doing a required Windows update.

For those of us who are afflicted with the reconciliation plague, it may be worth the few minutes to note the condition of the Quicken file before and after a Windows update.

To make a (sort of arms-length analogy: Apple resets your phone to its liking after every IOS update. (I cannot begin to count the number of times I have to kill the games app after an update ... but I digress).

Chris_QPW

After reading all of this it sounds to me that it basically comes down to this question:

RJoQ99 said:

Might there be a connection between Windows updates and these random occurrences of previously reconciled transactions being reset to not reconciled?

And my answer would be it is highly unlikely, and that nothing in the 14 years I have read posts on Quicken forum has suggested that anyone else has noticed such a connection.

But more to the point, I don't understand exactly what your purpose is for posting this.
You don't seem to be looking for a fix, which is a good thing because there is zero chance that even if it was proven to be the case that a fix to your version of Quicken would happen.

If you are looking for a fix about the only thing anyone can suggest is try a newer version of Quicken which might not have the problem, and as such that is why the free Quicken 2013 was suggested.

If your post is to warn the current users that this might be affecting them, and that Quicken Inc needs to jump on this and find a solution, then I would state that Quicken developers are much to busy to work on something that no one else seems to have a problem with.  You make references to other people having problems with reconciled transactions changing, but I don't think you understand how "the world of Quicken" has changed since 1999.

From what I have seen almost every post of such problems are related to syncing with the Quicken cloud dataset, or maybe a much lower degree to a corrupted data file (which might be what you have).  No one has stated that their problem of transactions becoming unreconciled happened just after a Windows update.  If anything they have suggested that they might be connected to a Quicken patch update (which these days happen pretty often, but mostly have proved not to be the reason for the problem).

Frankx

Hi again @RJoQ99

To address your question about whether there is a connection between Quicken datafile corruption and the updating of your Windows OS, I think that the answer is no.  I think it is more likely related to missing one month's reconciliation of one account, or opening an older datafile, or some other human error.  Its either that or the gremlins. 

Anyway, I wish you better luck going forward, and thanks for the interesting post.

Take care.

Frankx