How do I delete a download from a brokage?

Question

I downloaded a transaction from a broker and got a security number in parenthesis. It is the TOTAL of both securities in this account. "Cancel" in the security add box only works for a few seconds.

Tom Young · Answer

So instead of the transactions in the Account being downloaded, all you got is something that's being identified as a "security" and Quicken is asking you if it matches a current security?  
If you can't go back to "yesterday's" backup and try downloading again then it seems like the only way forward is to tell Quicken "Yes, this is new security" and let Quicken create it.  If you're left at the position that Quicken is simply open in front of you and doesn't doing anything else with respect to that security, (an Add or Buy or something), then you should be OK.  You might have a new non-existent "security" in your Quicken file but not in the Account.  You could always go to Tools > Security list... and delete the security or leave it there; either way should be fine.

As to you comment "BTW - restoring a backup will cause me to re-enter many, many transactions", that 
really should not be the case.  When you install Quicken the program has a default backup policy in place:
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Quicken includes several backup options that you can change to meet your needs. Unless you specify otherwise, Quicken:* Reminds you to back up your Quicken data every third time you exit Quicken.
* Makes
 a historical copy of your data every fifth time you open Quicken and 
stores five of these copies in the Quicken/BACKUP folder.
* Warns you it is about to replace your existing data file with the data file you're restoring from a backup.

To change your preference

* Choose Edit menu > Preferences.

* In the Select preference type list, select Backup.
* Change the appropriate setting.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------If you've never changed that default and have been making a backup each time Quicken reminds you to, then hopefully you'd only be 2 or 3 days behind, assuming you open Quicken every day.  Since hard drive space is cheap these days I've set my preferences to make a backup in the Quicken/BACKUP folder every time I open Quicken.  That generally allows for easy recovery without having to make a bunch of new entries.

Dana · Answer

On the download, I got a six-digit number that represents the brokerage account ID (or something). It is NOT the individual mutual funds (2) transactions. Quicken thinks this number is a security and asks, "is this the same as . . . (all securities listed, but it is not a single security). I cannot answer "Yes" or "No" because they are both wrong answers to the wrong question.
 Yes, I know the brokerage account screwed up their Quicken download, but I don't seem to have a good option for fixing it. BTW - restoring a backup will cause me to re-enter many, many transactions.

Tom Young · Answer

I'm not really understanding what you're saying here, but if this just happened and you want to "undo" it, the easiest way to do that is to restore from a backup, hopefully one from yesterday when you closed Quicken, (or from the day before if you didn't open Quicken yesterday.)