Linking two transactions

Evan D

I have two transactions in two different accounts. It's basically a transfer between one account to the other, but Quicken failed to link them when I downloaded the transactions (I guess because they were about 5 days apart, so it didn't realize it was a transfer).

How do I link the transactions manually? What I usually do in this case is go to one of them and then change the category to what the other account is. But this has two negatives: (1) instead of linking the two transactions, it just creates a new transaction in the second account, so you need to delete the original one, (2) since the new transaction in the second account is now just a duplicate of the transaction in the first account, they will have the same date, while I would like to keep the original dates that were different.

Is there a way to just link the two transactions without doing what I described above?

splasher

You would have needed to catch it immediately to fix it correctly.

If you don't have the transactions automatically entered when they are downloaded or don't do an "Accept All", you can have Quicken do a "Match Manually" from the Download Transactions tab of the second transaction and then select the correct one to match to.

Now, your only options that I know of are to leave as is or to create the transfer and delete the original transaction of the duplicate that was just created.  You will want to mark the "new transfer" as "c" (cleared) since the one you deleted was marked that way.  The new transaction won't have a "Downloaded Posting Date", but that is a minor issue which shouldn't cause any problems.

I guess a third option would be to restore a backup from prior to the import and redo everything again since that backup was made.

[added]

There is no way to have the dates of the "matched" transactions different unless you run it thru a second transfer in a different buffer account such as:

Trx in Acct A (12/29/2021) -> Trx in a buffer account (12/29/2021)

Trx in buffer acct (1/3/2022) -> Trx in Acct B (1/3/2022)

Jim_Harman

Transfers always use the same date on both sides. That way there is no money in "Quicken limbo."  

If you want to have transfers but different dates, you can set up a manual "Cash in transit" account and enter two transfers - one from the source account when the money leaves and the other in the destination account when the money arrives there.

Evan D

So from what I gather, what I wanted to do cannot be done. I also talked to their support and after a very painful chat session that was my conclusion. I still don't understand how this is not a feature in a software that's been around for so long.

Jim_Harman

As I tried to explain above, if Quicken allowed transfers with different dates on each end, then there would be money that was unaccounted for during the transfer interval.

If the dates must be different, then the money must either leave Quicken with Withdraw and and come back with Deposit transactions or you must transfer it to a third holding account.

Evan D

This is most certainly not true. I have transfers that show one date on one account and a different date on the other one. Those are the dates provided directly by the banks.

Also, I don't see what's wrong with money being in "limbo" and why Quicken wouldn't allow that. This is how things work in practice after all: money gets out one account on some day, and lands on a different account a couple days later.

splasher

Show us a screenshot of a transfer where the dates are different.  The downloaded posting date maybe different, but the normal register date is always the same for transfers.

Jim_Harman

Evan D said:

This is most certainly not true. I have transfers that show one date on one account and a different date on the other one. Those are the dates provided directly by the banks.

Maybe there is a way to do that, but for me, anything that is actually entered as a Transfer, i.e. the Category is the other account in [brackets], has the same date on both ends. If I change the date on one end, the date on the other end changes as well.  

Jim_Harman

One thing that might work would be to set up a Category called Transfers or something similar. That would let you withdraw from one account using that Category and deposit to the other on a different date with the same Category. But the transactions would not be linked in any way. If you changed the amount on one end, it would not change to match on the other end. You would want to monitor the Transfer category to make sure it zeros out.

Evan D

> @splasher said:
> Show us a screenshot of a transfer where the dates are different.  The downloaded posting date maybe different, but the normal register date is always the same for transfers.


What does 'normal register date' mean? I am talking about the date that shows in the 'Date' column. If this happens with my accounts, it should happen with everyone else's accounts.

Again, this is for transactions that are downloaded from my bank and Quicken recognizes them as a transfer so it links them automatically. This usually works okay if the two entries are only a couple days apart. Sometimes it may ask 'Is this the same transaction as the other one' or something like that, and if you click 'Yes' then it matches them. But if the two entries are more than a few days apart it fails to recognize them as a transfer and I have to match them manually. I thought there should still be a way to keep the original dates, but it seems there isn't.

Evan D

> @Jim_Harman said:
> Maybe there is a way to do that, but for me, anything that is actually entered as a Transfer, i.e. the Category is the other account in [brackets], has the same date on both ends. If I change the date on one end, the date on the other end changes as well.  

Yes, this is what happens when you do it manually, and I was trying to see if there was a way to keep the original dates. This can definitely happen when Quicken recognizes the two transactions as a transfer between two accounts and matches them while keeping the original dates that could differ by a couple of days.

Anyway, it's really not that important, I'll just make my peace with one of the dates being 'wrong'. I just thought there should be an easy way to do that.

splasher

I consider the "normal register date" do to be one with Date in the header.  You can also have the "Downloaded Posting Date" displayed which could be different from the date, especially with something like a check, where you write and record in on one date and it finally clears the bank two to three weeks later.
Still waiting for the screenshot of two transactions in a transfer where the Date is different.