Why is there a lightning bolt in Check Number column?

cjryan01

I am newly back using Quicken and after the initial setup all my downloaded transactions have a little lightning bolt in the check number. I understood that this was related to payments initiated in Quicken and sent to the bank but I have turned off bill pay on my accounts and these transactions are download only.

Frankx

Hi @cjryan01

Those lightning bolts indicate that an electronic payment was made using Quicken. It has nothing to do with whether you have, or have not, turned off bill pay.  Those payments were made using bill pay in the past and the lightning bolts simply indicate that.

Frankx 

cjryan01

These transactions were made with my debit card, not quicken, I have never used bill pay.

cjryan01

It gets a bit concerning when I enter a new transaction and it is assigned the lightning bolt. Then I go to change the Payee Name and I get a popup that says "The online transfer has already been processed. Changing or deleting it will affect the register only."

Every transaction I have entered or downloaded since I completed the initial setup on 1/5 has the lightning bolt.

retird

When you download a transaction where a paper check was used does the Check Number appear in the Check number field??

cjryan01

Yes, I have one paper check and it has the check number and lightning bolt.

retird

Checks also can be electronically sent from your payee's bank to your bank. As an example my grocery store swipes my paper check and hands me back the check...A red flag on every transaction puzzles me....

cjryan01

This does not seem to be a bank problem because even transactions I manually enter, that have not hit the bank yet, immediately have the lightning bolt.

retird

Do you manually enter your transactions ahead of downloading transactions from the bank?

cjryan01

Generally, no... I usually click the one step update when I open Quicken and then start working in the registry.

retird

OK... then I wouldn't think you should be getting a red flag on every transaction.  The only time I get a red flag is when a manual transaction that I entered is flaged to show me the bank transacton downloaded is the same transaction as the manual transaction thus you don't get duplicate entries of the same transaction.

retird

Can you post a screenshot of just the check number field showing the flag ?

cjryan01

Here it is

retird

Like this:

cjryan01

I did not have the status column showing so I did not see the Sent status on my manual entries but it had better not be sending anything to my bank.

retird

I never get a lightning bolt in the check number field.... my flags are always in the flag field,,, I'm at a loss... sorry I'm of no help on this issue...

cjryan01

Well.. thanks anyway but my issue was pretty clearly listed in the original question.

retird

OK.... I did a quick google search and saw this from years ago...  in 2012... may be of no help....good luck...

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I have a lightning bolt in my check register in the check number…

I have a lightning bolt in my check register in the check number column, how do i get rid of it

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Answered in 7 minutes by:

4/9/2012

Tech Support Rep: DrQuickBooksnQuicken

The lightning bolt represents a transaction that was matched up with a download from your bank. It is the same as a reconciliation symbol (R) but in a less formal way. You don't want to get rid of it. If you don't like seeing them, then don't download your transactions from your bank or credit card.

cjryan01

Why is this question marked answered?

Frankx

After the original poster submits a question or comment, any response to that initial post causes the status to be changed to "answered".  That is very simply how the software that controls this Q&A web application works.  It DOES NOT mean that the "answer" is correct or incorrect - it very simply means that the initial post has been responded to with an "answer". 

BTW - the software that is used in this forum is not Quicken software - it is third party software that is used by Quicken to allow its users to communicate about Quicken related topics.  And a bit of advice - one way to discourage others from posting potential solutions to your problems - is to mark every post as a "rejected answer"...

Frankx

cjryan01

First I set every response to no because it prompted me on every response to do so and I was trying to figure out why it would mark a question as answered when no response was accepted as the answer. Just setting a question to answered because someone posted a reply makes the flag useless.

Second it does not matter that the software was not written by Quicken. Software like this is highly configurable and it is up to Quicken to make sure it works or find a better provider.

retird

I monitored a few new Discussions and several had numerous replies and was not marked as answered.  

Frankx

Hi @retird

In this community, when someone initiates a post, they have an option to select one of three options - as shown here:



If they select either of the first two (2) - there will never be an answer to be accepted.  However, if they select the third "Ask a Question", then all posts that follow will be automatically labeled as "Answers" by the software.  Once they are reviewed by the Original Poster, that person will be able to indicate whether they answered their question.  That results in the post being marked them as "accepted", "rejected" or "blank" / "no change" (see below).
  

It is possible (actually likely) that the original "poster" for those threads - that you noted were not marked "Answered" but had comments by persons other than the original poster - either believed that none of them answered their question, or that the original poster was unaware of their ability to accept or reject the posted answers.  There are many people who come here once in a blue moon.  Most folks just want help and many don't even realize that they can react to posts.

Hope this helps with your understanding.

Frankx

Frankx

Hi @cjryan01,

You obviously don't believe the software used in this Community is up to your standards, and there's nothing that either I or you can do about that, other than to complain.  However, other users have no control over the software used here - only Quicken Inc. does, so I suggest that you complain to Q Inc. directly.

Have a great day!
Frankx  

cjryan01

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