Help! "You are about to sync a file which has older data than the cloud." -- why does it say this?

Question

When I attempt to open Quicken and connect to my bank, I get this message:
 "You are about to sync a file which has older data than the cloud.  Quicken will replace your cloud data with information from the current desktop data file.  Continue?"

I have not continued, I am stuck and confused.  If the newer data is on the cloud, how can I access it?  And why am I getting this message when I am trying to connect to my bank?

I have Quicken with an R37.67 update.  I don't sync to the cloud, I back up to an external hard drive.  My last backup was 1/24/22.

Thank you.

Ann Convery · Answer

Terrific answer, thank you very much.

Chris_QPW · Answer

Whether you are using Sync to Mobile/Web or not, there is always a "Quicken Cloud dataset" associated with every Quicken Id.  Depending on what features you are using different data is stored in it.  For instance, Express Web Connect transactions are stored in it.  Also Quicken Bill Manager data is in it.

I'm not sure how your data file and Quicken cloud dataset got "out of sync", but that is what it is complaining about.  Most likely it removing and rebuilding the Quicken Cloud dataset file will be OK.  If you aren't using Sync to Mobile/Web or Quicken Bill Manager those might be affected.