transactions failed to download, can't add them manually (Q Mac)

rwiegand

No transactions from my BofA checking account downloaded for March, April, and May of this year, subsequent months are fine. My savings acct transactions (same ID) downloaded fine through the same period.

Is there any way to force (or cajole) them to download using the normal update procedure? -- some sort of "go back and make sure you got everything" procedure?

I created a dxf file with the missing transactions to load them into Quicken manually. When I try to import them I get a dialog that says "1 account found" and gives me a choice to add or link the information. If I choose "add" it makes a new checking account for me with just those transactions. "link" gives me some random irrelevant accounts (3 out of the 20 or so I have) that I might link to, the list does not include my checking account.

Is dxf the wrong export format to be using (I did it because the dialog told me that using would avoid potential duplicated transactions)?

How do I get it to import the transactions into my checking account on Quicken?

Alternately, is there a way to move the transactions from the new account it insists on creating into the correct one?

Thanks a bunch for any help on this!

jacobs

I'm guessing you're referring to a QFX file? I don't know what a DXF feel is.

It's no problem that the transactions came in as a separate account. Click on that account in the left sidebar, click on any transaction, press Command-A to select all transactions in the account, and click-and-drag any of the transactions to your existing account in the sidebar. All the transactions will be moved to your existing account. You can now delete the temporary account, which should be empty, by Control-clicking on the account in the sidebar and selecting Delete from the pop-up menu. 

rwiegand

Thank you for this, I wish I had known it was so simple. I think I may have hosed myself now though.

Yes, a QFX file, sorry for the typo.

So, I deleted the extra checking account after the first time I created it. Now, when I try to re-load it it says it has 142 transactions initially, but then creates a new account with no transactions in it. I'm afraid it thinks they have already been downloaded and deleted.

The QFX appears not to be an actual list of transactions but rather some kind of instruction about updating the database from the bank data. The Quicken database appears to think these transactions are downloaded even though they're not. Also tried downloading them as a QIF file, but it refuses to upload from that format file.

Any way to revert so I can try again?

jacobs

Quicken doesn't;t allow imports from QIF files, so discard that option. 

The QFX file is a list of transactions. The problem you're encountering is this: every transaction downloaded from a. financial institution is assigned a unique ID code — the Financial Institution Transaction Identification, or FITID. Quicken stores all those FITID numbers in its database, so that when transactions come in, it can distinguish the ones it has imported before and those which are new; new ones are added to your register, while duplicates are discarded. In your case, Quicken sees all those transactions as duplicates because they were previously imported, so it discards them. There is no way to manually edit the list of FITID numbers to tell Quicken you want these particular duplicate transactions. 

There are only three ways around this that I'm aware of: (1) enter the transactions manually; (2) revert to a backup prior to when you imported and then deleted these transactions, import the QFX file and re-do any other work you've done in the meantime; (3) create a new blank data file, import the transactions into that file, then export and import that data into your regular data file. 

Here are the steps for #3, re-posted from a reply by @RickO in another thread:

1. Create a new Quicken file (menu File > New) and choose start from scratch
2. Name it something unique (e.g., Transfer File)
3. (optional) move the file to your Desktop to easily find for deletion later (menu File > Move To)
4. Create a new account for the troublesome bank. Name it something different than your existing file's account. 
5. Import the QFX file into this new account in the new file.
6. When you have all the transaction there, export to QXF (menu File > Export > Quicken Transfer File (QXF)
7. Open your regular file (menu File > Open Recent)
8. Import the QXF (menu File > Import > Quicken Windows File (QXF)
9. Now, with the new account in the regular file, select all the transactions.
10. Drag and drop all transactions to the existing account.
11. Delete the now-empty new account.
12. Delete the new file you created.

(Note that QXF in steps 6 and 8 is a Quicken Transfer File, which is different than QFX.)

rwiegand

Thanks so much, your explanation makes perfect sense. Now to attempt to implement. It's only 142 transactions but I sure don't want to hand enter them.

Any clue why they didn't download in the first place? I've been using the Win version and now Mac with this BofA account for nearly 20 years and never seen a failure to update all the transactions before.

rwiegand

Recovered successfully thanks to your help. Restored a backup from a couple days ago and did as you suggested. A million thanks!!

jacobs

Glad to hear you got it fixed!

rwiegand said:

Any clue why they didn't download in the first place?

Did they not download back mid-2021? Most banks only download the past 90 days of transactions. Were you not using Quicken for a while last year? Or did you notice this back then but just bring it up now?

rwiegand

There was probably a pretty big gap between downloads. I guess I'd better put regular updates on my calendar. Since I don't really use checks for anything any more having my records in shape only really becomes an issue at tax time.