Cannot reconcile after downloading from bank

Carolyn Case

I did an update a few weeks ago, and now with both my Chase checking, as well as a credit card I'm anywhere from $1650-$5000 off. I tried matching transactions with my statements, and find transactions-a LOT of them-are missing out of the register, but when I do a 'FIND TRANSACTIONS' they show up in the FIND box, but they are not in the register. What in the world is happening? How do I resolve this?

Tom Young

The first thing I'd try is a copy and validate process:

https://www.quicken.com/support/advanced-data-file-troubleshooting-correct-problems-quicken-windows

Always make a backup before performing complex procedures. This ensures that you have a "fallback" file you can use to get back to where you were when you started.

1. Go to File > Copy or Backup File and select Create a copy or template (do not choose Year End Copy for this procedure).
   
   • Please note, a file copy is disconnected from online services, such as transaction download. Online services would need to be reconnected if you wish to use them in the file copy.
2. Leave all the settings, including file name and checkboxes, at their default (change nothing on this screen). Simply click Save Copy. 
3. After the Copy is complete, choose to Open New Copy.
4. In the New Copy, go to File > Validate and Repair File and select the Validate file option. This is to ensure there are no lingering issues with the data in this file.
   
   • If your issue was with Investment account(s) slowness or other data issues with an investment account, be sure to also select Rebuild Lots during this procedure.
5. After the Validation process is finished, you will see the Data_Log appear in a Notepad window. This file is a summary of the Validation results.
6. Review the Data_Log.txt for messages pertaining to the quality of your data and resolve any that are advised with instructions you should follow. This may require that you delete, edit, or reenter transactions manually.
   

Having transactions both "there" and "not there" could be a data corruption issue.

Carolyn Case

thank you, I'll try this

Carolyn Case

I tried this twice, even changing the location of the file, but I keep getting a message that says 'File NOT copied". No idea why it won't copy. what do I try next?

Carolyn Case

another interesting fact, when I tried to find one of transactions, it shows up, but not where it should be. It comes up with transactions of all different years, and then I cannot get back to my real register without shutting down the program. What is going on with Quicken? I've never had these issues before and my register is still nearly $5K off when I try to reconcile.

Tom Young

@Carolyn Case

When Quicken reports that it won't copy a file that typically means that the file is corrupted beyond repair.

You can still copy the file

https://www.quicken.com/support/message-file-not-copied

but you'll need to try and find and replace damaged information that hasn't been included in the copied file.

Alternatively, you could try opening a backup and see if the copy and validate process works on that file, and then recreate activity from the time of the backup to "today", or start with a brand new file that, maybe, begins with 1/1/2022 balances and then fill in the blanks up to "today."

Carolyn Case

I have no idea how to find the damaged information-how do I do that?

Carolyn Case

Also, why, when I try to go back to a transaction it will show up but it's with transactions from multiple years, yet does not show in my regular register?

Tom Young

"I have no idea how to find the damaged information-how do I do that? "

You'd have to be able to open the original file and compare it to the newly copied file and try to figure out what's changed because it's not in the new file.  You could compare individual registers and transaction lists, run various Spending reports and Net Worth reports, print out Transactions lists, etc.  You might get lucky and figure it out easily and quickly, or not. 

The "new file" approach might be a lot easier, at the expense of not easily being able to look at or report on transaction earlier that your new starting date though, hopefully, these would remain accessible in the old file.

"Also, why, when I try to go back to a transaction it will show up but it's with transactions from multiple years, yet does not show in my regular register?"

I can't really answer that one.  It comes back to the "it's there in a report (the FIND) but not in the register" issue which seems to point to some data corruption, an index that's become unhitched, or something.

You might want to try the copy process at https://www.quicken.com/support/message-file-not-copied, using a completely separate name than your active file and see if the extent of the problem is limited to one Account.  If that's the case the rebuilding the new file might not be all that hard.

Carolyn Case

ok, I got the copy done and compared it to the original file. It appears to be just one account-a credit card-and it is missing nearly half the transactions. I'm not at all sure how to fix this. Even if I do, how do I prevent it from occurring again. I've used Quicken for probably 30 years, and I've never had this happen before. What do I do now?

Tom Young

The hard part here might be determining what transactions are missing.  If the credit card Account doesn't have too many transactions and the old file doesn't have half the transactions missing you might be able to identify them by eye.  You could "earmark" the missing transactions by changing the Clr status from "R" or "c" to [blank].  You could also run Banking > Transaction reports in both files export them to one sheet of an Excel file and identify all instances where transactions don't line up, earmarking them in the old file in the same fashion.  One way or the other you need to get a list of transactions that need to be imported into your new file.

Having identified the transactions to move you could sort by the Clr column and delete all the transactions you don't need to move to the new file.  (Use the Windows convention of clicking the first transaction, move to the last transaction and do {Shift}-click, then left-click and select Delete.

Do File > File Export >QIF File... select the Account and the time period and save the file.  Importing is the reverse.

A much easier way might be to simply find the missing transactions for this year, export/import those transactions, make an adjusting entry in the Account to get the Current Balance in agreement with the credit card company, and use that.

It's just about impossible to know how these things happen; a power spike during shutdown?, a stray cosmic ray?, bad sector on the hard drive?, something else?  All you can do is be careful.  You don't keep your "working" file on a network drive or in the "cloud."  Set Quicken to backup with each shutdown, and every 2 - 3 days you make a "manual" backup to someplace other than your hard drive where the Quicken working file lives.  I probably would add that using Quicken fairly frequently and being on the lookout for problems is probably also a good practice.

Carolyn Case

I don't understand what you mean by 'earmarking' transactions, and how do I change the Clr status on a transaction? I didn't know that was possible.

Carolyn Case

As I re-read your response, I am more confused than ever. I don't know where or how to import/export transactions. Am I supposed to be setting up a completely new Quicken account or doing all the importing/exporting into the old account? If I didn't need all this information badly, I would simply toss the whole thing and start over, but that's not an option.

Tom Young

"I don't understand what you mean by 'earmarking' transactions, and how do I change the Clr status on a transaction? I didn't know that was possible. "

Earmarking is an old term that referred to a mark of identification on the ear of an animal.  It's morphed a bit since then but I was using it in the sense of identifying a transaction that's missing in the new file and doing something to that transaction so you can easily identify it later.  Assuming that the transactions in your old file are at this point all marked with a "c" or "R" in the Clr column, I proposed identifying those missing transactions by changing the "c" or "R" associated with that transaction to a blank.  You can sort on the Clr column so all the transactions that have a blank in that column would come together in a group for easier manipulation.

At this point it sounds like you have a basically "good" file (the copy of your original file, and we'll call this file "File 2") with the exception of the credit card Account.  At this point you have 3 choices of what to do with File 2:

1. Try to"rebuild" the history of the credit card Account by somehow finding and re-entering all the missing transactions.  (Maybe a big job, maybe an impossible job.)
2. Rebuild the history of the credit card Account by only finding missing transactions from 1/1/2022 to "today", entering those, and then entering an "Opening balance" (12/31/2021) "plug" number that gets your Current Balance correctly stated.  (Less work than 1.)
   
3. Enter an plug number in the credit card Account, and start with that.

My assumption (maybe incorrect) was that the old file might have a lot of the transactions missing from the credit card Account in File 2.  IF IT DOES, then there is a method of moving those transactions from the old file's credit card Account (the "export" process) into File 2's credit card Account (the "Import" process).

Carolyn Case

well, I really think I screwed it up but it fortunately it seems to have worked out. I accidently reloaded a file, thinking it was from early January of 2022, but it was 2021. It overwrote the Cloud file as well. However, I also had backed up on a USB drive one from Jan 2022, and I only had to enter about 6 weeks of transactions, after I downloaded from my bank. The end point is that now everything is balanced and I'm a happy camper! Thanks