Red Flag Won't Go Away

Jeff Kravin

Windows, version R38.30, build 27.1.38.30. While downloading transactions and accepting them, Quicken crashed and now the red flag to the left of one of the account names in the account list doesn't go away even though all transactions have been accepted. I stopped and started quicken to no avail. I tried Validate and Repair File and it showed no errors and the flag is still there. I even generated a new transfer between accounts at that bank to generate a new download and accepted the new transactions on both accounts but the red flag remained.

miklk

Since it happened after a crash, it may be easier to just restore a Backup from before crash but follow steps here:

Quicken Says There Are Transactions to Accept But I Do Not See Any

Also, if it is an investment account, check the register cash balance compared to the downloaded balance by clicking the highlighted Cash Balance Amount on bottom right of register.

If all fails, go back to a backup before crash as crashes do damage files occasionally.

Jeff Kravin

I spent three hours with Quicken support, They tried everything in their toolkit, but nothing worked. They tried stuff I thought of myself (validate and repair) and some stuff I didn't know about (did you know about 'super-validate and repair'?) and/or didn't think could possibly solve the problem. Their main idea beyond validate and repair was to import all the data in the file into a completely new file. This cleared the flag but caused so many problems with cross account transfers, and reconciling accounts and duplicate transactions that it would have taken me months to fix every little thing and there was a strange feeling that nothing would ever balance again. They gave up and said since it is not a software problem but a 'data' problem, they are not responsible to fix it. Very disappointing. Since when is data corruption caused by a crash not a software problem???

Ultimately however, there is a resolution, which I thought of myself after getting off the phone. I did my last full backup two weeks before the problem occurred. I was able to restore that file, and bring it up to date. Even though I have many accounts, I was able to correctly bring everything to the present in a couple of hours. All's well that ends well.

Quicken Paloma

Hello @Jeff Kravin, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Quicken Community. We apologize for the frustration caused by this issue. However, we are glad that you were able to resolve this issue. If you have any questions or concerns please let us know!

-Quicken Paloma

UKR

I recommend you review your backup settings in Quicken to ensure that you create a backup every single time you close Quicken. That minimizes the number of lost changes since the last backup, should you have to restore your data file again.

How to properly set up Quicken Backup
How to make Quicken create a backup for you automatically every time you close Quicken
What Quicken backups are available where?

For the sake of this discussion it is assumed that your Quicken data file is located in the Default (and recommended) place: C:\Users\username\Documents\Quicken

Review the backup settings available in Quicken (under Edit / Preferences / Backup).

In there you will find two types of backup: Automatic and Manual Backup.

Automatic Backup should be enabled and by default goes to a \Backup folder that's part of the folder which contains your current Quicken data file, e.g. \Documents\Quicken\Backup. Set it to create a backup after running Quicken [1] times and to keep [9] (or more, your choice) backup copies.
The file name for Automatic Backup files contains a date and time stamp as part of the file name, e.g. QDATA-2020-03-22.PM03.45.QDF-backup

To create a Manual Backup copy of your Quicken data file on an external device (USB-hard drive or USB memory stick recommended), put a checkmark at "Manual Backup Reminder" to enable the function and set "Remind me after running Quicken [xx] times" to [1].

Click OK to save the changes.

From now on, when you close Quicken using the red X button, you will get a popup window.

When you get this window for the first time, on some versions click the radio button for "Backup on my computer".
Change the Backup File name's drive letter and path to point to your external device so that it looks something like this: E:\Quicken Backup\QDATA-2019-04-01.QDF-backup
or use the Change button and work your way through the dialog.

Do not change the filename portion! Just overtype the drive letter and choose a backup folder name. If the folder does not exist, it will be created.

Also choose the option to "Add date to backup file name".

Every day when you run Backup or close Quicken, an additional backup file is created. Without the Add Date option you only have 1 backup copy which is overwritten every day ... and that may prove bad in a problem recovery situation.

Allow this backup to run to save the changes made on the screen.

Of course, once in a while you will have to go in and delete some of the oldest backup files, at your discretion, to avoid filling up your USB device.

One can never have enough backups of a Quicken data file. BTDTGTS to prove it!