Is there a way to cancel or undo a change to a transaction?

probablyjd

I just started using Quicken a couple days ago after many years of using YNAB. There are many things I like so far (highly customizable) and some things I don't (clunky interface).

But the thing that has been driving me CRAZY is that I can't figure out a way to cancel an accidental change in the transaction window. The interface is designed such that something is ALWAYS highlighted for editing - you can't simply unselect when you're not editing, and hitting enter or clicking out of one field just highlights something else.

Several times now I have accidentally changed something I did not mean to change - maybe a date, maybe a transaction category, maybe a payee - typically completely erasing whatever was in that field before. No big deal, I thought, except that I can't figure out any way to undo, cancel, or otherwise prevent that from becoming a permanent change! If I happen to change something I didn't see first and can't figure out what it was from context, that information is lost forever, which just seems wrong.

I searched the forum and can't find anyone else with this issue, which makes me think I am missing something obvious. Is there an undo button? A shortcut to exit the current field without saving the change? Or is this just something that everyone puts up with?

Chris_QPW

If you have not selected Enter or the save button you can select the Escape key (Esc key) to cancel a change.

If you have saved it, then it the one "undo" there is, is for undoing a delete, and that will be only for one transaction (Right click undo delete).

EDIT, this the reason that making a backup before doing anything major is suggested, and also, it's a good ide to have one for every session.  You can use the automatic backups for that.

TTSguy

Did not know about using Esc key to undo. Thanks Chris

probablyjd

Thanks Chris for the response - pressing the Esc key was the first thing I tried. In my version of Quicken (Starter Edition on Windows 10) the Esc key has the exact same effect as the Enter key - the change is recorded and the cursor moves back to the date (with the month selected, of course, ready to be overwritten by the next keystroke).

The "Undo Delete" does not help here because I am unlikely to delete an entire transaction - just accidentally overwrite a field.

> EDIT, this the reason that making a backup before doing anything major is suggested, and also, it's a good ide to have one for every session.

Sound advice, but this doesn't occur only when I'm trying to do something major, it occurs anytime I am in the transaction pane (which is where I spend most of my time in the app, categorizing transactions). Going back to the last backup is probably more effort than it's worth.

It isn't a huge problem, just an annoyance. Sounds like this is just the way the software works and I should just get used to being very careful while the software is open.

Chris_QPW

The Starter Edition is the same program with different features enabled, there shouldn't be any difference on how the Escape key works, so I don't know what is going on in your case.