One-step update keeps trying to download data for accounts that are closed in Quicken

Michael Kaiser

I have 4 accounts with a financial institution. After closing two of these accounts at the bank, I used Quicken's "close account." Now, every time I do one-step update, Quicken tries to download data for all 4 accounts, giving me an error message for the two closed accounts. When I view my accounts in Quicken, the two closed accounts show up as "closed" but transaction download shows as "Yes (Express Web Connect)." My data file passes validation. How is this possible? I thought that closing an account in Quicken disables download.

Chris_QPW

What do you see in the Account Details -> Online Service tab.  Does it say if it is activated for download or not?

Sherlock

When we select Close Account... and confirm, Quicken should deactivate the Online Services associated with the account register.  I can conceive of a number of ways this might not be reliable when using the Express Web Connect connection method.  Regardless, you should be able deactivate the Online Services associated with these registers by creating a new offline register, moving the transactions from the original register to the new register, and deleting the original register.

Michael Kaiser

Account Details -> Online Services tab says the account is closed.
But, Account List shows both "closed" and transaction download = "Yes (express web connect)"

Chris_QPW

Here is yet another reason I won't use the close account feature (the first being that you can't unclose an account in Quicken Windows, note you can in Quicken Mac).  The close function was definitely supposed to disable the online connection, but you aren't the first that have reported on this forum that for some reason that has failed to happen.  What's more based on the other conversation it leaves the account in mode where you can't disable it.

You will need to do what @Sherlock suggests and move the transactions to another account and then delete the problem account.  Here is how you can move the transactions:
FAQ: How Do I Move Transactions Between Quicken Accounts? — Quicken

Michael Kaiser

Thank you @Sherlock and @Chris_QPW

I will do as Sherlock suggested.
Are we becoming too acclimated to simply working around Quicken bugs? This is yet another example of core features not working as described.

Chris_QPW

Michael Kaiser said:

Are we becoming too acclimated to simply working around Quicken bugs? This is yet another example of core features not working as described.

I have always believed that what sets an expert Quicken user apart from a "new user" is knowing what not to use in Quicken.

[Deleted User]

@Michael kaiser  you can still use the Close Fund feature, if you deactivate online services and make sure to blank out all the Online Services information on the General tab before you close the account.  I learned this the hard way when I had the same thing happen to me as you did.

Sherlock

Chris_QPW said:

Michael Kaiser said:

Are we becoming too acclimated to simply working around Quicken bugs? This is yet another example of core features not working as described.

I have always believed that what sets an expert Quicken user apart from a "new user" is knowing what not to use in Quicken.

I thinks it is experience.  Experts learn how to avoid new issues and how to work around known issues.

We were using Quicken before the Close Account feature was offered and knew, when it was implemented, it added no useful functionality.

Chris_QPW

For Quicken in general, there is how they advertise it, and how it actually works (or doesn't work).
Quicken has a long history of trying to provide features for the users but coming up short.  And that ranges from nuisances to some cases, even corrupting data, and most of the time blaming the corruption on the users when most of the time it is Quicken or background processes that is doing the corrupting.

Quicken is an example of "be careful what you ask for" where user's want to shoot for the moon but have to deal with the fact, they might end up at the bottom of the sea because either the Quicken developers didn't really understand the request, or because they are perfectly fine with a feature working 95% of the time.

There is in fact nothing wrong with the concept of "close account", but because it is multiple steps across Quicken and also not properly implemented in my opinion it is more pain than a feature.

I certainly get it.  Quicken has "wizards" for a lot of things, and in general some of them work quite well.
For an experienced user it isn't much of a deal.  Remove reminders, zero account, remove online connections, set display options, ...  But to the non-experts I can certainly see where they would like all of that to be handled for them.  It certainly more "justified" than say voiding a check, which in Quicken Mac they complain about not having, when it is so simple to do, and not used very much.

The trouble is that as the number operations go up, so do the possibilities of bugs and problems.  I have no doubt that 95% of the time when you use close account that it will do all the operations including disconnecting the accounts from downloading correctly.  It is the "edge cases" that Quicken fails at.

That the "not properly implemented" part is a design decision that they made.  They decided that you can't unclose and account.  Let's face it, there isn't any real reason for that.  In fact, Quicken Mac allows it.  But more to the point Quicken is simply taking the same steps one can do manually.  There isn't anything in the system that requires that the account stay "unconnected" or "hidden".  This was their choice.

And it has direct implications for this situation.  If Quicken missed/error out on the step of deactivating the account during the closing of the account, it "assumes" that it is closed and as such has nothing on the Online Services tab to fix this situation manually.

Michael Kaiser

Thank you @Chris_QPW and @Sherlock.

I've been using Quicken for nearly 20 years. I've avoided features such as the mobile app and anything that puts my data anywhere but my hard drive. I usually stick with the same core feature set I've used for years, but every now and then I'll do something that appears quite innocent and step into a dog pile. Using a piece of financial software shouldn't be like playing minesweeper, treading lightly and carefully. The core feature set should be solid! Yet, I've been burned by something as simple as downloading from a financial institution (as I've done for years) and having my data corrupted.

Fortunately, I have daily backups. Something I highly recommend!

Throughout my career, I've developed software for mission-critical applications. The shoddiness of most consumer software is frightening. I'm aware of the pressure of development time and cost, as well as the perceived need to roll out an endless stream of features.

Perhaps, we, as users, should demand more!