Memo Field Values Being Changed to N/A

Brian Coleman

Having a problem with the system changing the values I entered in the Memo field to N/A after performing a backup. I suspected this was a symptom of a corrupted file, so I performed a Validate followed by a Supervalidate, but no luck. This has now started happening to more than just the Memo field values. After creating a new account, the system changed the account name to N/A. Any help would be appreciated.

Quicken Jared

Brian Coleman said:

Having a problem with the system changing the values I entered in the Memo field to N/A after performing a backup. I suspected this was a symptom of a corrupted file, so I performed a Validate followed by a Supervalidate, but no luck. This has now started happening to more than just the Memo field values. After creating a new account, the system changed the account name to N/A. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello @Brian Coleman,   

I am sorry to hear about this problem with changing transaction data. Thank you for letting us know about this here on the Quicken Community. 

First, where is your current active data file located? You can check this anytime by navigating to File > Show this file on my computer... in the upper menu at the top of the screen. Make sure that the data file is located on your computer and not on an external drive or cloud-based storage service. These latter locations can result in erratic behavior and even data damage. Also, is this occurring with a particular account or set of accounts, associated with a particular financial institution? If so, which ones?

I look forward to your response, and I hope to provide further assistance, if necessary. 

Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

Brian Coleman

Hi Jared. My file was on a cloud-based drive for a couple of weeks, so it's possible it is damaged. Thus far the problem is only with a particular set of accounts and any new accounts I create. Are there any further steps I can take to try and salvage my file?

Quicken Jared

Brian Coleman said:

Hi Jared. My file was on a cloud-based drive for a couple of weeks, so it's possible it is damaged. Thus far the problem is only with a particular set of accounts and any new accounts I create. Are there any further steps I can take to try and salvage my file?

Hello @Brian Coleman,  

I am sorry about these issues with data files; thanks so much for getting back to me with additional background about the situation.

If there are concerns about data, one other option left to us is to try copying your data file. Please note that doing so will disconnect all online services in the copied data file, and that it will be necessary to reactivate all online account connections, online Bill Manager services, and all online notifications in the new copy of the data file. Also, a new data set will be created in the new data file, should you intend to use that as your primary data file, going forward. 

With that in mind, if you wish to continue, follow these steps, in order:

1. Navigate to File
2. Select Copy or Backup File...
3. Select Create a copy or template
4. Click Next 
5. Select a file location on your computer
6. Click Save Copy
7. Select New Copy
8. Click OK

Let us know how this works.

Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

Brian Coleman

Was unable to create a copy. Encountered errors, so I selected the option to copy anyway, but got the error: "File Not Copied."

Quicken Jared

Brian Coleman said:

Was unable to create a copy. Encountered errors, so I selected the option to copy anyway, but got the error: "File Not Copied."

Hello @Brian Coleman,   

I am sorry to hear about this difficulty with copying the data file. Thank you for letting me know about what happened, and for providing that helpful screenshot. 

First, save a backup once more, then take a look at the Support Article linked here. Do the steps in that article seem to resolve this issue?

I hope to hear back from you about this, if you have the chance to check back in with us.

Thank you,

Quicken Jared

UKR

If you get stuck on this "copy error" dialog again, just select OK to complete the copy process, skipping over damaged data records. After Copy completes you will have to thoroughly review the resulting data file to find any missing transactions that couldn't be copied or any other missing or incorrect data fields.

It might be better if you restored your Quicken data file from a backup taken BEFORE this problem appeared for the first time. You will have to update the file to recreate any missing transactions entered since date of backup.

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-backup-or-restore-your-quicken-data

Brian Coleman

The "File Not Copied" error happened after I selected to copy anyway with errors. It still was unable to copy the file and gave the "File Not Copied" message. Fortunately I have a backup from before the file got corrupted, so I'll just restore it and re-enter all the activity since. Thanks for your help.

Jeff@Vertical

Hey I am having the same problem as Brian but my files are on my C: Drive and are backed up regularly. I have multiple checking accounts in my quicken and this is occurring with all of them. Any advice as to how to retrieve the "Memo" entries and prevent this going forward?

Quicken Jared

Jeff@Vertical said:

Hey I am having the same problem as Brian but my files are on my C: Drive and are backed up regularly. I have multiple checking accounts in my quicken and this is occurring with all of them. Any advice as to how to retrieve the "Memo" entries and prevent this going forward?

Hello @Jeff@Vertical,   

I am sorry that you seem to be affected by these problems with missing transaction data, as well. Thank you for asking about this here in this Quicken Community Discussion.

Have you already tried restoring from a backup saved prior to when this problem emerged? You can do this anytime by navigating to File > Restore a Backup File... in the upper menu at the top of the screen. Also, how old is your data file, and how often do you use Quicken?

I look forward to your response. 

Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

mariapezz

Having the same problem as Jeff and Brian. My files are also on my C drive, I input my transactions manually and n/a is happening more and more regularly. I have been noticing this since July. I spoke to someone at Quicken support in September who ran me through validating and repairing my September file; then recommended that I validate and repair an old back-up from July. At the end of that call, the woman told me I would then need to input all of my new transactions from the last 3 months! I chose using the validated and repaired September back-up, hoping that I would find a better fix in these community posts. I called Quicken again today and the person I spoke to told me to just create a whole new quicken file and to just use my old file as history. I feel there must be a better way!

mshiggins

Unfortunately, if N/A starts appearing in transactions or account names, it indicates unrecoverable data corruption.  The only solutions are to restore a backup from before the N/A started appearing and download/enter the intervening transactions or to start a new file.