Quicken for Windows needs an Undo feature

suepfister

For an app that has been on the Windows platform for as long as Quicken, it is incredible that there is no Undo feature. Intuit, please add this long overdue feature to the application.

hmday

Is there an Undo" button I cant find, if not, has there been any thought or consideration of adding an "Undo" button or feature? 

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splasher

In the non-investment accounts, there is an "undo delete" on the right-click list, but I'm not to sure how long it is available.

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hmday

thanks. I think a general undo last action button across the all accounts would be useful.

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Rocket J Squirrel

You can't add general Undo to an application after the fact. It has to be built in from the beginning. Every user action that changes data must push information about the change onto a global undo stack so that the action can be popped from the stack later to effect the undo. In other words, every single function that changes data must be modified to add undo functionality. That is way too big a job for a retrofit and essentially is equivalent to rewriting the application.
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hmday

Makes sense, thanks for responding. 

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Quicken Anja

Hello @suepfister,

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to the Community with your request.

I went ahead and changed your post to an Idea so other users who have the same or a similar request can vote on your idea by clicking the up arrow (see below).

Ideas are also reviewed by our Development and Product teams in order to improve Quicken and implement new features requested by customers.

Please, be sure to add your own vote as well.

Chris_QPW

Intuit hasn't owned Quicken in many years.  The new company is called Quicken Inc.

And this request is far from "new", but also has never been implemented because Quicken is stuck with a very old database that doesn't allow for such a feature.

Amo1

If you mean a feature to undo a recent update (like today's update to R39.17), I would fully support that. I spent hours on the phone today because of an issue caused by the most recent update today, and if I could have just rolled back to the previous version, I would have been able to save those hours.

Chris_QPW

Amo1 said:

If you mean a feature to undo a recent update (like today's update to R39.17), I would fully support that. I spent hours on the phone today because of an issue caused by the most recent update today, and if I could have just rolled back to the previous version, I would have been able to save those hours.

Rolling back to a different version of Quicken is completely different thing than undo for data that has been entered, which is what this idea is for.

Detz

Look, at least add it to the internal delete function of Quicken. It drives me nuts!!! If a transfer is messed up and you try to fix it, it automatically deletes the transaction in the other account even though the transaction is a downloaded transaction in the other account. Leave it! It's easy for me to delete and almost impossible for me to get it back in unless I type it in manually.

It worked better when you could unlink the transfer and relink it yourself. DON'T AUTOMATICALLY DELETE DOWNLOADED TRANSACTIONS! ASK ME PLEASE OR TELL ME YOU"RE GOING TO DELETE THE OTHER ONE AND I WON"T DO IT!!!!!. You can't download it again because the Downloaded ID matches a previous one. You're screwed unless you type it in manual or go to a backup. Then why use Quicken if you're typing things in manually. If I try to download it again, let me please do that so it auto adds to the registry again. It's obviously not in the registry currently, because it was deleted by Quicken. Delete the Download ID too then or give me an option so I can at least load it back in. I'm curious if there is anyone out there who actually uses the "one step update" without having any issues.

The biggest complaint I have about Quicken is that they try to do things automatically. Give us (THE CUSTOMER) back some manual controls so we can easily fix things when they go wrong. I honestly spend more time trying to fix things that went wrong rather than analyzing and using it like it should be. And when they do go wrong you're screwed without a backup.

I dread tax season, only because I end up spending more time on Quicken issues than working on taxes.

i.e. If you do a Find in a registry, the Find window pops up briefly and then minimizes; at least for me. You think it disappeared, but it's actually minimized at the bottom and you need to open it again... please just get the basics right. The Find needs to pop-up on top and have focus when I execute it.

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UKR

@Detz , regarding transfers ... please review the following:

Transaction download problems with matching and addingnew transactions correctly

First please ensurethat all optional settings in Quicken pertaining to recall, memorization,automatic categorization and renaming of payee names are enabled. You findthose settings in Edit / Preferences / Data Entry & Quickfill andDownloaded Transactions. Additional settings can be found for the detectionand processing of transfer transactions in Edit / Preferences / Transferdetection.

 

Are you automatically accepting downloadedtransactions into your registers?

If you are relyingon Quicken to "automagically" fill your account registers fromdownloaded transactions, you may run into problems. Despite all efforts by theQuicken programmers, the "Autopilot" (that's my name for the part ofthe Quicken program which processes downloaded transactions and converts theminto new register transactions) is not infallible. For that process to work100% of the time one would need a crystal ball because the informationdownloaded from the banks often is just too terse and cryptic.

You should, at leastfor a while, turn off the "automatically accept downloaded transactionsinto registers" setting to gain better control over what is downloaded andwhat to do with it. Click on and review each downloaded transaction, make changesif necessary (e.g., to get a payee name = "Starbucks" instead of"POS TRANS 070119 STARBU", "POS TRANS 070219 STARBU","POS TRANS 070319 STARBU" or to assign a category) before you clickto accept each transaction.

Any changes you maketo downloaded Payee Names are remembered in Renaming Rules.

Any other changesyou make (add/change Category or Memo text) are remembered in the MemorizedPayee List.

Next time the sametransaction for this Payee comes along, Quicken should remember and give you abetter new register transaction.

 

In case you have issues with transfer transactions notbeing generated correctly:

For best resultsmanually enter transfer transactions into your register BEFORE you downloadtransactions from the bank which contain the transfer confirmations. Forrecurring transfers use scheduled reminders and enter them a day or two beforethe due date. Be sure to use distinct Payee Names for each transfer / creditcard payment to avoid confusing Quicken - memorized payee entries.
That takes the guesswork out of the Autopilot's process. Because a correctlyentered transfer transaction already exists in your account registers, theAutopilot should just match the downloaded transfer transaction to the existingone in both accounts.

 

Where are the "Auto-accept downloadedtransaction" settings?

There are two placeswhere this is controlled in Quicken for Windows:
 - Globally, for all accounts, in Edit /Preferences / Downloaded Transactions
 - For each account individually, theglobal setting can be overridden from the Edit Account Details screen, OnlineServices Tab. Look for blue text "Automatic Entry is: ON / OFF".Click the text to change the setting.

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mbmccaw

Agreed about needing an "undo last entry" option. If Quicken can't undo, how about creating a "find last entry" option? My fanger accidentally hit the enter key when I was in a report and it took me back to my register with a caching sound indicating an entry was made. But now I cannot find what was entered to delete or edit it.

oldtimer3

How about adding an "Undo" function. Just about every other program I use (including the browser I'm using now) has some type of "Undo" function. If you hit the Enter key while adding a transaction the cursor automatically goes to the date field. If you start typing you enter a bogus date and it's difficult to find where the transaction went. A simple "Undo" function would let you start all over again without having to search for your mistake and correcting it.

Quicken Anja

Hello @oldtimer3,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your request.

Your idea has been merged into this already active Idea thread regarding the same request.

Thank you!

UKR

If you are in the process of entering multiple transactions in a row over a wide range of dates, it might be best if you temporarily changed the register sort order to By Order Entered. (Actions gear icon / Sorting Options / by order entered)

This ensures that recently entered transactions stay on the current register page, right next to the new transaction entry line. So it's easy to review your recently added transactions, regardless of their transaction date.

When done recording transactions, please do not forget to change the register back to show transactions sorted by Date. Just click the Date column header once.

Linda O'Donnell

Please add an "undo" function to Quicken for Windows. Several times already, especially when I was using the keyboard to scroll down, I accidentally changed some entries (including some that had already been reconciled), and I had to search for the correct information and manually change them back.

Quicken Anja

Hello @Linda O'Donnell,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your request.

Your idea has been merged into this already active Idea thread regarding the same request.

Thank you!

UKR

Please check Edit / Preferences / Notify.
All entries should be checked except the 4th line (Run a reconcile report) which IMHO is optional.
This might prevent a few of the unintended consequences.

DebbieJK

> @mbmccaw said:
> Agreed about needing an "undo last entry" option. If Quicken can't undo, how about creating a "find last entry" option? My fanger accidentally hit the enter key when I was in a report and it took me back to my register with a caching sound indicating an entry was made. But now I cannot find what was entered to delete or edit it.

I totally agree with you!!! Every time I do something too fast I automatically do CTRL+Z, and then go 'grrr.'

Phil Burton

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20250486#Comment_20250486

Sorry to say so, but this is a b/s answer. Quicken uses sqllite3, which is a free database that is widely used by desktop programs. Adobe's Lightroom Classic also uses sqllite3, and it definitely has an undo feature, and a history of changes (for image development.)

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20373705#Comment_20373705

Quicken Mac uses sqlite3, because it was rewritten starting in 2007 from scratch, Quicken Windows doesn’t. It is still using the database that it started using back when it switched Windows from DOS.

Rocket J Squirrel

Undo simply can't be bolted on to an application after the fact. Every operation that affects the data has to push its effect onto an undo stack. This means that a large number of QWin functions would need augmentation to handle this. Forget it, it is just not doable short of a full rewrite.

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20373726#Comment_20373726

I agree, the database not supporting rollbacks is just the tip of the iceberg.

Phil Burton

@Chris_QPW So what does the rest of the iceberg look like.

Perhaps it is time that Intuit rewrite some portions of the code, certainly the entire UI and also the backend database, it seems. In future versions of Windows, Microsoft seems to want to build in cloud operation. Can the current database even support operation over a network, e.g. to a NAS?

DebbieJK

I so agree with you Phil Burton.

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20381243#Comment_20381243

First off Intuit doesn't own Quicken any more, they sold it years ago. The new company (much smaller) is called Quicken Inc.

Second people always way underestimate what this would take. Intuit started that exact project on the Mac side in 2007, it took until 2010 to come out with Quicken Mac Essentials, which was so defeatured that almost no one bought it, forcing them go for years with practically no Mac revenue. To this day, that project isn't completely done. In some ways Quicken Mac Subscription is better than Quicken Mac 2007, but in other ways it still lacks features that Quicken Mac 2007 had, and it is missing lots of features that Quicken Windows Subscription has.

As for Quicken Windows future? My opinion is that they will continue to nurse the current code as long as they can, and any other "future" is in their online product Simplify.

And to answer your last question about a NAS, it is "sort of", but not recommended/supported. For pretty much the same reasons. Quicken was built with the assumption that "disks have very low error rates". As in it as no built-in recovery system. If you can ensure that your NAS connection is rock solid, it might work for you, but any glitch and your Quicken data file might be corrupted.

EDIT: Actually, it wasn't the exact same project on the Mac, it was a total rewrite. But I can tell you that if change out the database and the UI, there really won't be much more that other code that will be able to be reused.

DebbieJK

I just looked on to see what Simplify is - are you referring to the 3D printing software?

Any ideas for different accounting programs for small business would be good? I've lost a lot of trust in quicken over the past year or so.

Thank you

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20381283#Comment_20381283

Simplifi is a separate Quicken platform. Unlike the Quicken software we download and install on our computers, it is a web-based program. It is not as fully featured as Quicken and it is not compatible with Quicken (so there is no capability to transfer data between the two). It was designed to fill a market niche that the Quicken software cannot meet because Quicken requires installation of software on a computer and Simplifi does not. You can read up more on it at:

• https://www.quicken.com/personal-finance/quicken-simplifi
• https://www.quicken.com/product-selector/reverse-nst

As far as discussing other financial planning/reporting products goes: This is a Quicken website and it would not be appropriate to do that here (nor will Quicken permit it). If you wish to consider other competitive products I suggest you conduct an Internet search.

Chris_QPW

Sorry, I always spell Simplifi a bit wrong if I don't look it up.

Phil Burton

@Chris_QPW

My bad that I forgot that Intuit no longer owns Quicken. But my question remains the same.

I infer from one of your recent postings that Quicken is in "harvest mode," in terms of its lifecycle. Nurse it along, don't invest too much. But expect that over time (due to demographic shifts?) that the customer base will decline.

That's a business strategy that Computer Associates has followed for years. "Where good software goes to die." I just hope that Computer Associates never acquires Quicken, Inc. 😕