phantom account (Acct_1556b)

msills255347

Using Quicken for Windows. The above account name does NOT show up in my account list, even when I show hidden accounts. I DID NOT ever create this account and I cannot delete it. It shows a current balance of zero and an ending balance that is FIFTEEN figures. It does not seem to interfere with calculations, planning or budgeting but I'd like to know what this account is and why I can't rid the program of it. Anyone please?

Quicken Anja

Hello @msills255347,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about your issue, though I apologize that you are experiencing this.

If you don't mind, could you please provide a screenshot of what you're seeing? If needed, please refer to this Community FAQ for instructions on how to attach a screenshot. Alternatively, you can also drag and drop screenshots to your response if you are not given the option to add attachments.

Thank you!

jhduckw

I have the same issue - mine is "ACCT_121e8". Shows up in the category list as "Bank" type when creating reports, but not in accounts or category lists windows. I'm posting this so I can be alerted if/when there is a solution posted.

msills255347

Spent a good amount of time with a very nice & helpful support person who understood the problem and helped walk me through several attempts. In the end, the ACCT_#### remained and it seems the only way to be rid of it would be to rebuild a new file, which I didn't want to do. You can stop reading here unless you're interested in the details of what was tried, which I'll detail below:

Did the usual validate; then super validate; then super validate with rebuilding security prices and lots. No changes
Then tried reducing the file size by making a copy with just the most recent year. This didn't rid the "phantom account", and also causes all of the bank connections to be lost. Went back to the original file.

Next, we tried exporting the file as a .QXF. This may be a little enlightening because 3 out of 3 attempts this process aborted the program suddenly immediately after exporting price history. Hence this was never completed. The idea would have been to export a QXF and then import the data into a new file.

Gave up

jhduckw

Hmmmm,... thank for the info. Rebuilding entire file is not in my future either.

MichaelTEck

> @msills255347 said:

> Gave up

Does this mean there is no solution or are you continuing to work with support?

UKR

In previous discussions about "temporary accounts*" (named something like ACCT_1234x), the solution typically was to run a regular File Validate followed by a File Super Validate. After that, the account should either be gone or be deletable.

If that doesn't work, you can try a File / Copy File / Create a copy or template, leaving all options checked in the next popup. This might drop the account from the copy file.
However, please read the fine print. If you decide to use the copy file as your new current data file, you will have to reconnect all your bank accounts to enable One Step Update again.

* One Step Update in prior versions of Quicken created temporary files to store downloaded transactions. These accounts were deleted at end of OSU. If something went wrong (aka crashed) during OSU, temporary accounts could have been left behind. These accounts could be deleted after (or were deleted by) Validate + Supervalidate.

msills255347

Thanks. Your explanation of temp files created during a OSU crash might be a good explanation. You can see from my comment above what has been tried. I also did try a copy file previously and abandoned the copy exactly for the reason that I didn't want to have to reconnect all of the banking and lending connections. Because the "account" just seems to exist, but doesn't seem to be messing with anything, I've decided best to just leave it be.

msills255347

to UKR : In fact, looking back at the copied file that I am not using that "phantom account" had not been weeded out. It apparently doesn't get that it's not welcomed, so I just keep the parasite as it seems innocuous.