Is anyone else having trouble with the budget reports?

Frustrated123

There seems to be a problem with the Current Budget report (and, probably, some of the other budget reports). For example, I ran the Current Budget report on successive days and it showed two different results for Income for the year. However, the supporting detail was exactly the same on both reports! So, on (at least) one of them, the supporting detail does not agree with the total income. Along the same lines, in the expense section, one major item is listed with about $7500 in expenses (which is correct); however, the supporting detail only shows one category, with a total of only $2500. One category is omitted from the detail, but included in the total.

Also, it seems to me that there are times when I run the exact same report multiple times and get different results. However, it's possible that in those cases I didn't run the exact same report.

Anyone else seeing this?

Quicken Jared

Frustrated123 said:

@Quicken Jared After I did the validates, I was no longer able to reassign sub-categories to transactions. Existing categories and sub-categories were reported properly, but there were problems adding new sub-categories and moving existing sub-categories to a different category --because, in "edit category," the "sub-category of" field was blank - even for existing sub-categories. And, when I tried to choose a category from the dropdown "sub-category of" list, not many categories appeared. If I remember correctly, maybe only income categories appeared but I was looking for expense categories. Certainly the expense categories that I was looking for didn't appear. (I'm not sure this explanation is any clearer than the prior one. However, if you go to the category list and pick any item that is a sub-category of another category and try to edit it ("Category LIst - edit category") while re-reading the above I think it will be clear.)

The above problem was a show-stopper for me -- more important even than inconsistent totals. So, I finally had to revert to the backup from before the validates. I can now again assign and re-assign sub-categories.

The problems turn out to be related. The issue appears to have been that in the initial reports the totals and sub-totals were correct, but the detail lines were incorrect because they were missing one of the new sub-categories. My most recent report shows the new sub-category and has the correct totals. So, I'm hopeful that all is resolved.

Thanks for your help.

Hello @Frustrated123,        

Thanks for letting me know more about this situation, and the current state of things. I am happy to hear that the situation seems to be resolved, for the moment, though I do apologize for all of the frustration and confusion that this caused. I appreciate the explanation about restoring from a backup and how this resolved the sub-category issue, and I am happy that doing so seems to have had an impact on this issue, as well.

Let us know if anything changes, or if you have any additional questions or concerns. 


Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

Quicken Jared

Hello @Frustrated123,       

We are sorry to hear about this problem with Budget Reports. Thank you for asking about this here on the Quicken Community.

Are you also noticing issues with missing Budgets? Be sure to save a backup by navigating to File > Copy or Backup File... in the upper menu at the top of the screen, then proceed through the steps listed below, in order:

1. Navigate to File
2. Select Validate and Repair File...
3. Select Validate File
4. Click OK
5. Close the Data Log
6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists. 

If you are still noticing difficulties after you have attempted those recommendations, you may try the following: 

1. Navigate to File
2. Hold CTRL + Shift and click Validate and Repair File...
3. Select Super Validate File
4. Click OK
5. Close the Data Log
6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.

Let us know how this works. 

Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

Frustrated123

@QuickenJared
Validate found a lot of "invalid transactions" which it said it removed, with no further action needed. However, it didn't fix my most recent problem (an issue with categories for which I have created a separate post). So, I also ran the Super Validate. That didn't help either.
It's difficult to know for sure whether the sub-totaling problem is fixed. However, at least for today, I am getting consistent results.

Frustrated123

@Quicken Jared thoughts? (I'm not quite sure yet how to do DMs) - especially on my new budget sub-categories problem.

Quicken Jared

Frustrated123 said:

@Quicken Jared thoughts? (I'm not quite sure yet how to do DMs) - especially on my new budget sub-categories problem.

Hello @Frustrated123,   

Thanks for getting back to me about this.

First, I am somewhat unclear; what seems to be occurring with respect to Sub-Categories in the Budget? Also, is the problem with differing results from the Budget for the same supporting details still occurring? Lastly, 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 your current active data file is located on your computer and not on an external drive or cloud-based storage service, as these locations can cause erratic behavior and even data damage.

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

Thanks,

Quicken Jared 

Frustrated123

@Quicken Jared After I did the validates, I was no longer able to reassign sub-categories to transactions. Existing categories and sub-categories were reported properly, but there were problems adding new sub-categories and moving existing sub-categories to a different category --because, in "edit category," the "sub-category of" field was blank - even for existing sub-categories. And, when I tried to choose a category from the dropdown "sub-category of" list, not many categories appeared. If I remember correctly, maybe only income categories appeared but I was looking for expense categories. Certainly the expense categories that I was looking for didn't appear. (I'm not sure this explanation is any clearer than the prior one. However, if you go to the category list and pick any item that is a sub-category of another category and try to edit it ("Category LIst - edit category") while re-reading the above I think it will be clear.)

The above problem was a show-stopper for me -- more important even than inconsistent totals. So, I finally had to revert to the backup from before the validates. I can now again assign and re-assign sub-categories.

The problems turn out to be related. The issue appears to have been that in the initial reports the totals and sub-totals were correct, but the detail lines were incorrect because they were missing one of the new sub-categories. My most recent report shows the new sub-category and has the correct totals. So, I'm hopeful that all is resolved.

Thanks for your help.

Quicken Jared

Frustrated123 said:

@Quicken Jared After I did the validates, I was no longer able to reassign sub-categories to transactions. Existing categories and sub-categories were reported properly, but there were problems adding new sub-categories and moving existing sub-categories to a different category --because, in "edit category," the "sub-category of" field was blank - even for existing sub-categories. And, when I tried to choose a category from the dropdown "sub-category of" list, not many categories appeared. If I remember correctly, maybe only income categories appeared but I was looking for expense categories. Certainly the expense categories that I was looking for didn't appear. (I'm not sure this explanation is any clearer than the prior one. However, if you go to the category list and pick any item that is a sub-category of another category and try to edit it ("Category LIst - edit category") while re-reading the above I think it will be clear.)

The above problem was a show-stopper for me -- more important even than inconsistent totals. So, I finally had to revert to the backup from before the validates. I can now again assign and re-assign sub-categories.

The problems turn out to be related. The issue appears to have been that in the initial reports the totals and sub-totals were correct, but the detail lines were incorrect because they were missing one of the new sub-categories. My most recent report shows the new sub-category and has the correct totals. So, I'm hopeful that all is resolved.

Thanks for your help.

Hello @Frustrated123,        

Thanks for letting me know more about this situation, and the current state of things. I am happy to hear that the situation seems to be resolved, for the moment, though I do apologize for all of the frustration and confusion that this caused. I appreciate the explanation about restoring from a backup and how this resolved the sub-category issue, and I am happy that doing so seems to have had an impact on this issue, as well.

Let us know if anything changes, or if you have any additional questions or concerns. 


Thank you,

Quicken Jared