Corrupt Backup Files Format Changed by Quicken

Dennis Freeman

I have a habit of backing up Quicken (windows) every time I open the program. Today for the first time in many years, when I tried to validate my data file, I got an error message,"Unknown Error in opening data file. When I looked in my list of backups, which I keep on a separate drive, I noticed that the file format beginning with January 1 2023 was changed by Quicken. This has happened with the data file and the backup files also. The old format was "SEEDCOPYCpy-2022-05-01.QDF the format starting on Jan 1, 2023 is now being saved as SEEDCOPYCpyNEW2021_0_0_0.QDF. Is anyone else seeing this? I am going to have to go back to 12/31/22 backup and start a rebuild of everything from that point, is that correct?

Greg_the_Geek

I've never seen Quicken change the name of a Quicken data file or a backup file. Most users end up with a strange file name due to not changing the file name during a restore. 

What is the full path to the folder that contains your Quicken data file? From Quicken --> File --> You should see the path above Exit.

Dennis Freeman

The renamed backup files began on January 7th. I was able to restore the backup form January 6th, and then update all the data files from the bank and Merrill Lynch. I'm back up and running now. Deleted all the corrupted backup files, and made sure that the file names continued with the same context and date. Just FYI the path is C:\users\dmfre\Documents\Quicken, same place it's been for many many years, because my data file size is 673,966KB.

Dennis Freeman

When I try to do a file validation it goes into the process and at the end I get an error "Unknown error opening data file" but then it shows me that there were no errors found. I think this may revolve around my renaming of the data file with a date when I corrected a corrupt data file. The new file name ends with the date that I restored it. I think that Quicken doesn't like that because now, when I open quicken it asks me to find a file to open. The file opens correctly and the file date is correct. My question is where do I go in Quicken to rename my data file so I can get rid of the date that is appended to the file name?
Thanks for following this long winded rant.
Denny
The current file name is SEEDCOPYCpyNEW2021-2023-01-21_0

Greg_the_Geek

You can rename the Quicken data file using Windows File Explorer. After renaming, double-click the file to open it in Quicken and add it to the file list.

Dennis Freeman

Thanks Greg, that seems to have resolved the issue.
All the best