How to determine if new file is corrupted? (Q Mac)

Kira's Person

Just set up five accounts in new data file. First download appears successful and account balances look about right BUT Quicken is showing a 'Banking' total roughly 10 x the net value of the accounts. The number has no relationship to even a subset of the accounts. How do I determine where this number is coming from? Is the new file corrupt? I don't want to invest more time in set-up without making this determination.

jacobs

First, I don't think your file is corrupted; it has been extremely rare over many years now to document a case of corrupted transaction data in Quicken Mac because of the nature of its modern database.

Second, you concluded that "it's evident that the mystery money is coming from the cash column", but I don't think that's correct. The three credit card accounts do not add up to the Credit Card subtotal either.

I'm focused on the "US" designation next to the amount of the funds showing here. This is not typical for a US user with funds in US dollars. So I'd like to ask if you have any funds in other currencies? And if your Mac's operating system preferences for Language & Region are set to the United States region? I'm guessing not, as it appears your date as are se tot show as dd/mm/yy instead of mm/dd/yy. If you temporarily switched yourMac's System Preferences to the US region, then relaunched Quicken, how does that change things in the sidebar.

Also, could you please generate a Net Worth report. This would normally mirror the accounts and balances shown in the sidebar (with a pull-down menu choice for different currencies, if they exist), so I'm curious to know if it's different. 

Kira's Person

Here's the screen shot.

Kira's Person

With 'Group balance' unchecked the 'banking' entry disappeared. With the addition of 'sub-group balances' checked it's evident that the mystery money is coming from the cash column.

I've read the frustrating reports from PC users with changing ending balances which sound similar to the corrupted file experience I have on my current active file which is what's leading me to create a new file. With this file immediately having issues I'm having misgivings .... I really just need to track income and expenses and be able to pull reports. To this point I've been a Quicken fan and appreciated all the improvements this last year or so to Quicken for Mac. Now I'm wondering if I should pick a different software product.

jacobs

First, I don't think your file is corrupted; it has been extremely rare over many years now to document a case of corrupted transaction data in Quicken Mac because of the nature of its modern database.

Second, you concluded that "it's evident that the mystery money is coming from the cash column", but I don't think that's correct. The three credit card accounts do not add up to the Credit Card subtotal either.

I'm focused on the "US" designation next to the amount of the funds showing here. This is not typical for a US user with funds in US dollars. So I'd like to ask if you have any funds in other currencies? And if your Mac's operating system preferences for Language & Region are set to the United States region? I'm guessing not, as it appears your date as are se tot show as dd/mm/yy instead of mm/dd/yy. If you temporarily switched yourMac's System Preferences to the US region, then relaunched Quicken, how does that change things in the sidebar.

Also, could you please generate a Net Worth report. This would normally mirror the accounts and balances shown in the sidebar (with a pull-down menu choice for different currencies, if they exist), so I'm curious to know if it's different. 

jacobs

@RickO Beat ya'!  We're thinking along the same lines…

Kira's Person

RickO and Jacobs - you nailed it! Region was set to Mexico (I have no idea how or why so I'll blame it on my cat.) Thank you. I really appreciate the help. Clearly operator error which is what I always suspect first but would never have gone down the right path to correct on my own. Issue resolved (screen shot for evidence below).

Your comments make me wonder why I am abandoning my file of the last 3 years if QMac files can't be corrupted. What is happening there is that after reconciling bank statements successfully and then re-opening the file and subsequently doing another reconcile the account shows discrepancies even when all detail matches (bank to Quicken) and the history of reconciliations would change numbers such that prior recons which had been no variance prior now had variances. I think I'm going to the new file anyway to clean things up and simplify.

jacobs

I'm glad your problem, or at least the most recent one, is resolved.

I can't say without digging deeper into your data about the other problem you've described. Often, when users report data has changed, I look to Quicken Cloud as the most likely culprit. Do you use the mobile app or web interface? If you don't, or don't really need them, I'd strongly encourage you to turn off syncing to Quicken Cloud and clear out your existing data there. There are two quick steps to do this:
Go to Preferences > Mobile, Web & Alerts and see if Sync is on or off. If it's on, turn it off.
Go to Preferences > Connected Services and on the line for Cloud Account, click the Reset button.

Turning off Sync tells your desktop Quicken not to upload or download and transactions from the cloud. But equally important, by resetting your cloud file with Sync turned off, you're assured that the cloud file (which exists for every Quicken desktop file) contains only some identifying information about your Quicken ID, but no transactions and no financial institution login credentials. This should, and most times does, fix problems people have with data they've entered/modified locally being overwritten with data coming from Quicken Cloud pulling information from your financial institutions and pushing it to your local Quicken file.

I don't use Sync/Quicken Cloud at all, and I've never had any existing data change; I've never had a prior reconciliation with changed transactions that throw the reconciliation out of balance.