Does anyone know how to get quicken to process check numbers as integers not text?

CharlesFS

My financial institution adds 6 leading zeros to my check number when it downloads the data. Therefore, in my Quicken register I have check number 2345; and the downloaded number is 0000002345. If those fields are treated as integers, they are equal; if they are treated as text, they are not equal. Currently, I have to add 6 leading zeros to every check I write then I have to delete the zeros after the check information has been downloaded from my bank. This was not an issue until I had to switch to the Quicken subscription version. I have been doing this manual manipulation for two years now and it is getting old and frustrating.

NotACPA

You've got it backwards. 2345 is the integer and 0000002345 is text. And I'm not aware of any way to alter the designation in Q's database

UKR

What is the name of this financial institution?
What download protocol do you use? Direct Connect, Express Web Connect, Web Connect?
Have you talked to their upper management to make them change the downloaded transactions to omit the leading zeros?
All banks that I have checking accounts with transmit a proper "1234" without leading zeros in the downloaded Check # field.

NotACPA

Is this a business account?  Because on personal checks the number field is only 4 positions. It's 10 business checks

Chris_QPW

Does anyone know how to get quicken to process check numbers as integers not text?

There isn't any way.  Quicken's check number field is a text field, and it does the check comparison that way.  There isn't any preference to change that.  This is the kind of ambiguity you get when a field is actually used for multiple things like the check number in Quicken is used for.

In fact, about the only time Quicken will treat the check number field as a numeric value is when you go to manually enter a check and it suggests then next number by incrementing the last numeric value it found.

Chris_QPW

I just noticed that your profile says that you are a Quicken Mac user.  You posted on a Quicken Windows category.  The answer you have received are for Quicken Windows.  It is possible that for Quicken Mac it is different (but I doubt it).  I'm going to flag this thread to the moderators to have it moved to a Quicken Mac category so that Quicken Mac users can respond.

jacobs

In Quicken Mac, the Check # field allows alphabetic entries, such as PRINT to designate a check to be printed, PAY to designate a Quick Pay payment, or MAIL to designate a Check Pay payment. There's nothing you can do to change this on the Quicken end, and because for the text commands which are designed to be entered in the field, this is not something Quicken will change. So as mentioned above, it might be worth contacting your bank's IT support to ask them to suppress leading zeros in their downloads to Quicken, as most financial institutions do. 

CharlesFS

Thank you everyone who responded. I have asked my financial institution to see if they can fix the issue. It will probably take awhile as they use a third party, netteller.com, for their on-line services. As for as saying that nothing can be done on Quicken's end, it is really a simple fix. Let's assume an option called 'integer_check_numbers' is available and is set to true. Then when transactions are downloaded this logic (shown as a Python script) would do the trick:

# comparing a downloaded transaction to register entry
if integer_check_numbers:
if is numeric(register_check_number):
check_numbers_match = int(register_check_number) == int(download_check_number)
else:
check_numbers_match = False
else:
# do existing comparison

CharlesFS

the post process removed all indentation s[paces, but the idea should be clear anyway.

Chris_QPW

CharlesFS said:

Thank you everyone who responded. I have asked my financial institution to see if they can fix the issue. It will probably take awhile as they use a third party, netteller.com, for their on-line services. As for as saying that nothing can be done on Quicken's end, it is really a simple fix. Let's assume an option called 'integer_check_numbers' is available and is set to true. Then when transactions are downloaded this logic (shown as a Python script) would do the trick:

# comparing a downloaded transaction to register entry
if integer_check_numbers:
if is numeric(register_check_number):
check_numbers_match = int(register_check_number) == int(download_check_number)
else:
check_numbers_match = False
else:
# do existing comparison

It isn't that anyone believes that it is hard to do, it has more to do with the fact that Quicken Inc has a lot of requests for features, and so will this one gets any kind of priority?  Hard to say.  If you go to the Home page and select New Post -> New Idea you can post it as an idea that people can vote on.  This is currently how Quicken Inc tries to determine what people want the most.

jacobs

@CharlesFS I'd also note that changing the check number field would likely require coordination between the Quicken Mac team and the Quicken Cloud team, as the Mac team can't make database changes without it working in their mobile environment; and since the Quicken Cloud feature set is driven by Quicken Windows, that team would likely also need to be involved. So while this isn't rocket science, a seemingly small change can require more work than one might think — and almost certainly wouldn't be a quick fix. I think it's unlikely that they would make changes to the check number field, but as Chris suggests, you can create an Idea post and see if it draws support from other Quicken users who have a similar issue with their financial institution's check numbers.