Download account transactions from Merrill Lynch

Bill Gulledge

For 15 years I have downloaded my monthly expense and income transsactions from ML into Quicken for Windows. From the ML website, "Accounts," "download account data," #1 All accounts, #2 Quicken, #3 prior month, #4Download.

I would then find the downloaded file in "Downloads", click on it, and my transactions would appear for each ML account in Quicken.

Now, when I click on the downloaded QFX file in downloads, I am asked to link to a new or existing investment account in Quicken. I have 11 investment accounts for ML so which do I use?

Why has the process changed?

Quicken Kristina

Hello @Bill Gulledge,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about this issue.  I'm sorry to hear you're running into this problem. From what you are describing, something changed in the format of the file that keeps Quicken from recognizing that its connected to the Merrill Lynch accounts. Usually that happens when something changed on the financial institution's side. Have you tried generating the file with a slightly different date range (for instance, instead of picking "last month", if it gives the option for custom, try choosing custom and putting in the dates for the previous month)? That way, if its just an issue with the way the financial institution is creating that one file, it should resolve the issue.

If the issue persists, there are a few other options.

1. You can backup your file and opt to add as new. That should import as 11 new accounts. You would then be able to move the history from the old accounts to the new accounts by going to the action gear in the upper right corner of the register, selecting Move Transactions, selecting the transactions you want to move, and choosing the account to move to from the dropdown near the lower right of the Move Transactions window. To reduce confusion, you would want to hide or close the old accounts once the history is moved to the new.
2. If Merrill Lynch gives you the option, you could import each account one at a time and link each account to the correct account in Quicken. Please backup your file before doing this.
3. You could check for Quicken file specific issues by performing a Validate/Super Validate. Please save a backup file prior to performing these steps. Validate: 
   1. File
   2. Validate and Repair File...
   3. 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.
   8. If the issue persists, proceed to Super Validate. If the issue is resolved after performing validation, then please disregard the instructions to Super Validate. Super Validate:
   9. File
   10. Hold CTRL + Shift and click Validate and Repair File...
   11. Super Validate File
   12. Click OK
   13. Close the Data Log
   14. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
   15. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.   

Thank you.