How do I correctly d/l only my current bank transactions?

Eric Johnson

Version R48.15 Release 27.1.48.15. Windows 10.

I need help downloading bank transactions. This will be the first time I've done this.

I started with the savings account only. When I have the savings transactions downloaded, it says that I have about 50 transactions but it went back to sometime in 2021. Most of those I previously entered by hand. T thought to simply delete those I had entered but for some reason the balance is still showing them. So, how do I do this and be certain to only get the current transactions.

Thanks.

Eric Johnson

Tom Young

I'm not understanding what you're saying here as I'm not understanding what you're trying to delete.

If you've maintained the savings Account by hand for some time and then just now started the download process, which included transactions you've already entered, then those downloaded transactions should show up as "Matches." You can accept those Matches or not. Accepting them doesn't create a new transaction in the Register, it simply changes the "Clr" column for each accepted transaction from (presumably) a blank to a "c." Alternatively you can delete those downloaded transactions, in which case nothing changes in your Register.

There's no way to control what gets downloaded with that first update as the financial institution controls that so you'll almost certainly get "old" transactions along with "New" (i.e., transactions you haven't entered by hand) transactions in that first download. You can deal with those "old" transactions as you see fit, either deleting the downloaded transactions or Accepting them. Subsequent downloads will only download "current" transactions.

Tom Young

I'm not understanding what you're saying here as I'm not understanding what you're trying to delete.

If you've maintained the savings Account by hand for some time and then just now started the download process, which included transactions you've already entered, then those downloaded transactions should show up as "Matches." You can accept those Matches or not. Accepting them doesn't create a new transaction in the Register, it simply changes the "Clr" column for each accepted transaction from (presumably) a blank to a "c." Alternatively you can delete those downloaded transactions, in which case nothing changes in your Register.

There's no way to control what gets downloaded with that first update as the financial institution controls that so you'll almost certainly get "old" transactions along with "New" (i.e., transactions you haven't entered by hand) transactions in that first download. You can deal with those "old" transactions as you see fit, either deleting the downloaded transactions or Accepting them. Subsequent downloads will only download "current" transactions.

Eric Johnson

I am trying to avoid the double posting of transactions that I entered by hand.

I'll look again at the display that pops up after the d/l from the bank takes place. There may be something there in an option to keep this from happening.

I guess another "fix" would be to download to a new and temporary account and then just transfer the needed transactions to the real account and then just deleting the whole temporary account.

Chris_QPW

@Eric Johnson be careful on how you do this:

I guess another "fix" would be to download to a new and temporary account and then just transfer the needed transactions to the real account and then just deleting the whole temporary account.

Quicken remembers what it downloaded, by account. If you disconnect the first account for downloading, create a new one and download to it, and then move the transactions from that new account to the old one, and then switch back to the old one, the old one has yet to record the fact that it downloaded those transactions. So, Quicken would download them again. One would have to do it the other way, as in moving any transactions that aren't in the new account, from the old account and get rid of the old account.

But looking at your original question I think the answer is much easier.

If the transactions are correct, but the balance isn't, most likely the opening balance is incorrect. When first setting up for downloading transactions Quicken will change the opening balance to what it thinks is the correct value, but with transactions already in there and deleted instead of matched, it probably set it to the wrong value. The opening balance transaction should be the first one in the register. Change it to the correct amount.

Eric Johnson

Which do you mean by "first in the register"? I've been a member of this credit union for for 49 years. Or, do you mean the balance that is listed as the first entry in the group of transactions. That would make more sense.

What would happen if I then just let the "update" go to completion and then went back through and deleted any duplicate entries. I realize that some may have been matched already but the banking process assigns dates that don't match the date on the check and a duplicate entry can be created.

Chris_QPW

Which do you mean by "first in the register"?

Here is an example:

Notice the category is the same account I'm in with square brackets around it. This is a "balance adjustment" transaction where the amount comes/goes outside of Quicken. In this case I have the full history of the account so it starts at zero, but if you had an account that you didn't have the full history for this might be the current balance at the time the account is created. Make sure this transaction amount is right.

The thing to understand is that when Quicken first sets up an account for downloading, it might change this first/opening balance transaction (or may add one if there wasn't one there in the first place). And it might have the wrong amount. If all you are off by is the current balance being wrong, this being the problem is highly likely.

Updating and deleting is definitely a possibility. Here are some suggestions on that.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7179327/faq-i-have-a-manual-account-i-want-to-activate-for-downloading-how-do-i-prevent-duplicates

Eric Johnson

Been away and too busy to your idea.s Now the time has come.

One last, I hope question. is it better yo hold off updating my files with the banks files until the bank statement is here or, every few days download the new transactions.

I realize that the correct answer may be, "It depends on your preferences" but this is new enough to me that I wanted to intercept any quirks before I found them and heard, "Oh, by the way, Don't . . . ."

Chris_QPW

You are correct this is a "one size doesn't fit all" kind of question, and either approach can work.

Personally, I download every day or close to it. It means that I have far less to look at, so it goes very quickly, but just as important it means that I'm monitoring my accounts more often and would catch mistakes or fraud faster.

But in reality, these days I also have my financial institution send me an email for each transaction, so I really don't have to rely on Quicken to do this for me.