Why is there no WARNING flashing sign when you try and open an old file

laura11

i thought opening a backed up file was like opening a word document. i thought restored was it opens the file…not i am about to erase a years worth of entries on your husbands ipad business?

how can quicken not fix this issue, we are obviously not alone. how about huge warnings, flags, make sure logos before you decide? why not a pop up for the mobile users to make sure they save it somewhere else? deception with the cloud reference that is not a cloud storage, (like every other company that says they have a cloud)

i just can't believe what a flaw in this software. i really can't. quicken what a shame

jacobs

Wait, what it the "flaw" in the software? You opened an old file, and it had information from the past. That makes sense; it didn't delete anything. What happens if you now go back and open the previous file you were using? Or a backup from a day ago?

Chris_QPW

I think the keyword might be this:  "your husbands ipad business"

@laura11 Are you saying that you sync to Quicken Mobile and when you opened up an old Quicken Mac Desktop data file you synced that, and it wiped out the newer data that was on Quicken Mobile? (note the "sync" might even be part of the "restore")

I'm not sure of all the details on how Quicken Mac does it, but on Quicken Windows "Restore" has become "dangerous" especially if people thing that the Quicken Mobile/Web data is anything other than "temporary/partial" data.

Each Quicken Desktop data file is the "master" to a Quicken Cloud dataset. Quicken Mobile/Web are basically the GUI interfaces to that Quicken Cloud dataset. The Quicken Cloud dataset isn't an independent data source it is supposed to be a partial copy of what is in the Quicken Desktop data file. You can make changes in Quicken Mobile/Web, but the idea is that at regular intervals you will sync with the Quicken Desktop data file and get that new information copied into the Quicken Desktop data file.

The "link" between the Quicken Desktop data file is based on Quicken Mac or Quicken Windows, the Quicken Id, and a unique Id in the Quicken Desktop data file. When you backup your data file, none of these changes.

That means there is a problem when one goes to restore an old data file. There is only one Quicken Cloud dataset. Clearly it can't be in both old and current states at the same time. So, if a sync happens it is entirely possible that the data in the Quicken Desktop data file might override what is in the Quicken Cloud dataset.

About two years ago Quicken Windows Restore was changed that what it does is remove the Quicken Cloud dataset, and then does a sync between the Quicken Desktop data file and a newly created Quicken Cloud dataset. This prevents any attempt to try to sync a current Quicken Cloud dataset with a really old Quicken Desktop data file. But of course, now it has lost the current state of the Quicken Cloud dataset.

I don't know if Quicken Mac does the same or if it does nothing like this, but for sure if one was to kick off a sync to Mobile/Web there is no way that both the old and current state would be preserved.

Chris_QPW

BTW on the same subject. At the same time Quicken Windows was changed the Restore function the copy function was changed. The copy function use to be just a simple copy, but now it will change the unique Id and deactivate all online services. People weren't/aren't too happy with this, but the point is this, people were using that copy (or just the operation system copy) to make a copy of the data file and then start using it as a template for a completely different data file. Once there was a connection between the Quicken Desktop data file and the Quicken Cloud dataset (which is when the Quicken Ids first showed up) that means that if you make a simple copy of your data file, then both of those data files will be linked to the same Quicken Cloud dataset and trying to keep them in sync.

Needless to say, that will lead to all kinds of problems.

jacobs

If what happened is what @Chris_QPW suggested above, then opening the latest Quicken Mac data file and syncing it to Quicken Cloud should restore the most recent transactions to the Cloud for mobile app and web access.

Unless… was your husband using the Quicken mobile app on the iPad without ever opening Quicken on the Mac for a year? The desktop data file is always the master data, with the cloud data being a subset of the full data file. If you stop using the desktop program, the cloud data can't sync to the desktop file. If you open an old backup file without syncing the accumulated cloud data to the "live" — most recent — desktop file, and the backup file performs a sync to the cloud data, I think I can see how you could lose data which was only in the cloud. Opening the backup tells Quicken Mac you're moving back in time to that backup. (If it worked otherwise, then the cloud data would always replace what was in the backup, making it impossible to ever go back to an older backup.)