How do I convert my investment account back to 'complete' transaction entry.

Question

I wanted to try automatic download with my investment account - so I set it up, but I didn't like it. Now I cannot restore my account back to it's previous state where I enter transactions manually. The only instructions I can find say to "use the 'Online Services' tab in Edit Account to deactivate downloads; you can then change the tracking method to 'Complete'…". This doesn't fit my situation (see screen snaps). What do I need to do?

Boatnmaniac · Answer

One thing you might want to try:  File > Copy or Backup File > Create a copy or template (under Advanced Options) > choose a location to save the copied file to or keep the default location that is shown > Keep the suggested file name shown in the Windows Explorer path (it will be the same file name as your current file name but with "Cpy" added to the end of it) or select a new custom file name > Save Copy.

This will create an exact copy of your current file with the following exceptions:

* While it will be an exact copy of all the accounts records, it will have a unique file ID which will end up creating a new and unique Cloud Account ID and a new and unique runtime.dat file.  This is good because it will prevent any possible cross-talk between your current data file and the copied data file so if there is any corruption in either the Cloud Account or the runtime.dat file, they will not be transferred to the new copied file.
* This will also break all online services connections for all accounts and functions in the copied file.  The main data file will not be impacted by this.  So, those connections (including download connects) will need to be set up, again, in this new copied file.

SOMETIMES, this process will fix file and/or account-related issues, such as a corruption of some sort.  This does not always work, but if it does remove the Simple Tracking-only restriction then perhaps you will be able to change the account back to Complete Tracking on the General tab of Account Details.  And then the only missing transactions gaps you will need to manually enter will be for that investment account.

Let me know if this process resolved the issue for you.

asc · Answer

@Boatnmaniac Thank you! That was comprehensive - but ultimately had no effect. I had validated my file when this first happened, and reboot my machine fairly often (but did so again anyway). I was using R59.6, and updated to R59.18 - but did not do that manually (I should have read that part more carefully). I have been having this issue 'a while', but did not have time/opportunity to investigate further until now. I don't think I am willing to go to an old backup at this point because (to the best of my knowledge) ALL my accounts would lose recent transactions and (in my experience) that is awful to try and rectify. I do not want to lose all my transaction history by deleting this account and recreating using current data, but I am not seeing any alternatives. Any other suggestions? It is possible to just restore 1 account from backup?

Boatnmaniac · Answer

These pictures show that your Betterment account is not currently connected for downloads.  So, you cannot deactivate the account and the Online Services tab only gives you the option for Set Up Now.

Since you previously had downloading set up with Betterment and then deactivated it, I would have thought that would have then allowed you to change the account from Simple Tracking to Complete Tracking.  The fact that it does not let you do that makes me think that the account (or maybe the data file or maybe the Quicken installation) might have some sort of corruption.

Things you might want to try doing to see if one of them will resolve the issue for you:

* If you have not closed Quicken since this started to happen, close and reopen it.
* If you have not closed and rebooted your computer since this started to happen, reboot your computer.
* Run Validate & Repair (File > Validate & Repair):  This can fix some file issues as well as some application issues.
* Which version are you running (Help > About Quicken)?  If this started happening after you had updated the version or if it is not version R59.18, then you can download and install the Manual Patch Update file from

https://www.quicken.com/support/update-and-patch-20182019-release-quicken-windows-subscription-product/.

.  You can simple install it over your current installation.  (Sometimes updating the version, especially when the updating is done by the Quicken program, does not install completely or correctly.  Manually downloading and installing the Manual Patch Update file can correct for such issues.)

If these things do not resolve the issue then perhaps the easiest and fastest way to recover your old Complete Tracking account would be to restore the most recent backup file from before when you set up that account for downloading will best meet your needs.  Just know that depending on how old that backup file it, it could mean that it might take some effort to get it back to current.

It should also be noted that when an investment account is set up for downloading with Simple Tracking, there are no securities trades transactions that are downloaded into Quicken.  It just downloads the total number of shares held, the current share price, the current amount of cash held and the total value of the account.

Switching back to Complete Tracking (if you can accomplish this via one of the steps mentioned above) will not show in the account register any securities trades transactions that occurred from the time you first set up the account for downloading.  Instead, they will need to be manually added to the account.  However, the prior historical records that you had manually entered should still be present in the account register.