Corrupted file on software update forcing a new onboarding flow.

Question

I don't expect Quicken to break my file with a software update, but that's what happened.  And it seems that I'm experiencing more frequent melt downs over the last 12-18 months as I load more onto it.  I use Quicken Classic Business & Personal on a PC to manage 3 rental properties and household finances across nearly 20 bank, mortgage and credit card accounts.   Is this too much for Quicken?

After the update, it forced me down this ridiculous onboarding flow which I exited out of.  Never seen a new onboarding flow on a software update before.   It pointed me to a file I haven't used in years, so I redirected it to the correct file.  It then prompted me to delete the wrong file from my "recently opened" and I accepted.   Could this be the reason for corrupting the file?

Once Quicken launched to the correct file, it was missing all downloaded bank transaction data since August 2023 in some accounts (but keeping one monthly memorized transactions and transfers between accounts until the present day). Other accounts are missing altogether.    One account has my recent transactions up through last week.  Another has no transactions since 2023.  It makes no sense whatsoever.

Restored from backup but lost several weeks of work.

Chris_QPW · Answer

I also have never heard of an "onboarding flow", but this part of your statement rings some bells with me.

It then prompted me to delete the wrong file from my "recently opened" and I accepted. Could this be the reason for corrupting the file?

So, let's talk about the "current data file", the "recently opened list" and the removable of file names from that list.

When you open a data file Quicken stores that name in a configuration file so that if you open Quicken again it will by default open that data file.

It isn't "common", but it isn't unheard of that Quicken somehow "loses" can't open that file name and prompts you for which file to open.  It isn't also unheard of that Quicken opens a backup file which might not have all your current data which will make it look like it is gone, where it may or may not be gone.  Note if it is asking to "Restore" then you would definitely what to select the option to do it into a copy of your data file, not the original one, unless you are sure you have a good backup of the original file.

Now on to the "recently opened" list.  Quicken remembers the last four data files that you opened so that you can select one from the File menu to open it.  At that time if Quicken can't open that data file for whatever reason it will ask you if you want to remove it from the recently opened data file list, presuming that the data file no longer exists.  Note this isn't Quicken deleting the actual data file, it is just it removing the name from the recently opened list.

Rocket J Squirrel · Answer

What is the meaning of "onboarding flow" with respect to QWin? I am unfamiliar with the term and web search didn't educate me.

Boatnmaniac · Answer

I have seen some other people post that the update to version R60.15 caused some of their data and accounts to disappear.  But then when they closed and reopened Quicken or rebooted their computer they found that everything was OK like there was never a problem.  It appears that for them the installation process perhaps did not complete properly until after closing and reopening Quicken or rebooting their computer.  Whether or not this is what happened with you we can never know but I am glad that you were able to restore a backup file to get things back on track with your data file.

One of the things I have noticed is that when the Quicken version update is automatically performed by the Quicken software there are sometimes problems with either how the newly installed software performs or with the data in the file.  Manually downloading and installing the Manual Patch Update file from

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

will usually resolve those issues with no loss of data.

Because of this, I have my UAC Settings set to Always Notify so I can (and I always do) manually decline to let Quicken update the version.  When appropriate I will later manually download and install the Manual Patch Update file which usually installs the new version without issue.

BTW, Quicken always makes a backup file of the last data file that was opened when the version is updated.  To make it easier to find that backup file, the version of Quicken that was updated is added to the backup file name.  It will look something like what is shown and highlighted in yellow in the following picture where the version that was just updated from was R38.30.: