option "don't update memo field" cannot be set before an account downloads all transactions?

SetSee

BACKGROUND to my question:  I’m playing with the latest Quicken Deluxe for Windows using a 2nd PC and a restored backup file from my 1st PC, before committing to upgrading my to the current 2013 version—I am cautious because I have 30 years of Quicken data that is very important to me, and so much has changed in the program from the 2013 version to the current one, and I do not yet understand how many things work.

My question today is about using the option Account Details → Online Services → Don't update memo when downloading that will let downloaded transactions from a bank to just have a blank memo field.   Since I want this to happen for transactions before downloading any, I go to set it up on the Account Details options of a single register/account, and have to connect Quicken to the online bank first.  But making that connection causes all the transactions from the last 700 days or so to download right away, and I have not been able to set that option.  So all my downloaded transactions have the memo field the bank gave them, which is useless (XXXX0095, where 0095 is the account number).

How do I get around this?

It does seem like another issue that shows that Quicken does not think much about users who are upgrading from older versions and instead just focuses on the needs of new users…

Quicken Kristina

Hello @SetSee,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with this issue. Since you have to connect the account to be able to turn that option on, what you can do to prevent Quicken from matching downloaded transactions to existing transactions in your register (and potentially replacing the memo with the information from the financial institution), is turn off automatic entry.

To do that, navigate to Edit>Preferences>Downloaded transactions. Make sure to unselect Automatically add to banking registers.

Doing that will cause all newly downloaded transactions to be in a section below the register for you to review.

Prior to connecting your financial institution(s), please make sure to backup your Quicken file. Then, once connected, you should be able to review the downloaded transactions and edit/delete/match them as appropriate. Note - If you delete a downloaded transaction, it should not redownload. If you have a lot of data to go through, it's wise to make periodic backups. That way if anything goes wrong, you can restore from a fairly recent backup and not have to redo as much work.

I hope this helps!