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!

Boatnmaniac

@SetSee -

Once you check that box on the Online Services tab of Account Details for Don't update memo when downloading it should prevent future downloads from entering the bank's memo information from being entered into the Memo field. It will not, however, remove any previously downloaded Memo field data.

But I see what the issue is: An Offline Account does not provide the opportunity to check the box for Don't update memo when downloading. When setting up downloading for an Offline Account one is not proactively provided the opportunity to check that box before the first download occurs. So, now you get lots of initial transactions downloaded with the financial institution's memo info (assuming they download memo data) populating the Memo field. That's a lot of transactions editing to do whether you do that after they are already entered into the register or prior to entering them into the register.

IMO, this appears to be a design oversight issue. The opportunity to check that box during the download set up process should be made available.

What you might want to try doing if you feel up to doing a little test:

1. Backup your data file.
2. Delete one or more of the accounts you set up in your data file. Or do File > New Quicken File so you can test this out.
3. Do what @Quicken Kristina suggested about by deselecting Automatically add to banking registers.
4. Add your account(s) to the file but do not yet accept them into the registers.
5. Go to the Online Services tab of Account Details and check the box for Don't update memo when downloading.
6. Then go back to the account registers and accept the downloaded transactions so they get entered into the registers. I can't say for sure but I think the transactions will be entered into the registers and the Memo fields will be blank.
7. If you don't like the results, restore the backup file and all will be as it was before the test.

If this works, then you can decide whether you want to automatically add future downloads to banking registers or if you wish to continue preventing that and reviewing each transaction before they are entered. (I prefer to review all transactions before entering as it is generally much easier to correct a transaction error right after download than to go back later to find and correct transaction errors that are already in the register.)

mshiggins

@Boatnmaniac forvthe love of god, why delete accounts as you propose in your step 2?!?

SetSee

Quicken Kristina & Boatnmaniac, thanks for your answers.

I should clarify: I do NOT have the option Automatically add to banking registers turned on. And I am not changing an offline account to a connected one, per se, I am just restoring a file from Q-2103 on my PC-1 into my Q-2025 on my PC-2.

I think I agree with Boatnmanic, that this is a design issue that should be addressed.

I guess I will just do a big Find & Replace operation after I have down the first download when I officially convert to using Q-2025.

Thanks again for your help.

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20481246#Comment_20481246

I understood the Op to say they were setting up the accounts as a test to see how it would work before proceeding to convert his older version file to Subscription. If this is the case, then there would be absolutely no harm done by deleting those affected accounts and starting them over. (They did seem to confirm that my assuming here is correct.)

Even if my understanding is incorrect, I did post that the data file should first be backed up before doing this (see Step 1). Then if they did not like the results they could simply restore that backed up data file and all would be just like it was before (see Step 7). Again, so no harm done.

SetSee

Yes, Boatnmaniac, all my actions now are being done experimentally, in an isolated sandbox, as a way to earn about Q-2025. Nothing I am doing these days is permanent. Once I've learned enough from this experimenting phase to believe I won't totally mess up the conversion from Q-2013 to Q-2025, then I will proceed to do a final restoration and start using Q-2025 for real… I hope that I won't get bitten by some part of the new Quicken that I have failed to understand…