Why don't the drop-down transaction types match?

mjonis

Pretty much any investment account in Quicken I observe this behavior.

(FYI: Quick Classic Deluxe, R65.17, Build 27.1.65.17)

Go into the register for the investment account (in my case it's a Roth, and a Rollover/IRA).

On the Action Column, click the little arrow/pulldown. Observe the list that's presented. It's about 23 items long. Note that things like: MiscExp, Shares Transferred between Accounts, etc. are not available. Now click the Edit (right-hand portion of register) and you'll see a full list. Even better, if you enter say, a:

Shares Transferred between Accounts, it gets recorded in the Register as Action: Removed

But if you try to use Action: Removed, you get a completely different option/set of fields.

You can't even type:

Shares Transferred to choose the option, you must always click the Edit, wait several seconds for Quicken (because it's so slow) and then choose the option from the "full" list.

Jim_Harman

The most "sure-fire" way to enter investing transactions is to click on the Enter Transactions button at the top of the register. That should give you a full list of the available actions, including those that require a form to enter the details of the transaction. This should be the same options that you get by clicking on the Edit button.

The Edit button is intended to be used for modifying an existing transaction, not for entering a new one.

I think the drop-down in the Action column is best used as a shortcut when entering simple transactions like Dividends, Bought, and Sold.

Also there is a significant difference between Shares transferred between accounts and Removed. Shares transferred is what you might call a "macro action" - it produces a bunch of individual actions that accomplish the desired function of removing shares from one account and adding them to another, while preserving the tax lot data. Removed just removes the shares without sending them anywhere or affecting the account's cash balance.

q_lurker

The Enter Transactions button provides access to features (wizards as they are sometimes called) which generate multiple transactions from a single set of data. These would be cases like Shares Transferred … which creates a Removed Sahres in one account and multiple Add Shares in a different account. The Income and Reinvestment forms can create Interest, Dividend, and Cap Gain and MiscInc distributions from one form. Bonds Bought and sold, Corporate Spinoffs, and Corporate Acquisition are a few other such examples.

The Action pulldown tends to be applicable to only entering single transactions one at a time, though there are exceptions where it will pop up the same form the Enter Transactions button offers.

Editing a transaction pops up the Enter Transaction form for that specific "action" already established. Once a wizard creates the specific transactions, those individual transactions are no longer tied together. So for your Remove created by a Shares Transferred, it has just become a simple Remove unrelated to any of the Adds that went in at the same time.