archive investment transaction in the new 2018 Quicken version

Unknown
Unknown Member
edited December 2018 in Investing (Windows)
How do you archive investment transaction in the new 2018 Quicken version ?
I don't see a gear box in my 401K investment registers.. only in the account overview section and there is nothing that says archive? thanks 
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Comments

  • larschnur
    larschnur Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Use the investing display.  Select the gear box above on the right.  That is what the directions state but there is no option to archive there!
  • larschnur
    larschnur Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    You must be in the account register to find the option.  Select the account to display the transactions.  The gear box on the top right has many options, one of which is the archive transactions option.  Be sure to make a backup before starting this process.
  • splasher
    splasher SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2018
    I just added a 401k account, see the screenshot on how to activate the investment archive routine.

    image

    -splasher using Q continuously since 1996
    - Subscription Quicken - Win11 and QW2013 - Win11
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  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2018
    The gear in the Investment transaction list is not is not available if you are using pop-up registers so:

    Select View from the menu at the top. If Use Pop-Up Registers is selected, de-select it.
    Select the account to display the Investment Transaction List (Register)
    Click the gear at the top right
    Archive Transactions is about half way down the list. Read the instructions carefully to make sure you want to do this.
    QWin Premier subscription
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited October 2017
    Awesome thanks!!!!
  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2018
    What, exactly, does archiving investment transactions do? Once transactions have been archived, can they be unarchived?

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2018

    This is the dialog box that comes up for archiving investment transactions. 

    I would seem that somebody at Quicken did their homework because before the archive is done Quicken will backup your data file, then validate the file.  Something that I recommend everyone do before doing anything major in Quicken.

    I will play around with this some.  I would suspect that no you can not unarchive once it is done but why would you.  In my case it looks like it would remove almost half of the transactions.  I will let you know what I find out...after I backup my file and validate it on my own.  Trust but verify!

    image
  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    mshiggins said:

    What, exactly, does archiving investment transactions do? Once transactions have been archived, can they be unarchived?

    I haven't gone through with it myself, but from reading the prompt that comes up when you select it:
    -- creates a new empty account called <your account>-Archive
    -- moves the transactions associated with closed positions in your account to the new account
    -- initiates a Validate to clean up. 

    By removing these transactions from the old account, this should improve performance for adding transactions and reports. 

    They don't say anything about un-archiving, but this *should* be non-destructive, so presumably you could move the transactions back using the new Move Transactions feature if you change your mind. Also If you include both accounts in any performance reports, the long term performance should be preserved.
    QWin Premier subscription
  • splasher
    splasher SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    mshiggins said:

    What, exactly, does archiving investment transactions do? Once transactions have been archived, can they be unarchived?

    It moves the closed positions to a new account to make the active account smaller.  It just automates the process that has been suggested for a long time but in an opposite way.  The end result is the same.

    -splasher using Q continuously since 1996
    - Subscription Quicken - Win11 and QW2013 - Win11
    -Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    mshiggins said:

    What, exactly, does archiving investment transactions do? Once transactions have been archived, can they be unarchived?

    Interesting. Of course the implementation is backwards from the way we always proposed it.

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    This is the dialog box that comes up for archiving investment transactions. 

    I would seem that somebody at Quicken did their homework because before the archive is done Quicken will backup your data file, then validate the file.  Something that I recommend everyone do before doing anything major in Quicken.

    I will play around with this some.  I would suspect that no you can not unarchive once it is done but why would you.  In my case it looks like it would remove almost half of the transactions.  I will let you know what I find out...after I backup my file and validate it on my own.  Trust but verify!

    image
    Thanks, Fred, for the screen shot.

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited December 2018
    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.
  • mshiggins
    mshiggins SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    That sounds like a handy new feature.

    Quicken user since Q1999. Currently using QW2017.
    Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    Well thought out and executed as well.  Hopefully a sign of things to come?

  • J_Mike
    J_Mike SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    It is an interesting new feature.

    One drawback is that the historical running cash balance can go awry in both accounts. QWin does do an automatic adjustment at the end to correct this.

    In my test case, the archive account shows an increasing positive cash balance over time while the 'production' account shows an increasing negative cash balance. QWin automatically adds a correcting cash transfer on the date of the archive operation and one ends up with a zero cash balance in the archive account and the correct cash balance in the 'production' account.

    I have on occasion had to track down an error following an update or conversion and I use the month-end running cash balance to help narrow down the search. This will be difficult or impossible if one has archived the account.

    Don't see any practical work around for this issue - something one will have to live with if one chooses to archive.
    QWin & QMac (Deluxe) Subscription
    Quicken user since 1991

  • splasher
    splasher SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    I have on occasion had to track down an error following an update or conversion and I use the month-end running cash balance to help narrow down the search. This will be difficult or impossible if one has archived the account.
    If you included both accounts in the report, wouldn't that get you the correct running balance?

    -splasher using Q continuously since 1996
    - Subscription Quicken - Win11 and QW2013 - Win11
    -Questions? Check out the Quicken Windows FAQ list

  • J_Mike
    J_Mike SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    For this exercise, I am scanning the register running cash balance and comparing to a month-end statement balance - looking for a discrepancy.

    Would need a transaction report - the two accounts combined - with a running balance. Which happens to be the original account :<~

    Edit - thinking about it some more - best solution might be to undo the archive - find/fix the problem - then redo archive.
    QWin & QMac (Deluxe) Subscription
    Quicken user since 1991

  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    I just tried this, and my experience with the running balances is exactly the same as JM's. I don't think I'm willing to live with the ugliness this creates.

    But it seems non-trivial to undo the archive operation because I cannot select multiple transactions in an investment register. Shift-click doesn't work. I have over 300 transactions in the archive account, and moving them one at a time back to the original account is impractical.

    (Of course, this is a copy of my production file, so no real transactions were harmed in the performance of this experiment.)

    Quicken user since version 2 for DOS, now using QWin Biz & Personal Subscription (US) on Win10 Pro.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    Shift-click doesn't work.
    Evidently they figured it was too hard to make multiple select work in the investment accounts, so instead for the move transaction function in the investment accounts you select "Move Transactions" from the settings (gear icon) and that brings up a dialog where you can do multiple select.

    Note I think I see a bug in that Dialog.  I deselected "Select all transactions for the same security as a group", and it is still selecting multiple transactions (the whole "group") instead of individual transactions.
  • larschnur
    larschnur Member ✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    mshiggins said:

    What, exactly, does archiving investment transactions do? Once transactions have been archived, can they be unarchived?

    The archive account created also has a balance amount.  This is used as an XOUT and XIN transfer to the old account. It would seem that you would need to keep the archive account because of the transfer amount. Can the transfer links be detached by zeroing the archive account and adding the balance to the active investment account?
  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    Yeah, I found the Move Transactions command under the gear moments after posting above. My first impression was that it would simply move the selected transaction. It should properly have a trailing ellipsis "..." to indicate it will open a dialog rather than instantly performing an operation.

    I'm not seeing the selection bug you report. I get proper behavior when the "Select all as a group" box is unchecked.

    Quicken user since version 2 for DOS, now using QWin Biz & Personal Subscription (US) on Win10 Pro.

  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited October 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    It is behaving "strangely".  Thinking that it might have been related to the account type I started this time in a non retirement account, and it seemed to behave fine.

    Then I switched to an IRA account it worked for a couple of selections fine and then started selecting the "group".  So I thought maybe it is a certain action type, but when I went back to the ones I did before they selected the group.

    I went back to the original account and now it is doing multiple select too.
  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    Interesting because when I archived my transactions, the cash balance did not change one penny.  It stayed the same, no change.  The "cash" in the investment archive account was $0.00 as it should be.  My "cash" accounts for my investment accounts are separate, linked checking accounts.  I do not know if this makes any difference at all. 

    The investment accounts are straight investment accounts they are not an IRA etc.  I do have an IRA account but I did not try this feature on that account as the benefits would have been very minimal in my case.

    When I "moved/unarchived" them back to their original investment account the cash balance did not change then either.  I am not sure exactly where or what you all are seeing?

    Maybe this feature only works with certain account setups and that should have been disclosed if it was known.

  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    Interesting because when I archived my transactions, the cash balance did not change one penny.  It stayed the same, no change.  The "cash" in the investment archive account was $0.00 as it should be.  My "cash" accounts for my investment accounts are separate, linked checking accounts.  I do not know if this makes any difference at all. 

    The investment accounts are straight investment accounts they are not an IRA etc.  I do have an IRA account but I did not try this feature on that account as the benefits would have been very minimal in my case.

    When I "moved/unarchived" them back to their original investment account the cash balance did not change then either.  I am not sure exactly where or what you all are seeing?

    Maybe this feature only works with certain account setups and that should have been disclosed if it was known.

  • J_Mike
    J_Mike SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    @Snowman

    Useful observation - using a linked cash account eliminates the cash balance issue.

    Reflecting on this, it makes sense. The cash balance in the investment account is always zero as the cash flows in and out of the linked cash account. The linked cash account is not affected by the archive operation - other than the transfer account is changed.
    QWin & QMac (Deluxe) Subscription
    Quicken user since 1991

  • q_lurker
    q_lurker SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    "Reflecting on this, it makes sense."

    While Snowman identified that the cash balance in the investment account remained correct at $0, he did not indicate if the cash balance in the linked account remained as it had been.  As (I believe) buys and sells etc become BuyX and SellX, etc., when the cash is moved to linked cash account, when those BuyX and Sell X transactions are moved to the archive account, they may still point to the linked cash account -- or they may not.  If they still point there, the cash balance there should be unaffected.  If they no longer point to the linked cash account, that account's balance must be badly affected.  

    Not playing with 2018, so I cannot test.
  • Snowman
    Snowman Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Snowman said:

    I just did a test of this.  The archive process went smoothly and I then used the move command to put the archived transactions back in their original place.  Quicken once again did a backup, validate and viola they were back in their original place.  The only thing I had to do then was delete the empty archive account and rearchive the account.  I deleted the old account so that I would not have 2 archive accounts one with a "1" at the end of it.

    @q.lurker

    The cash balance did not change in either place.  My accounts have always had the linked cash accounts.  This may be one "of those features" where the "fine print" of the way it should be used needs to be developed because there certainly seems to be situations where an abundance of caution should be exercised.

    Could it be a possibility that in my case it is not "looking" at the cash part of the transactions at all, that it is just removing those transactions from the "active" file. 

    Anybody from Quicken care to comment on the ins and outs of this feature?  I have attached a screen shot of the "help" screen in Quicken for this feature.

    image
  • larschnur
    larschnur Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    Well, I tested archiving in two accounts that contain only bonds with monthly withdrawals.  There has always been a lot of activity in these accounts, one of which dates to 2006.  I backed up and nvalidated the accounts as well as using a non production copy. The archive proceeded with the smaller account and appeared to complete successfully,  I then ran validation again before proceeding to the large account.  This account did not end successfully.  The cash balance is incorrect. The transfer from the archived account appeared to transfer cash partially. The final validation performed during the last step of the archive process now has 41 damaged transactions in both of the archived accounts.  The damaged transactions are mostly early monthly withdrawals from the large bond account.  All I can say is beware using the archive process!  If anyone wants more details from my test I will be happy to provide.  At this point, I am not a happy customerl
  • larschnur
    larschnur Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2017
    I tried again with two stock accounts.  The first went smoothly and validation reported no errors. Then I ran a validation from the menu and errors appeared.  I left the errors alone and archived a second account.  Again validation from the archive reported no errors.  The cash balance was destroyed.  I can not even imagine would happened from looking at the new numbers.  A validation from the menu reported no errors from the previous account but new errors from the second account.  Something is definitely wrong with the way  the cash is handled.  I think Quicken QA needs to look at the real world!
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited October 2018
    I wonder has anyone having the problem with the archive function tested using the "move transactions" function?

    As I understand this basically when they decided to put in the move transactions function, they must have realized that they could use the same functions to "archive".
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