Allow disabling of reminders when restoring a backup

Rocket J Squirrel
Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 2023 in Backups and File Conversions
Today I restored a month-old backup file. I ended up with about a dozen reminders (scheduled transactions) which had passed their due dates and Quicken wanted to execute them.
It is very difficult to work with multiple reminders; they must be deleted or ignored one at a time. Multiple selection is not allowed in the Bill and Income Reminders window.
My suggestion is this:
When restoring a backup file which has overdue reminders, prompt the user what to do about active reminders. I can think of several useful options
  • "ignore [skip] all"
  • "delete all"
  • "do nothing" which would amount to leaving the overdue reminders as they are

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

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Comments

  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bumpty bumpty bump.

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

  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

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

  • splasher
    splasher SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bumpity

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

  • DoctorBrown
    DoctorBrown Member ✭✭
    I would like to raise this as a code RED as far as backups are concerned. I restored a backup that was 2 months old and the 'auto enter' and overdue reminders made the file unusable for my needs. Any earlier and the backup is essentially useless. If you are restoring a backup, you should be able to see the file as it was on the date the backup was made. Because typically you are trying to redo or undo something that has gone wrong, and these reminders make determining what went wrong almost impossible.
  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    With all the problems Quicken has, restoring a backup is recommended more often than ever. Reminders that want to execute upon restore continue to be a problem. So, in other words, "bump."

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

  • Sherlock
    Sherlock Member ✭✭✭✭
    If you would like to prevent auto entry of reminders when you restore a backup of Quicken file, I suggest temporarily resetting the system date and time to the date and time of the backup Quicken file.  You may then manage the reminders as you see fit before correcting the system date and time.
  • DoctorBrown
    DoctorBrown Member ✭✭
    Setting date/time of the computer in order to block Auto Entry reminders from executing is, at best, a clumsy workaround, at worst, it can cause unexpected PC behavior. On today's computer, there are may functions that depend on the date/time to be set to the correct time.
    1. The user must disable the setting: Set time Automatically. If not, the system will update and set the clock to the current time after a few seconds.
    2. If the clock is set to a prior time communication to other computers on the internet could be affected because digital certificates used for secure communication may become invalid.
    3. There are may scheduled tasks that are configured that a user may have no knowledge. They could be triggered to run and cause unexpected behavior.
    4. If you have any cloud storage syncing enable, I have no idea how that could mess up your files.

    So although you may succeed when you reset the system time, you are taking a calculated risk. This is something a user should not have to do.
  • splasher
    splasher SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    So, are you suggesting in a round about way that the user disable their internet connection prior to setting the date back to avoid all of the issues you listed?

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

  • DoctorBrown
    DoctorBrown Member ✭✭
    edited January 2022
    I don't have a comprehensive list of all the system functions that may be affected. I don't know if disabling the internet connection is sufficient. I'm saying there is a risk in resetting the system clock that the user should not have to take. I am pointing out to Quicken that there is a problem with the recovery from a backup that MUST be addressed. Otherwise a backup is almost useless unless the backup is very recent (a day, a week, a month, I don't know). if you need to look at a file from a year ago, then I hope you have good luck.
  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2022
    Oh, I get it now. Unplug the laptop and take it across the International Date Line (backwards, not forwards) enough times that you reach the date of the backup file. If the seasons don't match, cross the horizon also. Then restore the backup.
    Some of the suggestions for "workarounds" on this forum are simply unhelpful.

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

  • Rocket J Squirrel
    Rocket J Squirrel SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm gonna have to bump this one again.
    I back up Quicken after every session, and only rarely need to resort to using a backup file. But when I do, what a mess with reminders!
    When creating a backup, the user probably doesn't know whether he'll ever need it. Will it be restored tomorrow because of a problem? Or will it sit for years until the user needs some info not found in the current file? These two cases probably call for different reminder handling and is why a restore-time option to deal with reminders is badly needed.

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

  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    As discussed in an enhancement request for Year End Copy Archive Files, an option to exclude or halt execution of scheduled reminders when accessing archive files would also be a big enhancement.

    Programmers, please also add this to the Restore function.

  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    I agree this would be a valuable enhancement, especially when users must restore a backup from some time ago.

    QWin Premier subscription
  • splasher
    splasher SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hey Quicken, Inc. What is so difficult about implementing this idea? You continue to add features that are either useless or unwanted by the vast majority of the users, but can't do this idea which would help a large number of users that periodically need to restore a backup to find some information or resolve an issue caused by a bug in the current version.

    The issue of Quicken resetting Opening Balances would be a prime example of lots of users having to look in a backup to find what the OB should be instead of what Quicken changed it to through its faulty handing of reconnecting an account for One Step Update.

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

  • DoctorBrown
    DoctorBrown Member ✭✭

    Hey splasher good to see someone is still championing this. I sure think this should have been fixed YEARS ago. Over the last couple month I've been tying to merge data from a backup from 2010 into my current file and what a wholly mess that is. So, in reality saving backups at this point is practically useless (unless you are a gluten for punishment).

    I wonder what's going on on this forum. In the suggestions section, I posted a lengthy discussion of the issues trying to work with backup and, I swear, that post has disappeared! So maybe we're just … Never mind.