First-Time Download Question

Folks - After years of manually entering credit card transactions, I want to try downloading them from my bank instead since it seems like it would reduce my workload.

Before I do so, I'd like to understand what transactions get downloaded the very first time I connect. My credit card account gets used a LOT, and I don't want it to download hundreds of transactions from the past that I've already entered. Since I've never downloaded before, none of my historical transactions would be 'marked' as downloaded by my bank as I assume is the case for subsequent downloads.

Perhaps Quicken only downloads from the date you connect for the first time or something similar. Can anyone wander this question so that I don't inadvertently make a huge mess of my register with the initial connect? Many thanks and Happy Holidays.

Best Answer

  • GeoffG
    GeoffG SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
    I'll wander into this question. The number of days a download is available is determined by your bank/financial institution. The majority use 90 days give or take. So you will not be able to get more unless you are willing to do manual imports, which as a first time download user, I would not advise.

Answers

  • Answer, not wander. Darn autocorrect!!
  • GeoffG
    GeoffG SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
    I'll wander into this question. The number of days a download is available is determined by your bank/financial institution. The majority use 90 days give or take. So you will not be able to get more unless you are willing to do manual imports, which as a first time download user, I would not advise.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    I was going to give the same answer as GeoffG: in most cases, financial institutions download 90 days of transactions. You can sort your register by the status column if you need to delete a month or two of downloaded transactions.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • volvogirl
    volvogirl SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would say to always first make a backup of your file.  Then if you don't like the results you can restore the backup and try again or continue.

    I'm staying on Quicken 2013 Premier for Windows.

  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @jacobs idea of sorting by the Status column to find and delete the duplicates is a good one. Another option is to create a new account which you set up for download. After the initial download, delete all transactions before a certain date. The select all transactions in the old account and drag them to the new account in the sidebar. Finally, delete the now-empty old account.

    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
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