Validation should specify what it changed [8 Merged Votes]

Rocket J Squirrel · September 2020

In general, Validate doesn't tell the user what it changed. Its messages are vague to the point of uselessness. Today I got this one:

QDF:
Validating your data.
Repaired your data file by removing a damaged category. Please check your category list for missing categories by going to Tools>Category List.

Which category was removed? I have no idea. I searched for uncategorized transactions and found none.

Please, when Validate changes something, provide the information to the user.

Boatnmaniac · September 2020

Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. The information about what was changed regarding investment accounts/transactions is usually sufficient for me but for everything else I can usually never find what was change/corrected. It's sometimes enough for me to forget about the validation and reluctantly restore a backup file.

UserDavidC · September 2020

Rocket you are absolutely correct.

The detail provided is insufficient to verify or correct the errors encountered.

I remember a report I got several years ago that listed 10 or so error messages. Each message was identical with no way to know what record each referred to.

family.05.johnson · October 2020

Got same message today and not sure what category removed... UGH

Snowman · November 2020

I validate my file once a week. Last week it showed 977 transactions with unspecified accounts. I started opening backup files and searching for "unspecified accounts". Every backup file from 10/20/2020 back to 01/03/2020 had unspecified accounts even though validate did not "find" them in those files when it was run. I did this using the search box. I had to go back to my 01/01/2020 (it was the first backup that did not have any unspecified accounts in it) backup and then restore that. I then had to reenter every transaction (I printed the registers for all accounts from the old file totally 175 pages of transactions) for the year, a process which has taken over 25 hours to do. I have about 14 pages left to do.

Quicken needs to write a true validate data file that is run before a backup is done and if there are errors explain what they are. I will now keep my backups for up to 2 years instead of the 1 year I used to do.

I have no idea why suddenly validate finally found there were 927 transactions with unspecified accounts. I never "delete" and account, I always hide it instead. I had something similar happen 4 years ago but I only had to reenter 6 months of data instead of 11 months.

D-Two · December 2020

I can accept that crashes happen and that data files need to be recovered / filechecked. (I wish they didn't, they shouldn't, but they do). This post is JUST about improving the messaging coming from there.

A recent validation of my file showed scores of:
* Quicken repaired damaged transaction index. No action required.
and
* Quicken found an invalid transaction and removed it. "ACCT_dac55a85" 0/ 0/1900

Both of these send chills down my spine, as neither one gives me *any* insight as to *what* account or *date* of transaction or *amount* -- Any one of those items, or more ought to still be available, that can give me some Information to work with so that I can go back in and re-add the transaction that Quicken decided it could Remove or Repair.

When this happens, I am left to scour my quicken database (YEARS of data) trying to figure out what data it may have incorrectly "fixed" or removed.

QUICKEN TEAM: Please, please, please: can you give us any/all data that you have about the entries that you are correcting/removing so that we can fix them up manually later? Finding the errant/missing data is a scavenger hunt and if you could at least provide some clues, it would greatly help us keep our financial "picture" in Quicken as accurate as possible.

Thank you

gvcoj1ms · December 2020

I just did a File Validation and report said that a Category had been deleted and I should check my Categories List for the missing one. No offense, but "Come on, man". With a Category list as long as it is (>100) this is not really a practical suggestion.

I would suggest that the report tell the user which Category(ies) were deleted by name. There might be times when the name is the corrupted field, but I'm guessing that would be the fewer of the number. Most times it would be possible?
Best, Jim

Roger M · December 2020

Voted Yes. I would also like to know WHICH scheduled transactions have been corrected after running a file validation.

steven.kerns · December 2020

I agree it's dumb that it doesn't list the deleted categories. I, too, have a ton of categories. My work-around is that when I see that message, I print the category list to a file from both the current file and a recovered file. Then I use a text compare utility (Beyond Compare) to see what's changed. It works, but it's a hassle.

An even better solution than simply telling us what category was deleted would be to assign all those deleted category transactions to a new category during the validate process -- ideally "[deleted category]_new". Then we'd know which transactions were affected.

Rocket J Squirrel · December 2020

[Removed-Self-Referencing Link]

davezechnich · February 7

Agree with above comments. In fact, rather than deleting a category, please just tell me what error quicken thinks it found and let me decide how to fix the error. This is very frustrating to try to fix out what Quicken did to "fix" my file. If indeed a fix was required at all.

davezechnich · February 7

Same goes for "repaired" accounts. Just tell me what Quicken thinks needs repairing then let me repair it. I am a CPA and believe I am in a better position to decide how to "fix" or "repair" my accounting.

Chris_QPW · February 7

davezechnich said:

Agree with above comments. In fact, rather than deleting a category, please just tell me what error quicken thinks it found and let me decide how to fix the error. This is very frustrating to try to fix out what Quicken did to "fix" my file. If indeed a fix was required at all.

It is highly doubtful that they would ever put in such an option. A database like Quicken's is going to have all kinds of cross referencing and such. The purpose of Validate and Repair is to bring the database back to a "consistent state". The user doesn't even have any idea of what that is, let alone direct how to fix things.

movingelys · February 28

I agree. This and I have gotten a message that says: "Duplicate category name. Try another name." I have looked and can't find a duplicate so it would be helpful if quicken would tell me what it is seeing instead of this vague message.

Rocket J Squirrel · July 2

Let's show some love for this suggestion! Today I got the oh-so-helpful

QDF:
Validating your data.
Quicken repaired damaged transaction index. No action required.
Quicken found an invalid transaction and removed it. "ACCT_133c3" 0/ 0/1900
Quicken repaired some transaction information. No action required.
"ACCT_133c3" 0/ 0/1900

I defy even the most seasoned Quicken programmers to make sense of this. Much less Joe User.

FlyerFran · July 2

Agree that details would be useful. My favorite is "deleted a category" gotten this one a few times and never could find which one it was.

Quicken SangeethaS · July 28

Hi all, We are looking into this and https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7850837/need-a-tool-to-really-truly-repair-data-corruption-13-merged-votes#latest

Those of you who use Validate and Repair often, can you please give me some information:

How often do you Validate and Repair your files?
What prompts you to run a Validate and Repair? Is it a periodic schedule or do you run it when you see some issues? If so, what issues?
What benefits do you see by running Validate and Repair?

Validation should specify what it changed [8 Merged Votes]

New · Last Updated September 2020

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