How do I recover my categories list?

Martlock
Martlock Member ✭✭
Today when I went to pay some vendor bills, I started typing in the "categories" as I usually do, but the "suggestions" did not pop up like normal. I ended up typing the entire word for that category (in this case, "windshield" and it asked me if I wanted to create a new category named "windshield!" So I went to the categories list and all of the DOZENS of business specific categories that we had set up are gone! I backed up to this morning's file, and that did not help. I backed up to a file from 4 days ago, and THAT did not help.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to where all my categories went? How do I recover them? How is this going to effect my business statements? If I have to redo all those categories, how will it pick up all the past category entries?

More info.....when creating an INVOICE, the categories all show up. When creating a payment to the vendor, they do NOT show up. When opening the categories list from the "tools" drop down box, they do NOT show up.

Answers

  • Quicken Anja
    Quicken Anja Moderator mod

    Hello @Martlock,

    Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about your issue, though I apologize that you are experiencing this.

    To start with, I suggest that you please try validating and/or super validating your data file. However, I do recommend that you first save a backup file prior to performing these steps.

    Validate

    1. File
    2. Validate and Repair File...
    3. Validate File
    4. Click OK
    5. Close the Data Log
    6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
    7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.

    If the issue persists, proceed to Super Validate. If the issue is resolved after performing validation, then please disregard the instructions to Super Validate.

    Super Validate:

    1. File
    2. Hold CTRL + Shift and click Validate and Repair File...
    3. Super Validate File
    4. Click OK
    5. Close the Data Log
    6. Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)
    7. Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.


    I hope this helps!

    -Quicken Anja
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  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    When reviewing your Tools / Category List please make sure that
    • the Category List is set to "Show Full List" and
    • "[x] Show hidden categories" is selected and
    • the list is sorted by category (if the Category column title does not have a "▲" in it, click the title to sort the list) and
    • the grey sidebar is set to show All Categories

    You should now be able to spot anomalies.

    It's been reported that previously invisible categories named ACCT_xxxx (where xxxx is a 3-digit or longer decimal or hexadecimal number) are now causing problems displaying categories in selection lists. These categories need to be deleted to restore the selection lists to normal.

  • Martlock
    Martlock Member ✭✭
    The first time I tried to validate the file, it said it could not validate that file. I tried a second time and it did validate it and said it fixed some errors. After that, my stuff was back. Thank you!
  • Quicken Anja
    Quicken Anja Moderator mod

    @Martlock you're welcome and thanks for the update! Glad to hear that worked for you. 🙂

    -Quicken Anja
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This discussion has been closed.