Quicken for Windows needs an Undo feature

Rocket J Squirrel · August 2023

Undo simply can't be bolted on to an application after the fact. Every operation that affects the data has to push its effect onto an undo stack. This means that a large number of QWin functions would need augmentation to handle this. Forget it, it is just not doable short of a full rewrite.

@Chris_QPW

I agree, the database not supporting rollbacks is just the tip of the iceberg.

@Phil Burton

So what does the rest of the iceberg look like.

Guys! I just figured out a way for Quicken to implement Undo without changing the database or rewriting all the code!

We know that whenever the user makes any change to the database - entering a transaction, changing a transaction, deleting a transaction, etc. - Quicken immediately writes the change to the data file.

So to allow Undo, all that needs to change in the code is for Quicken to write every change to a new temporary copy of the data file instead of always writing to the active file. Then any change can be easily undone by reverting to the previous copy. Every session will create as many files as the user makes changes.

You will need to invest in a ton of drive storage space, but so what? (Ooh, or that cloud thing, whatever that is.) At the end of a session, all the new temporary files created during the session can be deleted.

I am only 3/4 joking.

SeaStar · August 2023

I heartily cast a YES vote to minimally include an "Undo last entry" option as well as a "Find last entry" option. If possible, please provide a feature to view several recent entries and enable User a way to select and update the problem entry. Thanks.

Chris_QPW · August 2023

So to allow Undo, all that needs to change in the code is for Quicken to write every change to a new temporary copy of the data file instead of always writing to the active file. Then any change can be easily undone by reverting to the previous copy. Every session will create as many files as the user makes changes.
You will need to invest in a ton of drive storage space, but so what? (Ooh, or that cloud thing, whatever that is.) At the end of a session, all the new temporary files created during the session can be deleted.
I am only 3/4 joking.

Just so people know this is a joke. One of the aspects of the "iceberg" I mentioned can be shown by actually working through this above statement.

"Write every change to a new temporary copy of the data file".

Define "change". Example where this isn't what one might think.

The user selects 100 transactions, and then deletes them. To the user this is one change, but it certainly isn't at the database/data file level, which might even have several database calls to just delete one transaction. So, you can't go to the lowest level and say on every database command save copy of data file. Well, you could, but when you go to do the undo, you would have no idea of how far back in the history of data files to go. You need "some top down information". Now that means that for every "user change" you have to store something that tells you are starting/ending "the change". That can't be done in one low level spot, it will be all over the UI code.

Lee Peters · February 10

I would love to have a last 20 transactions opportunity - maybe it is just a report of the transactions - not by date of the transaction but by the time the transaction was changed. Sometimes for some unknown reason, a transaction will be changed from the distant past that impacts my reconciliation of accounts which sometimes takes several hours to find.

Phil Burton · February 10

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20381511#Comment_20381511

This is a great idea. The same sqlite3 database used by Quicken is also used by a much more complex program, Adobe Lightroom (the classic desktop version). In the DEVELOP module, where the user edits a source file, the entire edit history is stored, and can be undone as needed.

By way of information, Lightroom works differently than Photoshop, which is probably better known. Photoshop is a "bit basher," meaning that any edits are immediately written into the photo being edited. Lightroom applies all the edits against the source file, which is never modified, to product an output picture for printing, web posting, etc.

Quicken and Adobe headquarters are less than 30 miles apart. Quicken engineers could do worse than ask for a courtesy meeting with the Lightroom development team, to learn more about Adobe's ightroom undo feature design.

Quicken Kristina · April 21

Hello All,

The status of this Idea has been changed to Under Consideration as it has reached enough votes and has been submitted to our Product and Development team for further review.

Thank you!

suepfister · July 29

I won't minimize the effort involved in implementing an undo feature, but it is doable. As an example, look at Family Tree Maker. They introduced a 'Turn Back Time' feature in 2019 that allows undo of up to the most recent 1,000 changes. There is a Change Log tab that shows all of the changes, and their date. You can simply pick one and roll back to that point. Their current release supports the roll back of up to the most recent 5,000 changes.

Family Tree Maker was first released in 1989, so I'm sure this was a challenge for them as well given the age of the code, but as shown, it can be done.

m9xhs6 · October 8

There is no dropdown box or similar item within the Quicken software that will simply undo an immediate previous action that you incorrectly inputted. In my case, I had some 60 transactions in an investment section. As I was completing a monthly update, I noticed the bottom of the transaction screen had a date that appeared superfluous — a date that had no transaction associated with it and was like 6 months earlier. I decided to delete it. A popup stated that I could not delete it, so I placed today's date (08 Oct 2025) in it. ALL OF THE SUDDEN, all the dates for all 60 or so transactions were changed to this date! If I could have found an appropriate action in a dropdown box from, say, EDIT, that would undo the previous transaction, all those dates could have been immediately restored! In a desperate attempt to find a solution to the problem, I right clicked on the date, THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN, ALL TRANSACTIONS EXCEPT THE LAST WERE DELETED. That's when I called your helpline. They stated there was no "undo" of the type I described in the program. Please include an action entitled something like "Undo Immediately Previous Transaction" under EDIT dropdown box!!!!

Quicken Anja · October 8

Hello @m9xhs6,

Thank you for reaching out with your request.

Your idea has been merged into this already active Idea thread regarding the same request which is currently marked as Under Consideration.

Thank you!

volvogirl · October 8

One sure way to do cancel or undo is to make a backup BEFORE you start each time (or after each session). Even if you think you will only be entering a couple transactions. And especially back up if you are going to do a find and replace or make any changes. Then you can go back and restore it if something gets messed up.

Quicken for Windows needs an Undo feature

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