Downloading transactions, Q2007 suddenly doesn't seem to find the right account

Posted by Eric S. on September 25, 2007, 12:22 pm

Please log in for more thread options

I just downloaded transactions for my checking account. I have been doing
this for a couple of years over various versions of Quicken for this account
with no problem. Now suddenly, I'm getting a message after downloading
saying: If you have set up an account in Quicken to track this account,
choose "Use an existing Quicken account" and then select it from the list.
Otherwise choose "Create a new Quicken account and Quicken will add on for
you.

What's going on? My checking account doesn't appear in the "Use an existing
Quicken account" list. And I don't want to create an new Quicken account
because I already have one for my checking account. If I check my account
list, I see that online services are activated for my checking account. So
why doesn't Quicken recognize it when downloading the transactions? It is
possible my bank has changed something? My bank account number hasn't
changed recently.

Thanks.
- Eric S.

Posted by John Pollard on September 25, 2007, 1:19 pm

Please log in for more thread options

Eric S. wrote:

> I just downloaded transactions for my checking account. I

> have been

> doing this for a couple of years over various versions of

> Quicken for

> this account with no problem.

You didn't say what method you use to download: Direct Connect,
Web Connect, or Express Web Connect.

> Now suddenly, I'm getting a message

> after downloading saying: If you have set up an account in

> Quicken

> to track this account, choose "Use an existing Quicken

> account" and

> then select it from the list. Otherwise choose "Create a new

> Quicken

> account and Quicken will add on for you.

> What's going on?

> My checking account doesn't appear in the "Use an

> existing Quicken account" list.

That's because it's already "activated" for download.

> And I don't want to create an new

> Quicken account because I already have one for my checking

> account.

> If I check my account list, I see that online services are

> activated for my checking account.

See above.

One thing to try then ... is to deactivate then reactivate the
account for download. Being advised that this will likely cause
the first subsequent download to download quite a few
transactions that were previously downloaded. As a precaution:
backup first.

> So why doesn't Quicken recognize it when

> downloading the transactions?

Don't know.

But I would consider the possibility that some of your Quicken
account identification data may have gotten corrupted. When the
account is deactivated, you can re-enter any of that data. If
you choose to do that, I would put my cursor at the beginning of
the field I wanted to change, hold down the space bar until the
cursor will not move to the right any longer, then start keying
the new data at the beginning of the field.

> It is possible my bank has changed something?

Definitely. But I can't tell you if that's true; nor if true,
that such a change caused what you're seeing. You're in a much
better position to find this out by contacting your bank;
sometimes you have to be persistent to find the person at the fi
that knows ... probably someone in tech support but maybe not
the first person you talk to.

In the meantime, I would save your OFXlog.

Help > Product and Customer Support > OFXlog > Save as

There may be some useful information in there (the OFX specs are
available online for free, Google can find them).

> My bank account number hasn't changed recently.

--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

Posted by Eric S. on September 25, 2007, 2:22 pm

Please log in for more thread options

> Eric S. wrote:

>> I just downloaded transactions for my checking account. I have been

>> doing this for a couple of years over various versions of Quicken for

>> this account with no problem.

> You didn't say what method you use to download: Direct Connect, Web

> Connect, or Express Web Connect.

Download type as it appears on the bank's website: OFX (Quicken)

>> Now suddenly, I'm getting a message

>> after downloading saying: If you have set up an account in Quicken

>> to track this account, choose "Use an existing Quicken account" and

>> then select it from the list. Otherwise choose "Create a new Quicken

>> account and Quicken will add on for you.

>> What's going on?

>> My checking account doesn't appear in the "Use an

>> existing Quicken account" list.

> That's because it's already "activated" for download.

That's what I figured.

>> And I don't want to create an new

>> Quicken account because I already have one for my checking account.

>> If I check my account list, I see that online services are activated for

>> my checking account.

> See above.

> One thing to try then ... is to deactivate then reactivate the account for

> download. Being advised that this will likely cause the first subsequent

> download to download quite a few transactions that were previously

> downloaded. As a precaution: backup first.

I thought of trying that, but I didn't want to go through that extra work
until I verified there wasn't a simpler solution.

>> So why doesn't Quicken recognize it when

>> downloading the transactions?

> Don't know.

> But I would consider the possibility that some of your Quicken account

> identification data may have gotten corrupted. When the account is

> deactivated, you can re-enter any of that data. If you choose to do that,

> I would put my cursor at the beginning of the field I wanted to change,

> hold down the space bar until the cursor will not move to the right any

> longer, then start keying the new data at the beginning of the field.

What's the reason for doing that? To make sure the field is blanked out
first?

>> It is possible my bank has changed something?

> Definitely. But I can't tell you if that's true; nor if true, that such a

> change caused what you're seeing. You're in a much better position to

> find this out by contacting your bank; sometimes you have to be persistent

> to find the person at the fi that knows ... probably someone in tech

> support but maybe not the first person you talk to.

> In the meantime, I would save your OFXlog.

> Help > Product and Customer Support > OFXlog > Save as

> There may be some useful information in there (the OFX specs are available

> online for free, Google can find them).

Did that. Looks like it doesn't write a log entry if the download process
didn't complete. And I hit cancel on the screen that asked me to identify
the acccount. So I have nothing to compare to the old ones (that worked) to
see if anything has changed. I'll keep looking at it, though, to see if
anything else jumps out at me.

>> My bank account number hasn't changed recently.

> --

One other note. I just tried downloading transactions for another account
at a different bank and that worked fine as usual.

Thanks for the ideas.

- Eric S.

Posted by John Pollard on September 25, 2007, 4:30 pm

Please log in for more thread options

Eric S. wrote:

>> Eric S. wrote:

>>> I just downloaded transactions for my checking account. I

>>> have been

>>> doing this for a couple of years over various versions of

>>> Quicken

>>> for this account with no problem.

>> You didn't say what method you use to download: Direct

>> Connect, Web

>> Connect, or Express Web Connect.

> Download type as it appears on the bank's website: OFX

> (Quicken)

>>> Now suddenly, I'm getting a message

>>> after downloading saying: If you have set up an account in

>>> Quicken

>>> to track this account, choose "Use an existing Quicken

>>> account" and

>>> then select it from the list. Otherwise choose "Create a new

>>> Quicken

>>> account and Quicken will add on for you.

>>>

>>> What's going on?

>>> My checking account doesn't appear in the "Use an

>>> existing Quicken account" list.

>> That's because it's already "activated" for download.

> That's what I figured.

>>> And I don't want to create an new

>>> Quicken account because I already have one for my checking

>>> account.

>>> If I check my account list, I see that online services are

>>> activated for my checking account.

>> See above.

>> One thing to try then ... is to deactivate then reactivate

>> the

>> account for download. Being advised that this will likely

>> cause the

>> first subsequent download to download quite a few

>> transactions that

>> were previously downloaded. As a precaution: backup first.

> I thought of trying that, but I didn't want to go through that

> extra

> work until I verified there wasn't a simpler solution.

Reverting to a backup, possibly?

If not, based on your first answer above, deactivate the account
but do NOT reactivate it; the Web Connect download initiated
from your fi's web site should reactivate.

>>> So why doesn't Quicken recognize it when

>>> downloading the transactions?

>> Don't know.

>> But I would consider the possibility that some of your

>> Quicken

>> account identification data may have gotten corrupted. When

>> the

>> account is deactivated, you can re-enter any of that data.

>> If you

>> choose to do that, I would put my cursor at the beginning of

>> the

>> field I wanted to change, hold down the space bar until the

>> cursor

>> will not move to the right any longer, then start keying the

>> new

>> data at the beginning of the field.

> What's the reason for doing that? To make sure the field is

> blanked

> out first?

Yes. Corruption may consist of undisplayable characters;
blanking out the entire field guarantees there will be no such
characters still present.

>>> It is possible my bank has changed something?

>> Definitely. But I can't tell you if that's true; nor if

>> true, that

>> such a change caused what you're seeing. You're in a much

>> better

>> position to find this out by contacting your bank; sometimes

>> you

>> have to be persistent to find the person at the fi that knows

>> ...

>> probably someone in tech support but maybe not the first

>> person you

>> talk to. In the meantime, I would save your OFXlog.

>> Help > Product and Customer Support > OFXlog > Save as

>> There may be some useful information in there (the OFX specs

>> are

>> available online for free, Google can find them).

> Did that. Looks like it doesn't write a log entry if the

> download

> process didn't complete. And I hit cancel on the screen that

> asked

> me to identify the acccount. So I have nothing to compare to

> the old

> ones (that worked) to see if anything has changed. I'll keep

> looking

> at it, though, to see if anything else jumps out at me.

You might also want to look at CONNLOG.

--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup

Posted by Eric S. on September 25, 2007, 7:38 pm

Please log in for more thread options

> Eric S. wrote:

>>> Eric S. wrote:

>>>> I just downloaded transactions for my checking account. I have been

>>>> doing this for a couple of years over various versions of Quicken

>>>> for this account with no problem.

>>>

>>> You didn't say what method you use to download: Direct Connect, Web

>>> Connect, or Express Web Connect.

>> Download type as it appears on the bank's website: OFX (Quicken)

>>>

>>>> Now suddenly, I'm getting a message

>>>> after downloading saying: If you have set up an account in Quicken

>>>> to track this account, choose "Use an existing Quicken account" and

>>>> then select it from the list. Otherwise choose "Create a new Quicken

>>>> account and Quicken will add on for you.

>>>>

>>>> What's going on?

>>>

>>>> My checking account doesn't appear in the "Use an

>>>> existing Quicken account" list.

>>>

>>> That's because it's already "activated" for download.

>>>

>> That's what I figured.

>>>> And I don't want to create an new

>>>> Quicken account because I already have one for my checking account.

>>>

>>>> If I check my account list, I see that online services are

>>>> activated for my checking account.

>>> See above.

>>>

>>> One thing to try then ... is to deactivate then reactivate the

>>> account for download. Being advised that this will likely cause the

>>> first subsequent download to download quite a few transactions that

>>> were previously downloaded. As a precaution: backup first.

>> I thought of trying that, but I didn't want to go through that extra

>> work until I verified there wasn't a simpler solution.

> Reverting to a backup, possibly?

> If not, based on your first answer above, deactivate the account but do

> NOT reactivate it; the Web Connect download initiated from your fi's web

> site should reactivate.

>>>> So why doesn't Quicken recognize it when

>>>> downloading the transactions?

>>> Don't know.

>>>

>>> But I would consider the possibility that some of your Quicken

>>> account identification data may have gotten corrupted. When the

>>> account is deactivated, you can re-enter any of that data. If you

>>> choose to do that, I would put my cursor at the beginning of the

>>> field I wanted to change, hold down the space bar until the cursor

>>> will not move to the right any longer, then start keying the new

>>> data at the beginning of the field.

>> What's the reason for doing that? To make sure the field is blanked

>> out first?

> Yes. Corruption may consist of undisplayable characters; blanking out the

> entire field guarantees there will be no such characters still present.

>>>> It is possible my bank has changed something?

>>> Definitely. But I can't tell you if that's true; nor if true, that

>>> such a change caused what you're seeing. You're in a much better

>>> position to find this out by contacting your bank; sometimes you

>>> have to be persistent to find the person at the fi that knows ...

>>> probably someone in tech support but maybe not the first person you

>>> talk to. In the meantime, I would save your OFXlog.

>>>

>>> Help > Product and Customer Support > OFXlog > Save as

>>>

>>> There may be some useful information in there (the OFX specs are

>>> available online for free, Google can find them).

>> Did that. Looks like it doesn't write a log entry if the download

>> process didn't complete. And I hit cancel on the screen that asked

>> me to identify the acccount. So I have nothing to compare to the old

>> ones (that worked) to see if anything has changed. I'll keep looking

>> at it, though, to see if anything else jumps out at me.

> You might also want to look at CONNLOG.

> --

I reactivated the account as you suggested. I wasn't too painful after all.
We'll see what happens next month when I try it again.

Thanks for your help.
- Eric S.