Placeholders 'stuck' in transaction history

Posted by Al on August 22, 2006, 10:00 pm

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I downloaded some 401k transactions and accepted some entry that
created placeholder values for one of the securities I have in my 401K
account. I have since gone back and completed the entries so when I
look in my transactions for this account I do not see any placeholder
transactions.

However, when i go to Security View for the particular security and
look at the transaction history, I still see the placeholder
transactions there.

Is there any way to get rid of these? If they didn't show up in my
reports I would ignore them but....

I have run a validation and that did not correct it

Posted by John Pollard on August 23, 2006, 8:12 am

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>I downloaded some 401k transactions and accepted some entry

>that

> created placeholder values for one of the securities I have in

> my 401K

> account. I have since gone back and completed the entries so

> when I

> look in my transactions for this account I do not see any

> placeholder

> transactions.

> However, when i go to Security View for the particular

> security and

> look at the transaction history, I still see the placeholder

> transactions there.

> Is there any way to get rid of these? If they didn't show up

> in my

> reports I would ignore them but....

> I have run a validation and that did not correct it

There's no reason to validate and no way it would have any
affect on your situation; placeholders are not corruption.

The only way to get rid of a placeholder is to delete it.

Normally, when you have entered the historical transactions for
a security that cause your actual holdings to match the number
of shares in the placeholder, Quicken "hides" the placeholder.
To delete a hidden placeholder you must unhide it; and doing
that may be different depending on which version of Quicken you
have. (Another good reason to specify that when you ask
questions).

One way to unhide a placeholder is to delete a transaction that
is part of its history ... or change a transaction that is part
of its history by altering the number of shares. Once the
history doesn't add up to the number of shares in the
placeholder, the placeholder will become visible again.

Another way to unhide a placeholder - if you have a Quicken
version newer than Q2005, is to check the Quicken "Investment
Transactions" Preference, "Show hidden transactions."

You should be aware: once a Quicken investment transaction has
been "linked" to a placeholder transaction, that "linked"
transaction will never act normally - it will never affect the
cash in the account - even if the placeholder is deleted. (At
least for versions through Q2006; I do not have Q2007). In
order to "fix" a transaction that has been linked to a
placeholder, you must not only delete the placeholder, you must
delete the linked transaction, then re-enter it.

Having said all that, you don't have to delete the placeholders.
I don't know why seeing them in reports should be troubling; if
all the other factors (#shares, cost, etc.) are correct, the
placeholders should not be a problem.

Posted by Al on August 23, 2006, 9:40 am

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Thanks for the info and advice John. (FYI, I am running Q06.)