two annoying Quicken problem workarounds

Posted by John on November 19, 2009, 5:09 pm

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Over a year ago, I had two major problems with (Mac) Quicken that
compelled me to
leave it for iBank because no one here, nor on Quicken support, could
answer two
simple, but major problems I encountered. This is just an update to say
that I
eventually figured out how to "beat" both problems.

1. I had been downloading my bank information from my checking account, and
reconciling it for about a year. I then got the bright idea to load in
nearly
two years of data previous to that so I could compare year to year spending.
After entering it, I was unsuccessful in ever reconciling the account
again. It
popped up all kinds of unhelpful help windows telling me that it just
couldn't
do or understand, or reconcile, and sometimes offered to help with
adjustments
that never worked... what a nightmare it was. I asked here and at Quicken's
help, and no one could clearly tell me what I needed to do. Nor was it
in the
about 5 reference books I have on the shelf from over the years on Quicken.

2. I set up ATM withdrawls and two credit card accounts and used the
[Account]
construct to have any amounts from withdrawls or checks to go into those
accounts for reconciliation against my cash spending and itemized credit
card
report spending. Well, the transfers would appear in the registers of
the newly
created accounts, but nine times out of ten, no money showed up there!
But one
time out of ten, it would! (this during the normal download from the bank).
Again, I asked here about it, and the Quicken help desk, and in the books I
had. No one could offer any useful advice. [oh, contacting Quicken help
always gets you a lot of of work to do for a remedy, but it is almost always
not on point, and a useless waste of time].

So Quicken use was 100% dead in the water for my needs.

But, iBank was too young and useless itself. I'm hoping that someone soon
develops a good application for this soon.

But, meanwhile, I did eventually find, on my own, workarounds for 1. and
2. above.
Why no one could tell me those things remains a mystery to me, because in
hindsight, they are obvious ways to assist a flawed program.

1. Fix 1 is to examine the download when it happens, and make a couple of
mouse clicks that can fix it. This only takes a few seconds to check and
fix the problem every time it happens. Why it happens, who knows. And why
here or Quicken's Help Desk just couldn't tell me this procedure, rather
than have me try very complicated and useless things, I don' know.

2. Fix 2 is to go to the menu, look for the obvious, select it as many times
as necessary, click again, and suddenly reconciliation will work as expected
without all the annoying and impossible pop ups telling you it all can't
be right... or whatever the complaints were. Again, why someone here or at
Quicken's Help Desk could not just tell me that and how simple it is, I have
no idea.

I hope I have made these simple fixes as clear and transparent as the
support
I have received here and from the Quicken Help Desk, or whatever they
call it.

But I'm still keeping my eyes out for a better program.

Posted by Bob Wang on November 19, 2009, 5:50 pm

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I've come across 2 instances where repeating the same action 3 times will
force it to work:

1) Sending a document via Windows Live Mail from inside a Microsoft Office
2007 document. For some reason, it takes 3 iterations for the action to
work.

2) Quicken 2009 scheduled transactions will sometimes not accept a
destination credit card account for payments, unless the selection action is
repeated 3 times.

I've come to accept that it takes persistence.

Posted by Stewart Berman on November 23, 2009, 1:11 am

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>I've come to accept that it takes persistence.

One indication of insanity used to be doing the same thing over and over again
expecting a different results. Unfortunately, with the advent of the personal
computer that is no longer the case.

>I've come across 2 instances where repeating the same action 3 times will

>force it to work:

>1) Sending a document via Windows Live Mail from inside a Microsoft Office

>2007 document. For some reason, it takes 3 iterations for the action to

>work.

>2) Quicken 2009 scheduled transactions will sometimes not accept a

>destination credit card account for payments, unless the selection action is

>repeated 3 times.

>I've come to accept that it takes persistence.

Posted by Sharx35 on November 23, 2009, 1:25 am

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>>I've come to accept that it takes persistence.

> One indication of insanity used to be doing the same thing over and over

> again

> expecting a different results. Unfortunately, with the advent of the

> personal

> computer that is no longer the case.

>>I've come across 2 instances where repeating the same action 3 times will

>>force it to work:

>>1) Sending a document via Windows Live Mail from inside a Microsoft Office

>>2007 document. For some reason, it takes 3 iterations for the action to

>>work.

>>2) Quicken 2009 scheduled transactions will sometimes not accept a

>>destination credit card account for payments, unless the selection action

>>is

>>repeated 3 times.

>>I've come to accept that it takes persistence.

3rd time is the charm, eh?