Stupid Quicken!!
Tonight started to close out the books on last month and do the year-end wrap-up and reports for the accountant. this means reconciling accounts, put transactions in proper categories, etc. Quicken didn't want to open the data file. Said it was corrupt. Rolled to the most recent backup. Same thing. Finally got the one from August to open. I got all the transactions from all the accounts back in except one. Have to key in 2.5 months' worth manually, then I have to reconcile all the accounts again, then I have to re-categorize all the transactions to generate the reports for the accountant. I went over the hard disk and didn't see any problems with it, seems to be local to the Quicken data file. The mirror copy on the server had the same problem. It is unlikely two disks on two systems are bad. It appears the file was corrupted the last time Quicken saved it.
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David
The chief cause of failure in this life is giving up what you want most for what you want at the moment. -
I don't know what version of Q you use, but a little know "Super Validate" exists in most of the newer versions.
Do not use "Validate" as it can lose data!
First, check your HELP file to see if it has an entry for SuperValidate (or Super Validate). If not, go to the Q web site and search their Knowledge Base and see if it is supported in your version (one reason I always update - even though they change the "look & feel" more than I'd like. Has taken me a month to get used to Q10!).
IF your version has it:
Access SuperValidate by hold down the SHIFT and CTRL keys while selecting the Validate command. Continue holding down the keys until the Super Validate process is complete.
This has recovered corrupted files for me.
BTW, as a long time Q user, i always back up my file to 2 different drives. One may be corrupt, the other almost always OK.Last edited by Guest; 01-04-2010, 11:18 PM. -
I have used QuickBooks for my invoicing for years, but I just don't trust it any farther than I can throw it for anything more critical. Too many "corrupt file" errors, and between the built-in obsolescence and the non-support of previous versions, the whole focus of the program seems to be on the forced promotion of pricey updates, which are little more than (slightly) less expensive than the entire original program, and which seem to come around almost yearly. I find Intuit's greed to be considerable, and that says a lot, since I also deal with Autodesk...
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sounds like it might be about time to consider alternatives. Accounting software functionality seems to have matured to a fairly stable level now. There are quite a few GPL licensed packages out there now.Comment
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Paul, been meaning to ask... I have Quicken 2008. Is there a compelling reason to upgrade to 2010? I am not a power user - I track the expenses mostly to be able to generate reports for the accountant at tax time but don't really do any budgeting, etc although I probably should.David
The chief cause of failure in this life is giving up what you want most for what you want at the moment.Comment
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For those of us who use MS Money, they quit selling it about June of last year and have stopped all development. I personally preferred it over Quicken and have been using it since MS gave away Money 95 for Windows 95 if you could download it.
Still trying to decide which version of Quicken I (don't) want to spend my money on. Is it still true that the file Quicken file format is different between Mac & PC?"It's a dog eat dog world out there, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear."- Norm (from Cheers)
Eat beef-because the west wasn't won on salad.Comment
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If you are going to have to learn a new package anyway, I would suggest gnucash - it's essentially open source Quicken. Supports downloads from the bank, which many alternative applications do not.
If you do download from the bank, Intuit will require you to upgrade Quicken every three years to keep that feature. I had to upgrade to Quicken 2009, which is EXTREMELY slow and doesn't have any feature I use that Quicken 2006 did not - except they won't let me download from Quicken 2006 anymore.--------------------------------------------------
Electrical Engineer by day, Woodworker by nightComment
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I've looked at gnucash development for quite a while. What I never liked, as an open source product, is the frequent release of unstable versions and the vast number of bug fixes in each. Of course, free users are the beta testers, but they seem to release more alpha versions.
For simple home use, OK. But I need to track investments, IRAs, 401(k), SEPs, LOML as an employees, myself as an independent contractor including estimated taxes, and want a direct interface with TurboTax Home & Business.
Just can't bring myself to trust it enough.Comment
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I've been retired for a while now, and haven't been required to file taxes for several years. Why don't you just retire? Then you might not have to worry about Quicken.
EdDo you know about kickback? Ray has a good writeup here... https://www.sawdustzone.org/articles...mare-explained
For a kickback demonstration video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/910584...demonstration/Comment
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61.5 years old now, but can't ever see myself 100% retired. I'd be one of those "old geezers" that dropped dead in 6 - 12 months.
In my field, I plan to work "locum tenens" (temp) medical jobs, 5 -6 months a year, and do more work in free clinics at no pay, maybe until the day I drop, or can't get around anymore.
besides, if LOML was also retired, a few months of me hanging around the house and she'd kill me.
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I looked at gnucash last night. Too complicated for me. Right off the bat, it reminded me of QuickBooks or Peachtree. All I really need is a basic checkbook register that I can reconcile with the bank easily. Tracking loans and CC balances would be nice but not a deal breaker.
I'm one of those IT folks that can figure out hardware, OS, switches, phone systems, etc., but I can't program a flippin' VCR, much less figure out software easily. (Still having trouble with the DVR, and we've had it going on 2 years-even the kids are better with it) SWMBO can do stuff in new software in 5 minutes that takes me months to figure out. So, if I can't figure out how to use something like gnucash in 5 to 10 minutes, I look for something else. Just the way my brain is wired."It's a dog eat dog world out there, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear."- Norm (from Cheers)
Eat beef-because the west wasn't won on salad.Comment
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I looked at GnuCash too a while back. Overkill for me as well. Quicken normally does just fine, except when it screws up the data.
David
The chief cause of failure in this life is giving up what you want most for what you want at the moment.Comment
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I'm curious what seemed complicated about gnucash. It's organized like a checkbook register - if one is familiar with manually writing checks and maintaining a checkbook register, they would likely be comfortable with gnucash.
With gnucash, you just fill out the "check book register", just like a manual one, it's just done on the computer.
Gnucash can do more, like any financial program, but at heart it's a computer based checkbook register.--------------------------------------------------
Electrical Engineer by day, Woodworker by nightComment
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