Advanced Troubleshooting to Correct Problems With Quicken Data Files

Although data integrity problems do happen, often what is thought to be a data integrity problem, turns out to really be an issue with preferences, customizations, or misinterpreting the data Quicken shows you. Before troubleshooting data integrity issues, review your settings and customizations to ensure they are correct.

When data integrity issues do occur, common causes include improperly shutting down your computer, power failures, hardware failures, or even accessing your data on a network or removable drive. Symptoms of a problematic data file can include:

• Categories or numbers wrongly associated in reports when all report settings are correct.
• Dates missing from reports when all report settings are correct.
• Missing categories or tags.
• Inability to assign categories in split transactions.
• Data file backups that cannot be restored.

Note: When possible, the easiest solution is often to restore a backup of the Quicken data file that was made before the problems occurred. Ensure you are on the latest release of the program.

1. Click on File on the top menu bar, then select File Operations > Validate & Repair (In 2010 choose Validate).
2. If you are currently in the data file you would like to validate, it will already be selected.  If you want to validate a different file, then you will need to click Browse to locate that data file.
3. Put a check next to Validate file.
4. If you are experiencing investment-related issues, put a check next to Rebuild investing lots and Delete investing price history.
5. Click OK.

If the Validate utility detects problems within the file, you will receive a prompt to view the data_log in Notepad. This file is a record of the parts of your data that were repaired. The Quicken program saves a backup copy of this file before you validate. This file is located in the Validate folder in the same location as your Quicken file on your hard disk.

If the Super Validate utility detects problems within the file, you will receive a prompt to view the data_log in Notepad. This file is a record of which parts of your data were repaired. Quicken saves a backup copy of this file before you validate. This file is located in the Validate folder in the same location as your Quicken file on your hard disk.