copy/paste split transaction

I tried this with a very simple two-line split and did not see the problem you're having. Seems there must be something more involved, but I don't know what.

Have you tried with several different transactions?

Have you tried Validating a Quicken Copy of your data and testing in the Validated Copy?

I tried an earlier transaction and still got jumbled results.

I created a new trnasaction with just 4 simple splits and still bad results. The amounts came across OK but all 4 categories were different, soemthing used in a different trnasaction (I haven't had time to search to see where the bad data is being picked up.)

I've got a different work around. I export the trnasaction to a QIF file and then import that file into the other file. Slightly more tedious than a copy and paste transaction but certainly a lot easier than re-entering all the split data a second time.

Not familiar with validating. I'll have to research that.

Thanks for the response.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

File > File Operations > Copy File > File Operations > Validate

I'm sorry though; now that I read your reply and re-read your original post, I think I intentionally ignored what I thought was a mis-statement.

I've gotten too used to folks talking about Quicken "files" when they really mean Quicken "accounts". I (think I) incorrectly assumed you were making the same mistake, so I answered as if you were talking about doing a copy/paste between accounts in the same file. I should have taken you at your word, or asked.

I just did a quick test that tried to copy a two line split between checking accounts two Q2002 Deluxe files and I got both lines in the new file, but the second line had spaces in the Category field, instead of the category from the copied transaction.

My guess is that you're out of luck for Q2002. If it's any consolation, I just tried the same thing in Q2008 and it worked correctly.

I think you will find that copying and pasting transactions with splits between Quicken 2008 files only works well if the files are copies of each other.

If you make a copy of your Quicken file, create a transaction with splits in one and copy and paste it into the other it will work.

I suspect that is because Quicken does not actually copy the literal strings but a reference (key) to them. For example, if the key to the category "Gifts" is 3 in the first file and 3 is the key to "Gas" in the second file the category will show up as "Gas" in the second file.

Try creating a brand new Quicken file with one checking account and pasting a transaction with splits from a checking account in your regular file into the new one. Some categories will be changed and others will be blank. The blank ones are were the keys don't exist in the new file. What is interesting is that Quicken does not even alert you to the missing keys.

You can't export the transacti>John Keith wrote:

Well, you're at least partially right. I do now see that Q2008 will not get the categories correct in a situation similar to the one you describe above.

I do find it difficult to believe that Intuit would choose to do it as you have postulated, but I also don't think they have a great deal of interest in the overall process, so they're probably not rushing to make it work.

You definitely can import QIF files into checking accounts in newer versions of Quicken ... with a little extra work. But for the op, no extra work is involved since he's using Q2002.

Yes, the terminology can get in the way!

I thought I had succeeded at doing the copy/paste during an entry a long time ago but now I may need to go back and check and see if there isn't some error!

Thank you for not pestering me to get current with my Quicken. My 2002 Basic does everything I need it to do for now. I'm sure something will eventually come along that forces me to upgrade but until then I'll stay put.

And for now I'll use the QIF method of exchange when I have a need to copy a similar split transaction.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

For future reference (when I do have to upgrade) what are the extra steps to import a QIF into a checking account.

John Keith snipped-for-privacy@juno.com

Intuit doesn't use the clipboard for copy and paste. It stores the information internally. If it used the clipboard it would use the strings instead of the keys.

I understand Intuit's interest in making it hard to move data out of Quicken into another financial package. I don't understand why they make it so hard to move data between Quicken files.

Most of the problem features that Intuit introduces with each new version of Quicken are probably due to the fact that their designers and developers don't use it -- at least not the business side.

I usually stay two years behind. This year, like an idiot, I upgraded from Quicken 2005 H&B to Quicken 2008 H&B instead of 2006. Man am I paying for it. I get duplicate entries from transfers in splits. One Step update is flaky.

Reports that worked for the last ten years don't work anymore. I have to do a year-end close in a week and Quicken's technical support's response is to redo ten years worth of transactions.

It would be courteous if you quoted what you were replying to ... then we'd know who and what you were addressing.

If it was me you were talking to, I already knew that Quicken wasn't using the Windows clipboard.

That isn't the explanation for why Quicken doesn't have its own "clipboard" make correct copies of all data that it attempts to copy. It copies the text literally from other fields; I see no technical reason why Quicken can't have a "clipboard" that copies all the text it needs.

As I said earlier, I don't think Intuit places a lot of importance on this feature (copying a single transaction from one file to another); so I think they're not willing to spend a lot of money on it. [I can't think of a compelling reason to use the feature to copy one transaction, and paying for the ability to do so.]

Because it's very difficult to prevent one while allowing the other.