[AppleHead]

Some months ago when I reconciled my checking account, I started getting old previously cleared transactions showing up as uncleared. I tried to go back and mark them as cleared, but when I did so it messed up my current balance. I now have four such items appearing, one each for 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Why is this happening? How can I fix it without having to re-reconcile for every month for four years past?

[machenry]

Once you've reconciled a statement, Quicken keeps a record of all transactions reconciled for that period. The type of problem you report usually occurs if a previously reconciled transaction was deleted - can you recall deleting any old transactions? Otherwise, the data in your file may have gotten damaged.

[jeep]

I have the same problem and I don't recall ever removing any cleared transactions. Yet I have 3 or 4 transactions per month showing uncleared. Those uncleared items may be 3 or 4 months old!

[machenry]

Is anyone experiencing this? If so, please post:
- the version of Quicken you're using [including update version]
- the version of Mac OS you are using
- when you first noticed the problem
If you go back to a previously reconciled statement, the Reconcile Startup window will fill in the previously entered statement ending balance. If you click OK, you then will see the Reconcile window. In some cases, you'll then see the uncleared transaction in the list - clicking it will resolve the out-of-balance condition. If you don't see the transaction, then it's worth getting out your paper statement to see if you may have deleted a transaction since reconciling.

[maclouie]

I have had this happen in the past, but I believe it was caused by me. I believe it happened when I had a transaction in one account that created a transaction in another account, e.g. I transfered money from my checking account to pay my bill in my credit card account. I believe later doing something to the doner transaction, i.e. in the checking account, renaming it or something, caused the transaction in the recipient account, e.g. credit card, to become uncleared.
The problem I recall was that Quicken was screwed up at this point. When I tried to reconcile, I got error messages about previously unreconciled transactions and did I want Quicken to enter some dummy transactions or some such thing. There was no way to tell Quicken to just put an "R" in those transactions and forget it. There is no way to tell Quicken to just unreconcile the whole account and let me do the whole thing over again.
I developed a way to fix this problem by rereconciling the account with the uncleared transactions as follows:
As always, make a backup copy of your data file before you do this just in case things go from bad to worse.
This fix must be done from the oldest uncleared transaction to the newest, e.g. 2001 error before 2002 error.
First, in the account register, find the oldest uncleared transaction and if it is not the only transaction on its date, get the uncleared transaction so it is the only transaction on that day. Edit its date to a day later or move the dates of the other transactions on that day to a day earlier. As I recall this will not mess up the reconciled status of already reconciled transactions. If it does, you just went from bad to worse, so quit here.
Second reconcile the account from the first date in the account, as the starting date, to the day before the uncleared transaction. Enter in the account ballance that is in the register for that day. You should get a success message since the account is already reconciled up to that day. This step seems to get Quicken realigned and set up for the next step.
Third reconcile the account to the day with the uncleared transaction, using the account ballance on that day. This should work ( reconcile) and the uncleared error on this day should now be fixed.
Forth, repeat steps first thru third until all old error uncleared transactions are rereconciled.
You should now have a completely reconciled account that is happy once again.
As I recall, it was essential to get the uncleared transaction as the only transaction on its day, and
it to be a later date than other transactions that were on that same day.
I have not had to do this recently, so I'm not sure this method will still work in Q 2005

[groundhum]

Well, now, that's the height of user friendly, isn't it?