Reckon Accounts - email send bug

"Reckon Accounts Enterprise: Accountant Edition 2019"

There is a bug introduced in recent update that causes email of tax invoice to become impossible. Here is how to reproduce the problem:

1. create a new customer, leave email address blank
2. create a new invoice for new customer, enable 'to be emailed'
3. create a new invoice for an existing customer (with email address recorded), enable 'to be emailed'
4. go to 'file send forms'
5. select both invoices (new customer with blank email should be first)
6. click 'send now'
7. observe error in sending to customer without email address configured
8. observe that other invoice was also not sent
9. open invoice for other customer, enable 'to be emailed'
10. go to 'file -> send forms'
11. observe no invoices queued for send

it is now impossible to send /any/ emails that were originally queued but ignored due to one problem customer record.

significant bug because now I have many MANY invoices that I can't send to customers unless I manually create a pdf invoice and send manually - very bad when there are hundreds to send :-(

Comments

John Graetz

Hi DuxTel Channel I don't necessarily believe that this is something new for Reckon. Things like this have been going on for years, be it in printing things or emailing things. The usual fix has been to identity the problem invoice/pay slip etc., either correct or delete it and the rest should go through ok. The issue then has been to identify the offending item, by say doing small batches at a time until the offending item comes to light. Yes, I agree that this is annoying but based on all of the posts that I have seen over the years, there does not seem to be any other alternative.
John L G

DuxTel Channel

Hi John, thanks for replying!

It is /definitely/ a new problem :-}

yes - it has always been the case that when an attempt to send email item to a customer without a configured email address that the send will fail - it is the same error as always.

BUT, then 'new' bug behaviour is that if that happens when there are other items in the queue to be sent, those items can no longer be sent at all - EVER.

Previously, I just opened the invoice and re-set 'to be emailed' and it would send just fine. Now, even when I enable 'to be emailed', that item never appears in the 'send forms' queue, no matter what I have tried (rebuild company file, change invoice contents, enable/disable email and/or print, ...) ONLY if I delete the entire invoice and re-enter can I re-send the item.

Note that this is not the one that originally caused the problem. For the invoice that attempted to send with a blank email address, I just open the customer, ad and address, open the invoice, enable 'to be emailed' and then send it fine. All the other (up to 100 invoices) can never be sent ever again (unless I delete them all and re-add) :-(

Which is very bad because I don't even know which ones were not issued, and only way to find out is when the customer does not pay by the due date. And then if I try to send a reminder, then I click on 'to be emailed' at some time, and if there are lots of 'reminders' to send, I may not even notice that they are not actually being sent any more...

<sigh> so we are screwed until this bug is patched :-(

so hopefully someone 'official reckon' will see it and take it up :-}

Cheers!

Mike.

Zappy

You haven't told me the error message. Have you searched the knowledgebase. This is not a new error as discussed. It's been around since 2007-08

DuxTel Channel

Thanks Kevin,

the error is not in the message. the error is in the behaviour that follows ;-)

AND, it *is* a new bug - 100% absolutely! :-D I've been using reckon accounts now for over 10 years, and I assure you (and anyone else who'll listen) that it *is* a problem that was introduced in the latest update (the same one that puts 'overdue stamp' on invoices) - I reckon it's a fair bet that whatever they did to add the 'overdue' feature, broke something with the emailing system.

I have included repro steps in my initial email, and hopeful that someone from 'reckon official' can pick it up - because there is no official bug report channel that I can find :-}

(is there an official bug report system?)

Cheers, Mike.

Zappy

Too many words and you still haven't told me the error message. Are you sure the problem is with Reckon? What email client are you using? What operating system? What browser? I'm using 2019 and I am not getting any errors. Call me to discuss 0407744914

John Graetz

Kevin. To me, the key to what Mike is saying is in the fifth paragraph in his earlier response to me which starts off "?Previously I just opened the invoice....". ?????What he seems to be saying is that once the initial queuing has been killed by a faulty invoice (in this case a customer without an email address) he is no longer able to queue any of the invoices that were in that initial listing, even though he sets the flag back to ?To be emailed.?
Mike, does that mean that the only option that you have in such circumstances now is to individually email the invoice from the invoice screen?
John L G

DuxTel Channel

Hi John, thanks for clarifying my comments - I think you have interpreted my report accurately. Once this problem cancels an invoice queued for delivery, that invoice can no longer be added to the email queue - I can still enable 'to be emailed', but when I look at 'file -> send forms' that one does not show up in the queue.

The only way I can send that invoice by email again is to either:
1. delete and re-create the invoice
2. save as pdf and then manually send email with pdf attached.

as you may imagine, either of those options for more than a dozen invoices is beyond cumbersome :-}

Cheers!

Mike.

Datarec

Hi Mike,

Can you test whether instead of deleting and re-creating the invoice, whether the following process may refresh the transaction.

1) Edit the affected invoice
2) Change the date (say advance it by one day) and disable the to be emailed option.
3) Save the invoice
4) Edit the affected invoice again and change the date back to the correct date and re-enable the 'to be emailed' option
5) Save the invoice

Regards,

Data Recovery Team

Shane_10861789

I have changed my email address and now when I try to email invoices I get the following message:

"The email service you selected to use currently cannot be reached. Please ensure you are connected to the Internet before trying again. If the problem persists contact your email provider for help."

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Shane

Kris_Williams

If you go to the invoice is there a box down the bottom that says ‘to be emailed’?

DuxTel Channel

Hello, thanks for responding to my original report and apologies that I overlooked it for so long! :-)

I can confirm that there is NOTHING that I can do to make the invoice send work as expected. No changes, or small adjustments will fix that problem.

Only remove and then re-create will allow me to send them again.

I have however discovered a way to find out whether an invoice is affected - that is to:

send all pending emails
go through each outstanding invoice one-by-one
if the invoice has 'send email' checkbox enabled, then it is an affected item

would be nice if t were fixed one day.

Mike.

https://community.reckon.com/discussion/comment/20511856#Comment_20511856

Datarec

Hi Mike,

Depending on how many emails are still currently in your 'to be emailed' list, remove those that you have identified to be an issue.

Then consider:

0) Make a backup of your data file

1) Export the Customer List as an IIF (tab-delimited text file)

2) Open that file in Excel as a TEXT file.

In Excel click the menus → Data → Get external data → Select all columns with Shift and choose Text
Upside: Treats all values correctly as text without any exception
Downside: More steps than a simple Double-click

3) Add an email address (even your own or a dummy placeholder) for each one that does not have a valid email address set (example: "placeholderonly@notarealemailaddress.com")

4) Save the resulting Customer IIF file

5) Import the IIF file back to your data file

John Walker

Hi,

I have had the same problem with Premier 2017. After much research, the problem appears to be that most email servers are upgrading security to include TLS1.2. Reckon has no plan to upgrade its email to this standard. I work around the problem by printing report to PDF then attaching thru my normal email program. This may now be academic as Reckon will now not reactivate and "read only" my software without annual subscription.

Zappy

This is a known issue with some isps. You can use the webmail option in the recent versions.

John Walker

It's only a matter of time before all isp's adopt TLS 1.2. They give the same "compliance" reason that Reckon give for non-reactivation. Email has been a persistent issue with Quickbooks / Reckon in the more than 20 years I have used the product. I am probably forced, reluctantly, to sign up to subscription with no confidence this issue will ever be resolved.

Zappy

John that is very depressing.

DuxTel Channel

https://community.reckon.com/discussion/comment/20623484#Comment_20623484

That is nothing more than a dodgy work-around and does nothing to fix the actual problem - which is clearly a bug with reckon accounting.

Thanks for the suggestion though - at least you tried :-}

(and i think that process WILL avoid the problem recurring, but since it only happens when a NEW customer is entered, then that process will not prevent the same problem again if/when a new customer is added with the same flaw)

Regards, Mike.

DuxTel Channel

https://community.reckon.com/discussion/comment/20623793#Comment_20623793

don't know if you are replying to the original post to or someones later irrelevant reply, but the issue I am reporting is definitely not (100% certain) anything to do with any mail server. 🙄

Rozep

I have been having this same issue for over 12 months.

I have issues sending remittances, payslips and invoices. It can take up to 10 attempts just to send a payslip. When you are charging customers by the hour it is wrong. You should not have to be saving a PDF when there is an option to email directly. So disappointing that this remains an ongoing issue.

I think it maybe time for a change.

Zappy

You dont need to. I can fix this. Call me

0407744914

Rozep

Thank you Zappy for your assistance.

It appears the problem has been solved, I should know for sure in the coming hours, looks the the issue lies with office 365 and not Reckon.☺️

Zappy

Ros good evening. Thanks for the opportunity to help. You taught me something. I suspect this is what is happening with Optusnet as well. I'm delighted we were able to get this far. I complain about thesr email errors - a lot. Its great when we can find a solution. Let me know if you need anything else. And have a great weekend.

mrossnay

Hi. Could you please share details of your solution, as I have exactly the same issue with Reckon using Office365 to support the email processes. Cheers.

Zappy

Mrossnay call me 0407744914

mrossnay

Thanks for your help Zappy.

For the interest of all who have this problem, if you are using Office365 Outlook, Reckon appears to have some incompatibilities, specifically regarding email security settings. Initially, check your Send Forms preferences, and ensure you are using an email provider of Outlook. Currently, you'll see that anytime an email send is attempted, you get a program busy dialog, asking you to either "Switch To..." or "Retry". What you should also note, is that a minimized Outlook warning dialog will also have appeared. Select it, and you'll see that Outlook is complaining about Reckon not having permission to send emails. You have an opportunity to "Allow" or "Deny" access. Currently if you choose "Allow", you must return to the Reckon dialog, and choose "Retry". At this point, the email should send correctly.

To get around the need to give permission for every Reckon sourced email you want to send, there is a Microsoft KB that details a solution where you add a DWORD regedit entry in location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Security called ObjectModelGuard with a value of 2. You can check this has worked by looking in Outlook File - Options - Trust Center - Trust Center Settings - Programmatic Access and ensure that the "Never warn" option is selected.

At this point, you should be able to send emails from Reckon without a security prompt. Hope this helps...

DuxTel Channel

the original bug report has been TOTALLY hijacked by latter entirely unrelated local system problems 🤦‍♂️

the original reported BUG still remains - still not addressed.

Zappy

Mark good afternoon. Thanks for the kind words. This is what I do. Dux Tel or does it? Did you call me?

Zappy

Dux thats not accurate. Do you have the answer? Have you looked at the help files?

DuxTel Channel

https://community.reckon.com/discussion/comment/20627051#Comment_20627051

if you bother to actually read the original post, you'll see that it is nothing like what has been claimed by others as "this happens to me too" - it's like you guys read the post subject and then jump on the 'me too' bandwagon :-D

a shame that a worked bug report, including repro steps, goes completely ignored by technical team....

<shrug>