You receive an error message "This operation cannot be performed" in Microsoft Money

You may receive the following error message: You receive this error message when you try one or more of the following actions in Microsoft Money:

• You try to open the Bills & Deposits List.
• You try to change a loan payment that is listed in the Debt Reduction Planner or in the Cash Flow Review after you notice that the reoccurring payment is duplicated in the Bills & Deposits list.
• You try to enter a spin-off.
• You try to use the greater than and less than (<>) symbols in your payee name.

You continue to receive the error message every few seconds, but the error message does not appear in the Sample Money file or in a newly created file.

This issue may occur if one or more of the following conditions are true:

• You try to perform an action when an online update is in progress.
• You have a damaged bill instance in the Bills area.
• You cannot use the greater than and less than (<>) symbols in the Payee field of Money.

To resolve this issue, use the following methods in the order that they are presented.

Method 1: Make sure that all online updates are completed before you try to perform the action

To do this, examine the following on the Money screen:

• In the upper-right corner of the Money screen, you should see a question mark. The question mark is the Help icon. Right next to the Help icon is a double arrow icon. When this double arrow icon is moving, your online update is still occurring. When the double arrow stops moving, your update should be completed.
  
  If you do not see the double arrow icon, try waiting for several moments. Then, try to perform the action. If you still receive the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section, you may have a damaged bill instance. Follow the steps in the "Method 2: Delete duplicate bill entries or loan payment bill entries" section.

Method 2: Change the payee name so that it does not include the greater than or less than (<>) symbols

1. Open the Payee List. To do this, use one of the following methods:
   • In Microsoft Money 2005 and later versions, click Banking, click Account Tools, click Categories & Payees, and then click Payees.
   • In Microsoft Money 2004 and earlier versions, click Accounts & Bills, click Categories & Payees, and then click Payees.
2. Find the payee that contains the greater than or less than (<>) symbols, and then right-click the payee.
3. Click Rename.
4. Change the name of the payee so that it does not contain the greater than or less than (<>) symbols.
5. Click OK

Method 3: Delete duplicate bill entries or loan payment bill entries

1. Copy the Money data file to the desktop.
   
   Note This file serves as a backup.
2. Start Money.
3. Remove bills data:
   1. For Money 2007 and Money Plus, click File, click Repair Money File, and then click Remove all Bills Data.
   2. For Money 2006 or earlier versions, click the Bills Summary or Bills and Deposits list, look for any loan payments or duplicate bill entries, and then delete them.
      
      Note If you have a bill entry that is damaged, you may have to try three or four times to access the Bills list. If after four tries you still cannot access the bill entry, go to step 4.
4. Repair your Money file by using the Quick File Repair:
   1. In Money 2004 and later versions, click File, click Repair Money File, and then click Quick File Repair.
   2. In Money 2003 and earlier versions, click Start, click Run, and then type "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Money\System\Msmoney.exe" -s.
      
      Note If you installed Money to a location other than the default location, type the path of the executable file where Money is located. Make sure that you include the quotation marks as indicated.
      
      For more information about how to repair Money data files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
      182608  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/182608/ ) You receive error messages or notice unexpected behaviors in Money
5. After Money starts, open the Bills Summary list or the Bills & Deposits list, depending on your version of Money. Test to see whether you continue to receive the error message. If you no longer receive the error message, re-create the loan payments and the bills that you previously deleted. If you continue to receive the error message, the next step is to remove all the reoccurring bills and deposits from the Bills area. Before you do this, note the information that is contained in the bills. This will help you re-create the bills when you are finished. When you have made a copy of all the bills that are listed, go to step 7.
6. When you are in the Bills area, delete all the reoccurring payments. Before you do this, make sure that you have a copy of all this information so that you can re-create your reoccurring payments later.
7. Exit Money, and then restart Money.

If you no longer receive the error message, re-create your reoccurring payments.

If you continue to receive the error message, you probably have a damaged account. For more information about how to correct file damage in Money data, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For more information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: