I understand that your would like a diagnostic file, I also explained in my post why I do not wish to provide it.
I had this discussion with the TurboTax tax expert at length, and she understood.
I also understand the process you would like me to perform to retrieve it. It is not ignorance of the process on my part, it is wariness of the full and complete sanitazation process.
To fully recreate the error you will likely need access to the download files from two of three different financial institutions that are imported into my return. I don't know if your default test import file from the financial institutions would trigger the error.
As I stated in my post I have created a detailed three page Word document that goes though what is occurring and what set of initial conditions are required for the error to take place. I have spent hours of trial and error to see what triggers the error. An error that has apparently gone undetected for three years.
I am a retired design engineer who designed the highest level of safety critical electronic hardware that ran the most safety critical software known to man. I understand the development process that you would employ at Intuit is the polar opposite of what is done in my world. I sympathize that the ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet because of the IRS and State tax code. I also understand why you would like to greatly limit the direct contact between the developers and an end user.
Regardless I should be able to send a three page file to someone, by Word or plain text, which I believe would greatly assist the developer in quickly isolating the problem. I think this method protects my data and provides even more insight than a sanitized image of my taxes. I spent hours downloading and playing with the file and I observed some things that were completely counterintuitive when I used the data override function as a test. The developer would have to rediscover these things on his or her own if all they have is my sanitized tax file. If I received a reply back after several days saying they could not recreate the error using my document for guidance I would even perform more tests or create a completely bogus file for testing.
However, I seriously doubt that would be required.
I could reply by PM If you would accept a text version of my "document". It contains about 7500 characters.
Awaiting a reply.
