Too many uncategorized transactions

Unknown

Year 2019
Version R14.27
Build 27.1.14.27

Shows 45 uncategorized transactions for Payees such as Taco Bell, five guys, Hardees, Steak N Shake, etc.  Categorizes that should be easy to identify and it has in the past.

Unknown

did you check your memorized payee list? 

Unknown

They are in my memorized payee list.  One or two weeks ago it worked just fine.  Why would Quicken not automatically recognize things like Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, etc. as restaurants?  It did in the past.

UKR

Have you checked your settings in Edit / Preferences / Data Entry & Quickfill?
Are all the settings related to memorization and recall in effect?

By the way, are you automatically accepting downloaded transactions into your registers?

Unknown

Yes settings are in effect.

No not automatically accepting downloaded transactions into registers

UKR

Yes settings are in effect.

No not automatically accepting downloaded transactions into registers

You said: "No not automatically accepting downloaded transactions into registers"

... then how is it possible that you have uncategoized transactions sneaking into your registers?
Are you not reviewing each downloaded transaction and making corrections in the new transaction line as needed, BEFORE you click Accept?
Or are you just clicking "Accept all" and hoping for the best?

Unknown

Yes settings are in effect.

No not automatically accepting downloaded transactions into registers

I am not doing anything different than I have the last several years.  Just recently there were a lot of uncategorized transactions showing up for things that obviously belonged in certain categories.  

Jim_Harman

There are a few methods that Quicken uses to automatically assign Categories to downloaded transactions. I think it works like this:

-- transaction matches (amount is equal and date is close) an uncleared transaction that is already in your register (not the case here from what you are saying) uses the category in that transaction

-- downloaded payee, either directly or after triggering one of your renaming rules or a built-in rule or after you have manually matched it, matches an entry in your memorized payee list - uses the category in your memorized payee

-- downloaded payee triggers a built-in renaming rule - uses Quicken's built-in category. I think if you have deleted Quicken's category, it leaves the category blank.

As UKR notes, some of these these options can be turned on and off with settings in Edit > Preferences > Data entry and Quickfill. Other settings that affect this are in Edit > Preferences > Downloaded transactions, and also the "Never auto categorize" setting in the Memorized Payee list. 

Payees renamed by one of your rules will have "quotes" around the payee name in the downloaded transactions list at the bottom of your register. Those renamed by a built-in rule will not have quotes.

In either case, you can hover over the payee name in the downloaded transactions list to see what the renaming did.

There have not been other complaints that this is not working, so I suspect that something has changed about your settings, most likely affecting the third path above.

Tom Young

Yes settings are in effect.

No not automatically accepting downloaded transactions into registers

When you look at your memorized payee list are the correct Categories shown there?  And is there only ONE entry on the memorized payee list for each of these fine dining establishments?

Quicken doesn't "recognize" those names as restaurants; it's just not that smart.  What it tries to do is find that memorized payee in your memorized payee list and if it does it grabs it and whatever Category is memorized in that list and slots it into your register.

The "renaming rules" also come into play here so you might want to take a look at those, too. 

All you're dealing with here is pretty simple programming so you've got to be the "smarts" in the process.  Quicken, generally, will warn you if you're posting a transaction that's not Categorized so it should be obvious to you when you're about to accept a transaction that it's not going to be Categorized.  But if somewhere along the way you've turned that warning off and are just reflexively clicking "Accept", that's how you get a bunch of uncategorized transactions into your registers.

Unknown

As per usual the user is at fault.  As I said, I have used Quicken for years and this has not happened before.  47 uncategorized transactions and I normally have three to five per month?  Yes it has happened before, just do a search for "uncategorized transactions".  I think it happened when I upgraded.

Jim_Harman

As per usual the user is at fault.  As I said, I have used Quicken for years and this has not happened before.  47 uncategorized transactions and I normally have three to five per month?  Yes it has happened before, just do a search for "uncategorized transactions".  I think it happened when I upgraded.

We are trying to help you and there may well be a problem with the new version of Quicken, but it is hard for us to tell where things are going wrong or recommend a solution because we are not experiencing this problem.

Please use the Windows Snipping tool to save images of your settings at Edit > Preferences > Data Entry and Quickfill and also Edit > Preferences > Downloaded transactions and post them here using the camera button below (not the video camera).

Pick a payee that is not being categorized now.
Do you have a renaming rule for this payee?
Is the payee in your Memorized Payees list with the correct category?
Is the "Never auto categorize" box checked for this payee?
Is your chosen Category still in your Category list?

Also the next time you get a downloaded transaction for one of the payees that has not been categorized in the past, please list out the exact steps you go through to review and accept it, including any manual or automatic renaming that takes place.

If there is a problem with your settings or with Quicken itself, this information will be essential in identifying it.

Thanks.

Jim_Harman

Here is another suggestion that may help sort this out. I just tried it and found it very informative and not explained clearly anywhere else as far as I know.

Create a new Quicken file and add one of your credit card accounts to it. This will give you a configuration with no memorized payees, no personal renaming rules, and Quicken's default settings and Categories.

In my case it also downloaded the past 90 days of transactions, even though I had already accepted them in my production file. It appears that this does not interfere with your production data or settings. Don't accept these transactions yet.

-- With the default settings, Quicken does a pretty good job of renaming the downloaded payees to something reasonable. For example, it changed WHOLEFDS FAI 10317 to Whole Foods. It did not do so well with small local companies. You can see the original name if you hover over the the payee name in the downloaded transactions list.

-- If there is no matching payee in the Memorized Payee list, it also does a pretty good job of assigning Categories to these transactions, if you like Quicken's built-in categories. You can see this by clicking on (but still not accepting) a downloaded transaction. The category for Whole Foods for example is "Food & Dining:Groceries."

-- If you don't like the Category it chooses, you can change it and (by default) Quicken will create a new Memorized Payee with your chosen category and use that in the future.

-- If you rename Quicken's built-in Categories, it assigns the new names instead.

-- If you delete a built-in Category, it does not assign a Category to the downloaded payee. This or something similar may be what has happened in your case. If you have deleted the Category that corresponds to fast food restaurants, for example, the only way for it to assign a category to Taco Bell, Five Guys, Hardees, Steak N Shake, etc. would be if there is an existing matching  entry in the Memorized Payee List that corresponds to your new Category.

I hope this helps.

Tom Young

"As per usual the user is at fault.  As I said, I have used Quicken for years and this has not happened before."

Well, you may be at fault if Quicken is warning you that you're saving a transaction that's not using a Category but then you save it anyway.  I'd say that having even having "three to five per month" uncategorized is excessive. 

If somewhere along the line you turned that warning off, maybe by mistake, then I'd also say "turn that warning back on".  That at least is something you can do to prevent having another 47 uncategorized transactions next month.

As Jim Harman said, the problem doesn't seem to be wide-spread since this forum isn't being flooded with similar complaints, so at least at first you do need to look at your preferences and memorized payee lists and renaming rules to see if you can pinpoint something that has caused the change in behavior.  You can also call official Quicken support and they can help with this effort.

Sometimes anomalous behavior can be triggered by database problems in your file so doing a File > File operations > Copy, then validating that copied file would be a simple thing to try, just to see if that's the problem.

Beijing Mac

I've had no issues with my QRPM 2017 when accepting memorized payee's, but I always check.   And when accepting new transactions, I always double check.  Typically I don't have a category assigned immediately if it is something that I want to research or check to see what is the correct category if I don't classify it immediately and then can always find it with the search / filter of "uncategorized" transactions.

Jim_Harman

They are in my memorized payee list.  One or two weeks ago it worked just fine.  Why would Quicken not automatically recognize things like Cracker Barrel, Taco Bell, etc. as restaurants?  It did in the past.

All your examples are fast food restaurants. Are these transactions that were previously categorized correctly in your register and now existing ones have no category, or is this new transactions as we have been assuming below?

If it is existing ones, that is a clear indication that the previously assigned category was somehow deleted or changed in a way that Quicken no longer recognizes it.