QMac(5.14.2) Connected Services - Transactions - What exactly do the two options do?

djbenedetti

Going to --- Quicken--Preferences--Connected Services--Downloaded Transactions.....

What does "Automatically improve the quality of downloaded payee names and categories" do? I actually don't know what this obviously does and also I was wondering the pro's and con's of checking and unchecking it.


What does "Use posted date for matched transactions (instead of the date you enter manually) do? I think I know what this does but more specifically what are the pro's and con's of checking and unchecking it?

John_in_NC

1) Your bank provides (a sometimes near gibberish) version of the payee without a category. The "Automatically Improve" option will rename (or clean up) the payee based on how (the majority of) other people rename it. It also applies a category based on what other people use for this payee. Obviously, this artificial intelligence has its limits, and might not agree with your naming/categorizing conventions. 

2) Your second question applies to manually entered transactions that are matched to a download. If you write a birthday check for 1/1/yy to a friend, you record that date in your register when you enter the transaction. Now, if they finally cash the check 4/1-that is the date it clears the bank.

Using the "Use Posted Date" option will change your manually entered date of 1/1 to 4/1 when it is matched. Neither option should affect reconcile, but some people like seeing the cleared date.

I don't use this option-for historical purposes, I prefer seeing when the transaction occurred (from my point of view.)  

John_in_NC

1) Your bank provides (a sometimes near gibberish) version of the payee without a category. The "Automatically Improve" option will rename (or clean up) the payee based on how (the majority of) other people rename it. It also applies a category based on what other people use for this payee. Obviously, this artificial intelligence has its limits, and might not agree with your naming/categorizing conventions. 

2) Your second question applies to manually entered transactions that are matched to a download. If you write a birthday check for 1/1/yy to a friend, you record that date in your register when you enter the transaction. Now, if they finally cash the check 4/1-that is the date it clears the bank.

Using the "Use Posted Date" option will change your manually entered date of 1/1 to 4/1 when it is matched. Neither option should affect reconcile, but some people like seeing the cleared date.

I don't use this option-for historical purposes, I prefer seeing when the transaction occurred (from my point of view.)  

djbenedetti

@John_in_NC thank you so much for your detailed answer.