How do I correct an erroneous auto-categorization?

Question

Quicken Deluxe, version R35.45, build 12.1.36.45, on Win 10 desktop.

I recently paid for my dog's medicine at a grocery store pharmacy and I modified the downloaded entry in my register to reflect a "pets" expense. Now, for some reason, that grocery store's downloaded transactions always shows up in the register categorized for "pets" instead of "grocery." I don't have a renaminig rule for this payee and in memorized payees it is categorized correctly for groceries.

Any ideas about why this is happening and how to correct it?

Thx!

Chris_QPW · Answer

Memorized payee requires an exact match, except for case, of the payee's name.

Usually, a problem like this is caused by fact that the memorized payee isn't locked, and as such when you edit a transaction in the register and change its category Quicken also changes the category (or maybe adds a new entry with a new category).  I'm not too sure of if it adds or changes because I always lock every one of my memorized payees, and as don't run into this.

@hammock_monk's screenshot I see neither, so I'm at a loss of why new downloads would continue to be categorized with pet.

I'm not following the logic here.  Quicken looks at the memorized payee to decide on the category, not a past transaction.  I don't see what changing a past transaction would do.

My only guess on this is somehow the memorized payee list has been corrupted, and the pet entry is there, but not visible.

I would try: Options -> Memorized Payee List Maintenance and see if there is anything that can be run on there:

Also try holding down Ctrl+Shift and selecting Tools -> Memorized Payee List

If all that doesn't do anything I would try deleting that memorized payee and recreating it.

hammock_monk · Answer

UKR, thanks for your suggestion. Before I received it, I tried something different, though similar: I deleted the sole entry for Albertsons in the MPL, then replaced it with a recent transaction for groceries. If that fails to solve the problem after my next dl of transactions, I'll implement your suggestion. Either way, I'll try to return here to report the outcome(s). Thanks again.

UKR · Answer

Not sure what Quicken's looking at when it tries to figure out a category for a Payee Name, but ...How about you try this: Rename the register transaction(s) for pets to "Albertsons {Pets}" and save it. Next time a true "Albertsons" transaction for groceries comes along, Quicken should pick the correct one from the MPL.