Complex Renaming Rules for downloaded transactions

WillyG1

Although not new, many users have asked for similar functionality for a while now.

Quicken should provide a more complex renaming rule system for downloaded transactions. This would greatly facilitate the downloaded input of transactions with the same name but different amounts to be renamed and categorized including split itemization.

The system should allow for a multiple rule set for renaming a downloaded transaction. That is, the renaming "rule" could consist of multiple (AND logic) lines; for example:

- based on the name that contains specific text and incorporate the use of wild cards (such as * or ?)
- based on the dollar amount or range (sometimes items vary by a few cents each month)
- based on the transaction date or date range of the month

If the renaming text is the same as one included in the Memorized Payee List, then it should also include any split category assigned.

TTSguy

Not user friendly the way it currently works. Seemed to be much better 10 years ago!

anoren

Adding to this I want following feature:

In the "create renaming rule" window, there are 2 textboxes,
1st is "If statement name contains"
2nd is "Set payee name to"
I want more options, like,
a 3rd textbox could be "Remove from payee name" and it will remove the words from payee name if supplied in the 3rd textbox

anoren

Makes me wonder how many rules do others using Quicken have ? One rule for each payee ?
It's ridiculous that there are only 5 votes on this feature, are people living in a cave ? I'm going back to using Google spreadsheets if it doesn't get released in the next version

anoren

For me I want Quicken to sort our and categorize transactions by category based on payee names, that's all. Without complex renaming rules, that is impossible.

TTSguy

Hard to understand the way it is!

UKR

Transaction download problems with matching and adding new transactions correctly

First please ensure that all optional settings in Quicken pertaining to recall, memorization, automatic categorization and renaming of payee names are enabled. You find those settings in Edit / Preferences / Data Entry & Quickfill and Downloaded Transactions. Additional settings for the detection and processing of transfer transactions can be found in Edit / Preferences / Transfer detection.

 

Are you automatically accepting downloaded transactions into your registers?

If you are relying on Quicken to "automagically" fill your account registers from downloaded transactions, you may run into problems. Despite all efforts by the Quicken programmers, the "Autopilot" (that's my name for the part of the Quicken program which processes downloaded transactions and converts them into new register transactions) is not infallible. For that process to work 100% of the time one would need a crystal ball because the information downloaded from the banks often is just too terse and cryptic.

You should, at least for a while, turn off the "automatically accept downloaded transactions into registers" setting to gain better control over what is downloaded and what to do with it. Click on and review each downloaded transaction, make changes if necessary (e.g., to get a payee name = "Starbucks" instead of "POS TRANS 070119 STARBU", "POS TRANS 070219 STARBU", "POS TRANS 070319 STARBU" or to assign a category) before you click to accept each transaction.

Any changes you make to downloaded Payee Names are remembered in Renaming Rules.

Any other changes you make (add/change Category or Memo text) are remembered in the Memorized Payee List.

Next time the same transaction for this Payee comes along, Quicken should remember and give you a better new register transaction.
Paper checks you write should be recorded in Quicken as you write the check (and BEFORE you download transactions which might contain the cleared check). That gives you a register transaction with correct check number, payee name and category. No matter what information is downloaded from the bank, you already have a correct register transaction which the downloaded data cannot mess up.

 

In case you have issues with transfer transactions not being generated correctly:

For best results manually enter transfer transactions into your register BEFORE you download transactions from the bank which contain the transfer confirmations. For recurring transfers use scheduled reminders and enter them a day or two before the due date. Be sure to use distinct Payee Names for each transfer / credit card payment to avoid confusing Quicken - memorized payee entries.
That takes the guesswork out of the Autopilot's process. Because a correctly entered transfer transaction already exists in your account registers, the Autopilot should just match the downloaded transfer transaction to the existing one in both accounts.

 

Where are the "Auto-accept downloaded transaction" settings?

There are two places where this is controlled in Quicken for Windows:
 - Globally, for all accounts, in Edit / Preferences / Downloaded Transactions
 - For each account individually, the global setting can be overridden from the Edit Account Details screen, Online Services Tab. Look for blue text "Automatic Entry is: ON / OFF". Click the text to change the setting.

flying-j

If its the direction to force us to enter all transactions before downloading them, what's the point of having the download and add option? I also understand that all of the banking systems provide different data in their downloads when it comes to payee's, and this is the reason for this request. Having a better option to rename based on criteria on the client side provides a better end user experience. Let Quicken download the transactions however it is designed to and then give us the ability to change how they are loaded into the register. Setting up 100's of auto-renaming rules in order to remove "debit card purchase" from downloaded transactions does not add to the end user experience at all.

UKR

flying-j said:

If its the direction to force us to enter all transactions before downloading them, what's the point of having the download and add option? I also understand that all of the banking systems provide different data in their downloads when it comes to payee's, and this is the reason for this request. Having a better option to rename based on criteria on the client side provides a better end user experience. Let Quicken download the transactions however it is designed to and then give us the ability to change how they are loaded into the register. Setting up 100's of auto-renaming rules in order to remove "debit card purchase" from downloaded transactions does not add to the end user experience at all.

You may want to talk to the banks. In the interest of their customers' satisfaction, they should download transactions with proper Payee Names and Memo texts that make sense, not the gibberish they're downloading these days.

That would solve all your renaming issues.

majorgear

Also include a rule for "account" . This would handle payees for transfers that are downloaded as "Automatic Payment Thank You" with a varying amount. I have a bunch of these for my bank's automatic payment of credit card balances. The payee name has nothing to do with the sending/receiving institution.

If the account is included in the auto-categorization formula, then the rule could say - if payee is "Automatic Payment" and account is "Joe's Credit Card" , categorize it as a transfer. I know it's transfer from my main bank account to the credit card, and it can be auto-categorized as such.