Categories changing (Q Mac)

charlimcghee

For the past few weeks, my program has been changing the "categories" and occasionally the payees. At first, I thought it was me but it's not. Any idea what this is about? Thanks

jacobs

You'll have to provide more information about what you're seeing for anyone to take a guess or offer any suggestions. Is it changing categories on past transactions, or on ones you're downloading now? Please give specific examples so we can try to help.

charlimcghee

Thanks. It is changing categories on previously downloaded and reviewed transactions. In other words, if I download a transaction and it shows "uncategorized" and I change it to "lawn care". A few days later it will say "uncategorised" or in the case of Amazon it will change it to "shopping" from the more specific category that I have entered, of for instance "pet food"

UKR

I wish I had a Mac, just so I could look things up ...
IIRC, I've seen discussions with images about Renaming Rules. In there, wasn't there an optional setting saying something like "Apply this rule to already existing transactions". Could an improper Renaming Rule affect your old transactions when a new transaction is downloaded, wiping out all your change efforts?
Just something to look into, if you would ...

jacobs

@UKR You're correct that you can apply a renaming rule to past transactions for the same Payee, but I'm guessing that's not the issue here.

@charlimcghee It sounds to me like data from Quicken Cloud may be overwriting data in your local data file? Do you use the Quicken mobile app or web interface? If not, go to Preferences > Mobile, Web & Alters and make sure Sync is turned OFF. (If it was on and you turn it off, then go to Preferences > Connected Services and click Reset to get rid of the existing Quicken Cloud data for your file.) (Note: do a backup of your data file before making any changes, just in case something goes wrong.)

If you do use the Quicken mobile app or web interface, are you always doing Accounts > Sync to Mobile after making your edits? If not, your local file has one category on a transaction, and your Quicken Cloud file has a different category on the same transaction, and it sounds like Quicken Cloud is subsequently updating the data in your local file, replacing your edits. Using Sync to Mobile after you make local edits should prevent them from getting out of sync with each other. 

charlimcghee

UKR - I don't use the mobile app. I am using my Mac. I'm sorry to ask this but could you simplify your answer for me. Thanks

jacobs

It's fine that you don't use the mobile app. (Many of us don't.) But your Preferences may be set to sync to the Quicken Cloud even if you aren't using the app. So I asked you to go to Preferences > Mobile, Web & Alerts to see if Sync is turned ON or OFF. If it is currently ON, I think that's the source of your problem. And it should be easily resolved by turning Sync OFF.

charlimcghee

Ok - done. THANKS