All downloads for the past 2 years have had the same category automatically assigned to it. How do

robertsloan1946

Are there really any humans running Quicken?

splasher

I'd look at your Memorized Payees to make sure that they don't all have that same category.

NotACPA

Insults don't get your questions answered.

splasher

I run/use Quicken and I consider myself to be a human.  I also don't expect Quicken to run on auto-pilot, it needs to be tended like a garden.  I review EVERY downloaded transaction before it is entered into a register.

robertsloan1946

Thanks for the reply, but that doesn't answer the question. Why did Quicken start categorizing every transaction in the same category, and what can I do about it? I do review each transaction, but I still have to manually change every transaction's category. How can I prevent Quicken from assigning the same category to every transaction. It's only been a problem for the past two years.

splasher

You haven't told anything about your setup.  Which edition, which release, how are they downloaded/imported?  Without information, nobody can even guess at what your issue might be.

robertsloan1946

Thanks Splasher, the checking is downloaded from Wells Fargo. They just come in as "check" so I have to resolve those with our bank statements. I'm assuming that's a Wells Fargo problem, but I'm not sure. However. the categories are all labeled the same. The same problem exists with my Citi credit card, with the categories all being the same. Every year we update to the new Premier version of Quicken. We just did that. The problem started about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago. We're running Windows 10 Pro

splasher

I'd look at your Memorized Payees to make sure that they don't all have that same category.

robertsloan1946

Thank you Splasher, that's a big help. The problem seems to be that when the downloads come in, they will start coming in with a different name eg United versus UNITED. I will go through the list and rename those that are in that category. I have a couple of further questions: #1 What do the columns "lock" and "show on" in the memorized category list signify, and how do I work with them? # 2 I have been going through the register and changing all the categories that are incorrectly named by doing a search and then an edit. In the past, when I start typing, for example, a check number with "E" it autofills "EFT". It no longer autofills. Is there a function to turn on to help with that? Thank you again for taking the time to help.
Ken

splasher

Lets get some terminology correct first.  There is no "memorized category list", it is the Memorized Payee List.  Hovering on the column headers of those two columns should pop-up a definition of them, but I'll repeat them here for clarity.
  
If you don't lock a Payee and you have memorize payees turned on, when you use that payee in the future, either another will be created if something other than amount is different or the amount will be changed in the memorized payee.
Renaming Rules can and will have an effect here also such that if you have one or several that are too loose, they can rename just about anything into a memorized payee.
Not being able to see exactly what is happening with your data file and imports, it is hard to diagnose.

As far as #2, in Edit->Preferences:  This might be your issue.

rkensloan

Splasher, thank you for your help. I have turned off "automatically memorize new payees", and am trying to clean up the Memorized Payee List. If I delete a payee from the Memorized Payee List, does that delete it from the register? Also, how do I rename a group of payees in the list to another name without having to do each one individually. For example, we stop at 7-eleven for gas at times, and I have a 7-Eleven in the list and twelve 7-elevens with an additional number, which identifies the particular 7-eleven. Is there a way to take all twelve additional 7-elevens and make the payee 7-eleven? Thanks

splasher

Removing entries from the Memorized Payee List will NOT remove them from your registers.
You issue with the 7-eleven can be resolved in the future with a Renaming Rule (Tools menu).  Create a rule that changes the downloaded transactions with "7-eleven" in the Payee field to be changed to JUST "7-eleven" without the store #.  I have similar rules for all of all the businesses that have multiple stores with #s in their Payee, that way I only have one Target or Walmart, etc.
You can get rid of the extra 7-eleven Memorized Payees if you implement the Renaming Rule.
There is no way to make changes to multiple Memorized Payees in a single action.