How do I set a default category for automatic assignment?

Question

I'm having trouble understanding how to tame automatic category assignments in the cc register.

As an example, I have a payee named "Target". When I download transactions from Target, the category that automatically populates is "Household:Electronics". Now, I'm sure that I probably bought some electronic item at Target at one time or another. But it is certainly not the most recent Target category I've entered, (that would be "Food:Groceries"). Nor is it the most frequently used Target category, (that would be "Food:Groceries"). It's not even alphabetically the first Target category, (that would be, you guessed it, "Food:Groceries").

I do have it set to automatically memorize payees, so I went into the Memorized Payee List to see what I could figure out. Under Target, there are five different categories listed. However, none of those five is "Household:Electronics", so I have no idea where it's pulling that from. The first one listed is "Food:Groceries".

I really just want to be able to set one of the five listed categories as the default and have it always default to that. Is there a way to do that?

Windows 10 Home

Version: R52.20

Build: 27.1.52.20

splasher · Accepted Answer

I suggest creating a Memorized Payee (Tools menu) for Target with the desired, default category and an amount of $0 and then LOCK that MP.

I'd also create a Renaming Rule (Tools menu) that strips the store # from the Payee (unless you like to know that) so that your renamed downloaded Payee matches the Memorized Payee exactly.

Get rid of any other Target Memorized Payees that might exist.