Preferences Choice in Quicken

Scott Lees

When I download transactions Quicken is changing categories every time on recent transactions. This is across many financial institutions. I researched and was going to turn off some features under preferences and noticed I have NO preferences choice under edit. I'm close to looking for new software as the Quicken issues seem to be constant. Frustrated. Anybody know the fix?

RalphC

Your instance of Quicken is definitely not performing correctly. First of all, make sure you have a backup of your data file. I would start troubleshooting by restarting your system. Better yet, shut your computer system down completely, wait ten seconds, and start it back up. If you still experience the same symptoms, re-install the Quicken software. Done correctly, you would uninstall the software, reboot your system, and install the software.

jacobs

I don't think reinstalling the software will have any impact on this issue.

There is one Settings checkbox which does affect auto-categorization. Go to Settings > Connected Services and uncheck the box for "Automatically improve the quality of downloaded payee names and categories." This setting deals with Payee renaming and auto-categorization at the Quicken server level.

Next, go to Window > Payees & Rules and click on the QuickFill tab. Do you have entries here? These rules deal with auto-categorization defined within your local file. If you have QuickFill rules here, look at some of them to see if they are showing the incorrect categories for their associated Payee. And if you're finding ones which are wrong, you can either (a) delete them all to get a fresh start with memorized QuickFill rules, or (b) edit them one at a time to have the correct category for the associated Payee.

You can turn off the automatic creation of QuickFill rules in Settings > Register by unchecking the box for QuickFill rules. You can manually create QuickFill rules to lock in the category to use for certain Payees by either creating new rules in the QuickFill rules window, or by clicking on an existing transaction which has the category you want for a Payee, and selecting Transactions > Save QuickFill rule.