Category transaction entries that don't get printed in a report as entered

BMOv
BMOv Quicken Windows Subscription Member
edited November 2023 in Reports (Windows)

Not sure how to describe this, but for some categories when I print a report many of the transactions are in a category that is not listed on my category list. For example, my category list has a subcategory under expenses called GIFTS. Under Gifts I have a subcategory for BIRTHDAY and a subcategory for OTHER. However, when I print a category report the report shows

GIFTS

BIRTHDAY

OTHER

OTHER 4-Gifts: Other

In the register all the items in the OTHER and OTHER 4-Gifts:Other are entered as GIFTS: OTHER the report lists GIFTS: OTHER and GIFTS: OTHER 4-Gifts: Other.

This happens for several of my categories and I can't seem to combine what is printed as GIFTS OTHER 4-Gifts: Other so that all those items get printed simply as GIFTS: OTHER.

Hopefully this makes sense and someone can tell me how to enter an items such that the report does not show OTHER 4-Gifts: Other.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Regards, BMOv

Comments

  • bmciance
    bmciance Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    See if this is the problem. Go to Edit > Preferences:

    Under "Reports only" there is a section at the top right called "Category Display". Do you have "Both" selected? If so, try changing it to "Name".

  • q_lurker
    q_lurker Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Not sure if this follows for your situation …

    My policy when I have sub-categories is to not categorize transactions to the upper level. That is, if I have a Gifts:Birthday setup, nothing gets categorized under Gifts. The reasoning for this is that when Quicken finds a transaction under the upper category (Gifts), it frequently reports it under Gifts:Other Gifts. Quicken's rationale is that the total of the subcategories should show as the total of the category. There is no place to separately line-item the Gifts (no subcategory) so it creates an otherwise undocumented listing for those as Gifts:Other Gifts. (Hope that is clear.)

    Now in your case I am wondering if you also have regular subcategory something like Gifts:Other such that some form of added confusion is tossed in. I would avoid manually having a Gifts:Other as that might confuse you or Quicken when it needs a Gifts:Other Gifts as a temporary reporting tool.

    Maybe applies, maybe not

  • UKR
    UKR Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    Because of Quicken using a non-existent (pseudo) category "Other" to show transactions categorized to a parent category which also has subcategories …
    I would recommend that you avoid using the word "Other" for your own subcategories. Use "Miscellaneous" or "Misc." or some other descriptive word instead.

    And, yes, avoid categorizing transactions to such a parent category. Use or create a proper subcategory instead.

  • BMOv
    BMOv Quicken Windows Subscription Member

    Thank you both. Yes, I do have a subcategory under Gifts. I just looked at my category list and looks like I have entries in the higher order sub-category rather than in the appropriate sub-category

    GIFTS

    OTHER 38

    BIRTHDAY 0

    CHRISTMAS 21

    OTHER 20

    I am assuming that the 38 entries in OTHER need to be re-categorized into one of the 3 sub-categories; most are probably BIRTHDAY which did not get categorized as such when I made my original entry.

    Many thanks to you and to bmciance for your input.

    Regards,

    BMOv

  • q_lurker
    q_lurker Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭

    @BMOv I am not sure if everything was clear or not. I am not sure why you are listing OTHER twice.

    In my case, for a category (Insurance) where I have transactions assigned to upper level, the I get

    image.png

    because in the early days I did not fully distinguish (categorize) the Health and Homeowners insurance expenses. So I have a number of expenses with just the category Insurance, and then more recent transactions as Insurance:Health and Insurance:Homeowners. (FWIW: I also have a category Auto:Insur. since I choose to have that broadly reporting as part of the car ownership expense.)

    So I could understand if you had an Other Gifts listed in reports. Maybe you have your own Other subcategory and then are also getting the pseudo-category Other Gifts. If you do have your own such Other category, that is where @UKR was recommending renaming that as Misc or similar to avoid confusion. (I happen to carry a top-level Misc category. I suggest all categories and subcategories be unique to avoid confusion, but that is not an absolute.)

This discussion has been closed.

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