New user - budget groups/categories I choose not showing up in desktop app

luthien1121

I'm using Quicken Classic Deluxe, R53.16, build 27.1.53.16.

I spent a lot of time creating custom groups and categories, then tried to create a budget. In the pop-up window I checked all the categories I wanted to budget for, but when the budget was created it only showed 3 out of 6 of the groups. They show up on mobile and web, but not in the desktop app. I'm new, so it could be user error, but I've tried everything I can think of. I've seen other help posts that were closed with no resolution listed.

I've tried creating a new budget with the auto-budgeting feature and it had no categories showing at all. I tried creating a new budget manually, same problem. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, same issues. I tried deleting and restoring the budget then validating the file, no change.

Any ideas?

luthien1121

I forgot to say it's the Windows version on Windows 11.

mshiggins

I have no problem budgeting using custom category groups in R53.16.

SYNC has been known to screw up data in the Quicken data file, including budgets, as I recall.

Try creating a New Quicken file with sufficient data to test your issue: make sure SYNC is set to OFF.

See if your budget works then.

-JP

UKR

They show up on mobile and web, but not in the desktop app

In Quicken on your desktop/laptop, can you show us the view you're looking at, the one which refuses to show the custom groups?
If that view is different from Tools / Category List, include the Category List view, too, showing the entire window.

How do I post a screenshot in the community from windows

How do I post a screenshot in the community from a mac

Please save images to files of file type PNG, JPG, or GIF only. They're easier to work with than PDF files.

luthien1121

I may need to create separate budgets since the ABLE money needs to be apart from the rest of my money, but I haven't had time to call customer service yet.

Scooterlam

A few things to try.

1. As @mshiggins suggested, turn off Sync. and create a new test data file to see if the behavior you describe continues. Eliminate a known problem with the desktop app (sync). Did you try these suggestions? Edit>Preferences>Mobile and Web
2. Restart Quicken after doing so.
3. When I see oddities in the budget, I "Validate and Repair" the file. File>Validate and repair file>check validate file. This will take a few minutes and return with any errors/repairs in your data file.
4. Restart Quicken after doing so.
5. There is a bunch of prior discussion about assigning expenses to "top-level" categories when there is one or more subcategories under it. I've found that if I have this case, I only assign expenses to the subcategory and never to the category itself. If there is only a category and no subcategories under it, of course you would assign expenses to the category. This has been my practice. Its a "hygiene" practice and may or may not contribute to your issues.
6. If you follow the advice in #5, then you can go to view options and set the budget to show parent category rollup. See image.

7. Are you mixing income and expense categories in your category groups? Strange things happen. Try segregating income and expense categories/subcategories to their own category group. Search the community on "income expense in category group", under my @scooteriam or under @Chris_QPW. I know that in some cases you might have to delete the custome category group you created then realign the expense and income categories.

8. Check out the extensive help topic here: https://help.quicken.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=3216833

Dont forget to backup often.

Let us know how it goes

luthien1121

Thanks for all the advice! I came from YNAB, which is so different in setup that this is all a bit bewildering.

I think I solved the issue by starting over with a new data file. And two budgets for the two income buckets that need to remain separate, ie my son's ABLE account and our family accounts. However, I used their categories instead of all my custom ones. I'm used to having my categories tied to my accounts very closely because I don't have a math brain and things easily get mixed up.