How do I set quicken to apply category to the register to newly modified by download payees via the

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Every time a payee is altered by what is downloaded in the transactions I have to modify the memorized payee list. I do not do this monthly I do it quarterly. Once I make the configuration correct and save the changes in the memorized payee list the category in the register is not updated.

Searching the community or via google only finds help to setup or modify the memorized payees. Nowhere can I find how to apply them after configuring them.

How do I set quicken to apply category to the register to newly modified by download payees via the memorized payee list?

Answers

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I'm not sure I'm understanding the question. You can always edit a Memorized Payee to change the Category associated with the Payee, and if you "Lock" that Payee then all subsequent entries into a Register using that Payee should use the new Category.

    If you want to go "back in time" to change the Category for a given Payee, then you can't use the Memorized Payee List for that. To do that you'd use one of the other available tools, like Edit > Find/Replace. That would find all the transactions with the associated Payee name, you'd select the transactions that need changing, and then replace the exiting Category(s) to whatever other Category you want.

  • tjp2oo6
    tjp2oo6 Member
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    I am not looking for subsequent entries. If it were locked or not is irrelevant.

    After removing the erroneous entry added by Quicken there is no way to correct the 4 or 5 entries since the last time all the categories were verified correct. For example, the electric company. One time the update brings elecco, the next elecco online. These entries have no category applied. Correct the memorized payees and next month the elecco may apply correctly. But what about the 4 entries? How do I trigger the memorized payee to apply the category? All I can find is how to manually apply the stuff quicken changed incorrectly. Essentially manually categorizing the registers all the time.

    Needed. How to apply the memorized payee after Quicken screws it up.

    By the way when searching for how or searching for your suggestion, there is not an article that applies.

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
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    "I am not looking for subsequent entries."

    OK, you want to change entries that have incorrect Categories entered prior to you going into the Memorized Payee List and changing the Category back to the "correct" Category because "something" has changed the Category associated with the Payee from the last time you were forced to correct it.

    Do I have that right??

    "If it were locked or not is irrelevant."

    Explain that to me.

    IF a Payee is locked THEN nothing (in theory) should change with that Payee. It should always stay the same. IF a Payee in not locked THEN each subsequent use of that Payee that has a different Category can change the Category in the Memorized Payee List.

    That seems entirely relevant to me. The only way I can make that "irrelevant" is if you do have the Payee locked, but it still gets changed. Is that the issue?

    "After removing the erroneous entry added by Quicken there is no way to correct the 4 or 5 entries since the last time all the categories were
    verified correct."

    Well that's clearly wrong. You've already identified one way to correct those entries: edit them. And I mentioned another way of correcting them: Find and Replace. (There's other ways, too.)

    "For example, the electric company. One time the update brings elecco, the next elecco online."

    I take it "elecco and "elecco online" are Payee names? Are those two names for the exact same electric utility? Tweaking Renaming Rules should get you a consistent name here.

    "These entries have no category applied. Correct the memorized payees and next month the elecco may apply correctly. "

    So I take it that the Category associated with elecco/elecco online are blank, not simply changed to a different Category, when you go into the Memorized Payee List? That should only happen, really, if a transaction has been recorded in the Register with no Category being used used. And I still don't understand how having a Payee locked or not is irrelevant if what you're really saying that even locked Payees are getting changed.

    "Needed. How to apply the memorized payee after Quicken screws it up."

    So now were back to prior entries made during the time from when Quicken screws up to the time you catch that and fix the memorized payee? If that's right then the answer is you can't "apply the memorized payee after Quicken screws it up." There's no mechanism I'm aware of that would allow you to go to the Memorized Payee List and say "go back in time and fix your mistakes."

    "By the way when searching for how or searching for your suggestion, there is not an article that applies. "

    This is from the in-program Help:

    This section is from a lager section in the Help file that refers to changing transactions after the fact:

    https://help.quicken.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=3216329

  • tjp2oo6
    tjp2oo6 Member
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    You are purposely avoiding the question.First line in your response you change to someone else question.
    I do not have incorrect categories. Elecco applied the correct category via the memorzed payee list all along.
    When downloading transactions quicken randomly changes the name of many payees not just the elecco example.
    So. After 4 months passed and elecco has been downloaded as elecco online to the register I am forced to go to the memorized payee list and add the category to elecco online. Once that is completed the 4 elecco online entries in the registry remain with their category blank.
    Once the memorized payee list is edited,

    How do you trigger the catgory to update in the register?

    That is the question. It has been the question the whole time.

    As well indicating that I have already solved the issue by manually updating the category is an insult. I strongly feel that Quicken does not intend for this forum to be used to satisfy your need to be rude.

  • Tom Young
    Tom Young SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited January 21
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    I'm not "avoiding" anything. I'm trying to understand what you're saying, what you're asking for, and I'm obviously not. "What we've got here is a failure to communicate."

    OK. I'm out.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
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    How do I set quicken to apply category to the register to newly modified by download payees via the memorized payee list?

    You don't.

    The memorized payee list is used to fill in information for "future transactions" it has no effect on past transactions.

    If you want to affect past transactions, you have to use different Quicken features, like find and replace as @Tom Young suggested.

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  • tjp2oo6
    tjp2oo6 Member
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    That makes the MPayee list somewhat useless.

    However, there are times when I create the new entry in the Memorized payee list that on the first modification to a line in the registry I get a popup requesting if I would like all of the blank categories of this payee updated.

    How do I trigger that popup? It does not come up every time. If I could trigger that popup, I could correct other entries Quicken has jacked up as well as easily/quickly separate historical transactions by category. Like electric bills from one home to the next. Having 15 years of data in my registers makes it possible to go back and have a look historically. I just didn't know I needed to separate items by category in that way. These changes I have been making as the quitter Tom Young suggested. I don't give up so easily. Just asking if I am doing something mundane and time consuming where the automation of Quicken claims to apply.

    I am simply looking to save some time when I get around to using the data in Quicken. I find it extremely frustrating to finally have time to see if I can improve my finances only to find it takes more time to remediate short comings in the software and create my own tools to sort out the data.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
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    How do I trigger that popup?

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  • RichardCSchreyer
    RichardCSchreyer Member ✭✭✭✭
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    A clueless man once said don't confuse me with the facts, I've already made up my mind……

  • tjp2oo6
    tjp2oo6 Member
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    Those boxes are checked in my preferences. I don't remember the article, but I did find in support where those preferences are all defined line by line and how they are related.

    Cool website.

    Do you know of an example of an account that is an annuity? It would be good for me to have in Quicken when I get around to spending it. For now the investment is split across a few indexes. I could just update the balance and as spent the outgoing will be treated as a 401k.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Member ✭✭✭✭
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    @tjp2oo6 did you look at those settings closely, especially the second one?

    As for the question on the annuity I suggest you start with a search on this forum for annuity, I don't have one, so I haven't looked at the details, but it has been discussed many times.

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  • kimadixon
    kimadixon Member
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    @tjp2oo6 I'm wondering if I'm having the same problem as you. My example:

    The downloaded transaction payee is "PayPal" This payee automatically gets assigned the category "Gifts & Donations". However, I pay several things through PayPal. So I may want to change this payee to the memorialized payee "PayPal - Zoom". This payee has a category of "Entertainment:Subscriptions". When I edit the payee to "PayPal - Zoom" in the register, the category doesn't automatically change and I have to do it manually.

    Is there a way where once you change the payee in the register that the category automatically updates?

    Thanks!

  • tjp2oo6
    tjp2oo6 Member
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    I do not think so.

    That sounds more like on the payee you will need to do something pretty complex or just create a paypal category.

    If all of the boxes are checked as in the thread above when you fix the newest entry you may get a pop up asking if you want to change them all.

    If not sort for all of paypal select all the lines edit and edit the category with the repalce tool.

This discussion has been closed.