Stripe deposits aren't accepting memorized payees - showing as transfers back to same acocunt

susanlitton

I have frequent automatic deposits from two different accounts at Stripe Bank into two separate checking accounts at Wells Fargo bank. I'm trying to give different categories to the entries, depending on which accounts they come from and/or into. The entries come in like this:

Stripe Transfer [unique transaction #] company1

or

Stripe Transfer [unique transaction #] company2

In other words, entries in both Wells Fargo accounts look the same except that each has a unique transaction number, and at the end, the entry contains the name of the corresponding Stripe bank account (i.e., "company1" or "company2".)

It SEEMS like I should be able to create memorized payees using a "contains" rule, like

if contains (Stripe Transfer company1), categorize it abc

if contains (Stripe Transfer company 2), categorize it xyz

I have one of them working correctly. I started trying to get the other working correctly but somehow I ended up messing it all up because now, when Stripe transactions come in, they're automatically categorized as transfers - back into the same account. That's not correct at all, but I can't seem to get it to stop doing that.

I'm on Windows, Quicken Classic Deluxe Versuib R54.16, Build 27.1.54.16.

As to when this started, I hadn't made any Quicken entries in about a year. When I opened it a few months ago, none of my One Step Updates worked and there were some other issues I don't remember now. I entered the whole year's worth of transactions manually, but when I came back and opened it again a few days later, NONE of my work had been saved. I contacted Quicken support and they helped me repair those issues and install an older backup to get all of my entries back. I was able to reconnect with all my accounts via One Step Updates. However, somewhere during all of that, this other problem of the Stripe entries being categorized as transactions began. I spent over an hour with Quicken support on this a couple of weeks ago, but things got worse instead of better. When we started, one of the Stripe entries was correct, when we ended, both of them were now coming categorized as transactions. The representative was very nice but suggested I call back when more experienced people might be available to help. I decided to try this.

I did try using ctrl m to see if I could force a correct memorized transaction - and it WORKED - but because each entry has the unique transaction number embedded in it, that's obviously not giving the desired result. I need to find that report where you can create a memorized transaction using "contains." I found it accidently once but don't know how I did it. I don't KNOW if that would work here but it's worth a try. Also open to any/all other ideas anyone has.

Thanks.

Chris_QPW

Tools → Renaming Rules.

You use the you use the renaming rules which look at both the downloaded payee and the memo for the phrase you put in and then set the payee that you have selected for that renaming rule. Which should be match the payee in the memorized payee list.

susanlitton

Thanks, Chris. I've tried that. It creates a rule if the QUICKEN NAME is whatever I give it when I create the rule. That doesn't do anything. The one that WORKS is one I created in the past that says "If payee contains" Stripe Company1. But I have no clue how I created that rule. I need to create one exactly like that that says "If payee contains" Stripe Company2.

This is the exact place where the Quicken representative I worked with got stuck and said I needed to talk to someone above his level.

UKR

This is the exact place where the Quicken representative I worked with got stuck and said I needed to talk to someone above his level.

Simple but a little tricky … You need to go into the Renaming Rules and edit the rule from "If Quicken Name is" to "If payee contains"

susanlitton

I can only edit the Payee Name even on the one that's currently an "If contains". I haven't been able to find ANYTHING in Quicken where I can enter - or even edit - one of the "If payee contains" rules. It's as if a tool that was once there is no more.

UKR

You'll find the Renaming Rule I mentioned by going into Tools / Renaming Rules.
From this dialog select the Renaming Rule for the payee name which doesn't work properly (in my image that's Burger King). Click the little triangle to the left of the name to expand the selection and get the "If Quicken Name is" / "If payee contains" line. Click the line to open the selection items and make the change.

If a Renaming Rule doesn't exist for the payee name which doesn't work, create it.

Remember that you need a Memorized Payee List entry using the exact same payee name as the name used in the Renaming Rule.
Define this MPL entry with the desired category and put a checkmark in "Lock this entry …"

If these deposit transfers occur regularly, e.g., monthly, and always the same amount, it would be easiest to set up and use Scheduled Reminders for both of these transfers. Use distinct Payee Names, e.g. "Stripe transfer from Company 1" with correct categories as needed.
Set the Reminders to "Auto enter [1] day before due date".
This gives you a register entry with correct categories. When the transfer appears in the next download after due date, Quicken will match download to register entry without messing up categories. Pulling information about downloaded transfers, especially what other account the transfer has gone to, correctly, every time, solely based on cryptic downloaded information, requires a crystal ball …

susanlitton

I get several of these deposits in both accounts each day - they arrive randomly - but there are so many of them that that's why I want to make sure I don't have to categorize them by hand each time.

This is the one that's correct - notice that it says "If payee contains". In this case SUSAN LITTON is company1:

Are you saying that I should change STRIPE SUSAN LITTON to STRIPE COMPANY2? I'd have to have a new name for it, wouldn't I? In my Memorized Payee List, I have this - the top one (Stripe Private Practice Income) works because it matches to the rule above, second one doesn't because I can't access a way to create a "Contains" rule. I have no clue how I did it for the top one:

Chris_QPW

Deleted. I think @UKR answer is what you were looking for.

But I will add this:

This preference will create a new renaming rule if you change the payee name of a downloaded transaction.

Edit → Preferences → Downloaded Transactions

UKR

In that case, go into Renaming Rules. Leave the existing rule unchanged.
Now add a new rule named "Stripe PSYBooks".

Click OK.
Now, from the list of Renaming Rules click the triangle in front of "Stripe PSYBooks" to expand the selection. You'll get this:

Now click the triangle next to "If Quicken name is" to open the selection and you'll see "If payee contains". Click it to change the selection. Tab twice to make the change or click another rule, to save the change.

That, together with an MPL entry "Stripe PSYBooks" should get you what you need, whenever a new downloaded transaction arrives.

Be sure to set your account to NOT automatically accept downloaded transactions. Click each downloaded transaction and review it. Before accepting it make any changes as needed. Quicken should be able to remember your changes for next time a transaction with the same payee name comes along.

Chris_QPW

I will also note that @UKR and I do this differently, but the result is the same, you need a renaming rule and matching memorized payee for every payee that is to get a different category. Note that you can have multiple entries in a renaming rule if you want multiple different downloaded payees to end up being the same payee in your register. I do have my account set to put the downloaded transactions into the register.

Example:

I review all the New and New Match transactions to make sure they are correct. I have a renaming rule for Costco Gas and that is why this fills out automatically correctly. But let's say I want the payee to be something different. If the "automatically create rules when I rename payees" on and (the confirm, which always a good idea) this is what happens if I change the payee name (note BTW the downloaded payee is turned on and shown next to the payee I choose).

I typed in "Test It":

Since I have an existing renaming rule this is what I get. If I didn't have an existing rule, it would instead show me the renaming rule it is going to create and allow me to change it if I need to (maybe to make it even more general or something).

This what the dialog will look like if I have no existing renaming rule (I clicked on Create New Rule.. above to get it:

And note that the renaming rule is only half of this, you need a memorized payee with the right category. You get those by "memorizing" the payee/category match (after the renaming rule is right). I just select Ctrl+M to do this. There is a way to do it automatically, but because there isn't a confirm on this one, I don't have it on because I don't want it creating them with permission. The preference for that is:

Edit → Preferences → Downloaded transactions → Automatically categorize transactions

I also turn off "Automatically apply Quicken's suggested name to payee" for basically the same reason, I want control of it. Note that this one only applies if you don't have a renaming rule, and it doesn't have a "look up" for every possible payee name so it is possible that it won't do anything for a given payee.

susanlitton

I tried @UKR's suggestion (HAPPY to see where the "contains" is!). I entered all my current transactions (which had not changed) but I thought maybe they hadn't changed because they were already downloaded. Once I finished, I backed up that file to Dropbox - then exited - because I wanted to start fresh and do another One Step Update to see if what I had done had worked.

THEN . . . this is a whole different thing I need help with. When I opened Quicken again, it automatically opened a file. I assumed it would EITHER be the backup I had made or the original file I had been working on that I had made the changes to. It was neither. It was a file in OneDrive (which I never use). It didn't have any of the changes I had made. The last representative I worked with told me I should ALWAYS keep my main copy of Quicken in my C drive. I've never done that. I have ALWAYS kept my Quicken files in Dropbox because that way, I can access them from any of my devices even if I'm traveling. But he felt that the fact that my account ONLY had Quicken files in OneDrive and Dropbox may have been why my file corrupted in the first place, so I followed his instructions and made a folder on my C Drive. So now, when I look at the recent files in Quicken, I'm not seeing any of the files I THOUGHT I had saved.

I went to Tools > Find Quicken Data Files and found the one in Dropbox - maybe they were having an issue earlier because the time-stamp is for now. Then on this screen:

What does that mean? I had it synced to the DROPBOX cloud and want to continue doing that - but I'm thinking this may mean OneDrive.

I think I need a general lesson about the best way to work with Quicken files now. For probably 10+ years, I ONLY kept them in Dropbox - had a special folder so I could keep the backups there, too (although that may not be the wisest plan). It worked GREAT. No issues for all that time. But now, I have some files in Dropbox, some on my C drive and some on OneDrive. I'm getting confused as to which is which.

What's the best plan? And what should I do with the box above? Keep that default choice?

Chris_QPW

In a nutshell your data file is no longer "stand alone". There is quite a bit of information that is stored in the "Quicken Cloud Dataset", that has to be kept in sync.

When you jumped back to an old copy of your data file, the system detected that those two are no longer in sync.

Since your goal is to download again from that file, I think the default choices are what you want.

susanlitton

Oh gosh. I did that, but now I'm back to that file that is over a year old. No transactions since Jan 2022. These are the choices I have when for today's date when I do the Find Quicken Files command:

I need to find that last one I was using but at this point, I have no idea which one it was. If I open one but choose the "I am just looking at this file" I'll be able to find it, right? And once I do, how do I save it to make sure I can always find it easily and use it on all my devices? Having Quicken files stored in 3 different locations is a bit overwhelming.

Chris_QPW

Start Quicken and select File, the Quicken data files you opened will be at the bottom with that last accessed one at the top.

If you need to copy a data file out to a local disk and back into a cloud folder to share it I suggest this:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7948029/faq-script-for-copying-your-quicken-data-out-of-a-cloud-folder-and-back-into-it

susanlitton

Thanks. That's WAY over my head for tonight. I'll look at it again tomorrow. But . . . Quicken really should NOT be this difficult for an ordinary person to use.

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20422970#Comment_20422970

Quicken Inc's marketing says "Install and in 5 minutes you are set." That isn't even close to being correct.

Quicken has a lot of powerful features, but if you want "simple", then go with something like Quicken Simplifi or some of the other online personal finance apps. You just aren't going to get simple and powerful from Quicken Windows. From what I understand partly because Quicken Mac was rewritten and "flows better" that it might be a bit easier to use, but it is also lacking a lot of features that Quicken Windows has for the same reason, they started over and haven't had time to add those features.

susanlitton

Sounds like, though, that you agree with the representative who helped me that I really need to have my main Quicken Files on my C drive and only use Dropbox to save backups. I saw this in your article:

« You can keep the Quicken data file in the cloud folder if you turn of syncing while using the data file in Quicken, but that is hard to remember to do. 

There's not a way to set a preference in Quicken so it does NOT sync to OneDrive? The thought of trying to run that script is a bit scary. I'm afraid I'll mess everything up. Mostly right now, my most pressing need is to find the file that has the current data in it. I guess I overwrote it with the older one in OneDrive.

susanlitton

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20422977#Comment_20422977

Ha! 5 minutes indeed! Part of what's frustrating to me is that my system worked for me for 10+ year. But when I opened it a month or so ago to do last years reports for my taxes, it's been a horrible mess to try to unravel! I have no idea what happened but Quicken and Dropbox no longer seem to play nice. And I didn't even know there WAS a OneDrive backup until this year. Anyway . . . I appreciate all your help. I'll try again tomorrow.

Chris_QPW

There's not a way to set a preference in Quicken so it does NOT sync to OneDrive?

The "not sync" is in OneDrive, not in Quicken. Quicken has no choice in the matter. If your data file is in a OneDrive folder If OneDrive's sync is on, it is going to do sync. This is what that refers to.

Once that is selected you get this warning:

And you can click on it to resume syncing. So, one person's use of Quicken goes like selecting Pause in OneDrive, the running Quicken, and then after closing it, starting the sync again.

Looking at Dropbox, I don't see a similar pause menu selection.

Chris_QPW

And yes, I agree with Quicken Support, having your data file (the one you open in Quicken) in a "cloud folder" that is set to sync can cause problems. Mostly because Quicken actually opens and closes and reopens that data file at certain times. If the sync starts when Quicken has the data file closed for just a short period of times it can get in the way of Quicken doing what it needs with its data file.

susanlitton

What is OneDrive? Is it part of the Microsoft 365 subscription I have? I never knew how I got it - never wanted it - because since I'm already paying for Dropbox, it seemed redundant. I was trying to research it on my own and discovered that I not only have a Users > susan > OneDrive folder, but I also have a Users > susan > OneDrive > Desktop > BankDownloads > OneDrive folder! No wonder I'm confused! See if this sounds right:

1. I need to always work out of the file on my C drive. So work from Users > susan > Quicken Main Files
2. Best practices will probably be to backup that working file to A cloud program each time I finish with it. Does it have to be OneDrive? Can I deactivate OneDrive entirely since I'm already set up with Dropbox? The other option would be to learn to use OneDrive, I guess - if that's going to make all of this easier.
3. Then, to use a second device, I create a similar folder on the C drive of that device. Then open Quicken. I guess it will open the last file I worked with ON THAT DEVICE, which won't be correct. So - do I then restore the backup file that's in either Dropbox or OneDrive? Wherever I decide to keep it?
4. Once I restore the backup to my new device, how do I save that file to my new folder on the C drive? I want Quicken to have a "Save As" command! I see commands for saving copies or backups. Neither really makes sense to me.
   1. Once a file is saved, can I go in and rename it by using a regular Windows Rename command, as long as I keep the extension the same? I've got files with super long names, ending with these extensions: .QDF, .QDF-backup, .pm07.33_SyncLog.dat, .PM07.33OFXLOG.DAT, etc. And there are duplicates - looks like copies of each of those same kind of files. So in this brand new folder that the agent helped me make just a week ago, I now have 7 files plus 3 folders: BACKUP, GPUCache and VALIDATE I'd love to tidy this up to the FEWEST amount of files I have to keep so I don't get so confused. What do I have to have and how to I accomplish that?

Chris_QPW

OK, first off in Windows 11 it turns on OneDrive and backing up your "main folders" to it by default. That is most likely why it is on. And yes, using OneDrive and Dropbox is redundant. I personally need Office 365 for the programs like Outlook and Excel and the fact that it comes with 1 terabyte of cloud storage for up to 5 users and cost $100 a year, is why I use it as my backup method.

OneDrive plays a "trick" when it is set as for "backup". It moves your Desktop, Document, Pictures, and Video folders to in the OneDrive folder. If you click on OneDrive in the system tray and then the gear icon and then Settings, and then Sync and backup, and finally Manage backup you should see this dialog:

By turning these off, Windows to put the given folder back in C:\USERNAME\ instead of in C:\USERNAME\OneDrive.

Now back your exact process dealing with copying of files in and other of Dropbox.

I do not recommend "restore", it does things in the "Quicken Cloud dataset" that you don't want to happen just to move a data file from one machine to another. And for the same reason, using backup probably isn't a good idea, backup doesn't do anything with the "Quicken Cloud dataset", but opening a backup file runs "restore".

Even if Quicken had a Save As which would take care of the saving of the data file to Dropbox, there isn't a "copy out of this folder to another folder and then open it." which would be needed for getting it back out of Dropbox to use it.

So, you faced with doing this outside of Quicken.

I just searched and there are instructions on how to pause Dropbox, so that might be the way you want to go. You leave the data file in Dropbox and just pause it before using it, resume after you close it:

https://help.dropbox.com/sync/pause-resume

If you would like to use the script in the FAQ what you would change is:

Change "Current" to the name of your Quicken data file. The DATA_DIR is fine. Change %USERPROFILE%\OneDrive\Documents\Quicken\ in QUICKEN_DROPBOX_DIR to the folder in Dropbox where you want to keep your Quicken data file. I notice that I called the variable "Dropbox", I remember I did a quick edit to change the path for people that are using OneDrive, and left it at that. Make sure you end the path with the back slash.

set DATA_FILE=Current.qdf
set DATA_DIR=c:\Quicken
set QUICKEN_DROPBOX_DIR=%USERPROFILE%\OneDrive\Documents\Quicken\

Quicken puts a lot of files/folders where the data file is. The *.DAT file are some of the logs but in "scrambled" form because they might have person information in them, it unscramble them, when you look at them in Quicken. You can remove them, but they will just come back. The BACKUP folder is the default location for automatic backups. VALIDATE is for when you run a validate and repair Quicken makes a backup (which will be overridden each time you run it) before it does the validate and repair.

*.QDF-backup are the backup files, and are the same as *.QDF files, the type just tells Quicken to use Restore instead of Open.

susanlitton

Thanks for the education. With what you're saying, I'm thinking maybe I should ditch Dropbox and only use OneDrive. I use Office 365, too, so if that already comes with so much cloud storage, I might be able to save some money that way.

Ok, so no backups. Say I ditch Dropbox and have my main Quicken files on my C drive. So when I start to work on my main device, I assume Quicken will open to that file each time. Is a backup automatically being made in OneDrive? So, if this machine crashes, at THAT point, I could restore my backup and not have lost any data? What do I do if I need to use another device? I've always just been so conscientious about making sure I have backups everywhere that it's hard for me to wrap my head around working on a file and then just closing it, without manually saving some kind of backup.

But I can manually rename some of my files, right? My files names have gotten quite long and I'd like to streamline them into something I can more readily recognize as THE file I'm supposed to be working with.

Chris_QPW

To setup an automatic back up for when you close Quicken select this preference and set the "times" 1, select the change to select a folder in OneDrive to make a backup there.

What that does is create that BACKUP folder in a different place other than where your data file is.

And yes, that is you can restore if needed (it will be stored in OneDrive).

And yes, you can rename your data files however you like.

One of the things that I'm thinking got "lost" is why people might want to use a script like the one I posted, and where the use case doesn't require that kind of thing.

If you are working on just one machine, then all you have to do to follow the policy recommended is to move the data file that you open in Quicken to a folder that isn't a "cloud folder", you can still have your backups in that cloud folder. So, if you are only dealing with one machine, this perfectly OK.

The only reason for going through any of the other hassles is for people that want to share that data file and opening on a different machine. The "cloud folder" provides the way to copy the data file to the other machine.

susanlitton

I've got that set - but it's set to go to Dropbox. My strategy has always been to have one copy of data on my hard drive and another in the cloud. I am thinking I will switch to One Drive but will probably go slowly. So if I want to start by changing my automatic backup folder to OneDrive, do I use the one that's at C\Users\susan\OneDrive\Documents\Quicken\BACKUPS? That's another folder on my C drive, obviously, but you said it will automatically back up to the cloud from there? I have had two harddrives fail and although I haven't had a malware attack, I do see them as very real threats and prefer having online backups.

On your script - I haven't meant to ignore it - I just wasn't sure I was smart enough to even ask questions. Is that the kind of thing you run from the cmd line?

I really am still unsure how to work on two computers. My current situation is a great example: I have two home offices - each has a desktop. My main one will be unavailable tomorrow - I've been in the middle of trying to figure out this Quicken issue. Normally, I would just go to my second office and restore my backup and keep working. But I'm so confused about where the "correct" file is at this point that I'm afraid to try.

Chris_QPW

Yes, doing the backup to C:\Users\susan\OneDrive\Documents\Quicken\BACKUPS, will sync to OneDrive. Notice the OneDrive in the path, anything in the OneDrive folder or below will sync to OneDrive.

The script does run from the command line, but it will open up a separate command line window was it runs. It looks like this in the task bar:

The black one is the script running, and it starts Quicken, and waits for it to close.