Can you change which memorized payee category is prefilled in the download register

hartlenb

I'm using Quicken Classic Business & Personal on Windows.

I have the following options turned on: complete fields using previous entries, recall memorized payees and automatically memorize new payees. These options often result in having multiple entries in the Memorized Payee list for the same Payee but with different categories. I'm good with this and want this.

My problem is the seemingly random way that Quicken decides which memorized payee entry (specifically for category) that it uses. As an example: I have 4 different entries for our local grocery chain. I want the record with category Groceries to be used when I'm entering transactions from the download register. This category gets used 90% of the time. But Quicken insists on using the Charity category that gets used a few times a year. I can click on the Payee in the register and select Groceries from the pull down but that's incredibly inefficient.

If I delete the memorized payee entry with that category, shutdown and restart Quicken, that prefilled category is still what Quicken uses. If I click the pulldown it's not even an option.

NotACPA

So, simply enter the correct transaction manually. Relying completely on any download being completely correct all of the time is ill-advised.

And, there's no way to direct Q to select among multiple memorized transactions other than manual.

splasher

I don't know of a way to set a preference.

Personally, I would uncheck the "automatically memorize new payees", delete the three seldom used Memorized Payees and "lock" all of your MPs. Also uncheck "Automatically categorize transactions". I would also change the amounts to $0 (the download will override) except for those that are the same every time. Since they would all start off as "Groceries", it would be easy to click in the category field and start typing and be offered a few choices that start that way since 90% of the time you wouldn't need to change it.

I'm also guessing the "Fry's Food" isn't the only thing the the downloaded payee, so you probably have a Renaming Rule changing it for consistency which is GOOD.

hartlenb

@splasher Other than unchecking the memorize new payees… I'll give that a try. Thank you.

splasher

Your choice, but do you really need to memorize all of them, especially places you will only go to once, like on a trip. Excessive MPs have been known to slow down Q.

Chris_QPW

I do what @splasher suggests. I'm certainly not going to manually enter all my transactions just to get this to work. Besides what causes this problem in the first place as far as I'm concerned is the reuse of the same list for manual entry and automatic download. The use of the memorized list for manual entry came first, and it makes sense that you might want multiple entries in that case to be able to quickly switch between a few. But when you are downloading without matching to any existing transaction, then you just want one as the default.

One thing that is handy to know is that you can select Ctrl+M to memorize a new payee.

I think the automatic memorization is good to start with, but quickly you need to switch to memorizing yourself just to avoid this kind of problem.

As a side note, over the years "what payee entry is selected" when there is more than one has changed, and I'm not sure of which one it picks these days. The main competing ideas are the last one used, and just the last or first one in the list. There has never been a setting for it, but in fact that wouldn't be a bad idea. That way you could reuse the list, but also tell it "This is the one" for automatic. It could just be another check box in the payee entry.

NotACPA

In my state, which doesn't have a payroll tax, I'm able to deduct my sales tax on my federal tax return.

NO FI would download that, so in order to track it, I need to manually input most everything. So, for me, the primary function of the download (into banking accounts) is to confirm that I recorded things in the correct total amount and the correct account.