Unknown category at very top of dropdown category list

Question

When I pull down the category list while entering a transaction, if I scroll all the way to the top I see an account named "ACCT_157". If I look at a list of categories, it does not appear. If I enter it in a test transaction, then right click and select "see amounts paid to ACCT_157, it shows only the test transaction, it has not been used any other time. I did not create this category.

Any ideas of what this might be? I haven't tried deleting it yet.

UKR · Answer

You should be able to delete this category.

It's a remnant of a time, years ago, when transaction downloading created temporary "TEMP_xxxx" or "ACCT_xxxx" accounts during the download process and, if all went well, deleted the temp account when done.

But it didn't go well every time … and so, some hidden temp accounts may have been left behind.

Quicken programmers fixed the problem and added code to the Validate (or was it the Supervalidate?) routine to find and delete these accounts for you.

Nowadays, running Validate and/or Supervalidate should either delete them for you or, at least, make it so that you can delete the entry from the Category list yourself.

NotACPA · Answer

That category is actually a hidden account that was the result of an earlier download error.  See if you can switch to that account, to make sure that it's empty (not just $0) and delete it.