Category designation of memorized transactions sometimes disappear - how to fix??

Question

This annoying 'feature' is driving me crazy.  When I go to the online center and begin to enter the payee, the name is matched with a memorized transaction (that I did previously) and the contents of the memorized contents of the various fields are updated.  I've experienced a couple if issues…assume that at some point I created a memorized transaction with Payee, amount, a specified category (or splits). and memo, sent the payment and everything is fine.

* Some time later, I get a bill from the same payee - I begin to enter the payee name and the fields from the payee memorized transaction are populated EXCEPT the category.  This happens with some payees, but not all.  If the initial transaction had split categories, none of the split categories show up.
* Again…sometime later I get a bill from same payee. I enter the payee name, the fields are populated (except for category) however the fields contain data from an entry that was made some time prior (6 months, a year, two years, whenever.) and NOT the last transaction.  It seems that the file that contains the list of memorized transactions gets corrupted some how, the most recent transaction is gone(?) and it just picks what ever is available.

I have not be able to correlate anything I do in quicken with this weird behavior.  I have noticed side effects sometimes when a new update is installed.  I am thinking that the updates are somehow reshuffling/deleting entries in the memorized transaction list.

I have done Validate and repair file about every two months or so only minor issues, usually none.  My database file has been in use for the last 4-5 years - have not done a year end closing.

Any thoughts on what may be causing this/how to fix is appreciated. Thanks

Win 10-fully patched, Quicken for windows

J

three_jeeps · Answer

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20445601#Comment_20445601

I did not know of the 'locking' mechanism.  I'll try that.  TY.  Scheduled reminders seem somewhat redundant to just paying the bill directly.  Yes, the bills are periodic but if the last transaction is 'memorized' why doesn't it populate the fields correctly?  I'll try it to see if it solves the issue. Then again, that is my expectation from having used Quicken for 30+ years…maybe they changed the functional requirements, or maybe they screwed up….

Thanks again for your suggestions.

three_jeeps · Answer

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20445599#Comment_20445599

What is the difference? the same data is used in both places.  How is this helping to solve the issue?

UKR · Answer

One method of trying to prevent unexpected changes to entries in your Memorized Payee List (MPL) is to mark these entries as "Locked". Put a checkmark in the Lock column for this entry or, while editing the MPL entry, put a checkmark in the box at "Lock and leave this payee …"

Of course, you have to make sure that you have a valid, correctly categorized entry in the MPL. If not, memorize the transaction in the register. In the MPL delete any unwanted or incorrect MPL entries for this payee.

For recurring entries, a Scheduled Reminder might be a better solution. It is always correctly categorized.

Please ensure that all optional settings in Quicken pertaining to recall, memorization, automatic categorization and renaming of payee names are enabled. You find those settings in Edit / Preferences / ﻿Data Entry & Quickfill﻿ and ﻿Downloaded Transactions. Additional settings for the detection and processing of transfer transactions can be found in Edit / Preferences /Transfer detection.