Backfill category for a payee already imported

Question

Hi, I have several payees that are being imported via Express Web Connect without a category. I added the category to one of the payee entries.

Is there a way to have Quicken find all other entries of the payee and backfill the category automatically based on the one I already added?  It would make things easier.

Thank you

Quicken Classic for Windows, Version R69.25

Sceptic · Accepted Answer

@Earl59 I think the quickest way to fix all those downloaded transactions that came in without a category is to use Assign Category in the register.

* Open the account register
* Sort by Payee so all the affected transactions are grouped together
* Select all the transactions for that payee (Shift‑click or Ctrl‑click)
* Right‑click the selection
* Choose Assign Category
* Pick the correct category and apply it

Quicken will update every selected transaction in one step.  This process may take a long time to complete.  Do not interrupt or stop the process.  It could cause file corruption.  If you have a lot of transactions to update, maybe consider updating them in groups rather than all at once.

mshiggins · Accepted Answer

@Earl59 one note of caution - whenever you are going to do any sort of mass changes in you Quicken data, you'll want to start by taking a backup. That way, you can recover should anything unexpected occur.

Also, if your payees are used in multiple accounts, it may be more efficient to use the All Transactions register instead of individual account registers. You can access the All Transactions register from the link at the top of the Account Bar. The Account Bar is typically docked to the left hand side of the main Quicken window.