My downloaded transactions are all categorized to Entertainment. I have know idea how to stop this.

Unknown
Unknown Member
When I download my transactions from the bank Quicken assigns "Entertainment" to most of the categories.  I don't know how to undo whatever it is I did.  Leaving categories blank is better. This happens with the checking account & credit card accounts.   I'm sure there's a button to click.  Using 2016 Deluxe.

Comments

  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    And what Payee Name is assigned to these transactions?
    What is the downloaded Payee Name as it comes down from the bank?
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited September 2018
    Various payees & deposits.  Metro Water, Kroger, Insurance companies.  The payee downloaded is correct.  Happens with Income & expenses.  Most everything is categorized as "Entertainment"  I don't know how to attach a pdf to show you.

  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2020

    Various payees & deposits.  Metro Water, Kroger, Insurance companies.  The payee downloaded is correct.  Happens with Income & expenses.  Most everything is categorized as "Entertainment"  I don't know how to attach a pdf to show you.

    You can't attach PDF files.
    The
    Windows Snipping Tool (available with Windows 7 and up) can be used to capture
    a partial screen image and save it to a file. 
    Microsoft Paint can be used to annotate the image.

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13776/windows-use-snipping-tool-to-capture-screenshots

    To take a screenshot in Mac please see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361

    Please create image files of type PNG, JPG or GIF only.

    To attach the image here, start composing your reply. At the bottom of the text
    entry window on the webpage you'll see a row of icons beginning with B I U
    S

    Click the camera icon (not the video camera icon). It will allow you to select
    and upload the captured image file from your computer. The captured image will
    be inserted at wherever the cursor is located in the text.
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2018
    What do transactions for these vendors look like in the Memorized Payee List (MPL)?
    If the category is stored incorrectly in the MPL entry for Kroger, for example, any new transactions created from a download are likely going to be incorrect.
    Re-memorize a correct register transaction to replace the bad MPL entry or edit the MPL entry to correct it. Consider using the "lock" function to prevent MPL entries from getting changed.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited May 2020

    Various payees & deposits.  Metro Water, Kroger, Insurance companies.  The payee downloaded is correct.  Happens with Income & expenses.  Most everything is categorized as "Entertainment"  I don't know how to attach a pdf to show you.

    Don't know if I'll get the Category thing cleared up but I learned how to use the Snipping Tool!!  Thank you.
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited May 2020

    And what Payee Name is assigned to these transactions?
    What is the downloaded Payee Name as it comes down from the bank?

    Here is a screen shot. Thanks for the Snipping Tool tutorial.  As you can see the transactions come in as Entertainment.  I don't have anything categorized on the bank side.Two of these transactions are income. 
    image
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited September 2018
    Good suggestion.  Kroger does have Entertainment in the Category of MPL.  HOWEVER, other payees don't.  If I hit Delete while on the the MPL screen will that just delete Memorized Payees?  I don't mind starting over & creating new Memorized Payees as I go.  This is used for personal bookkeeping now so I don't have a lot of transactions monthly.  Also, let me say I don't generally Memorize  transactions.  I just fill in the category while I'm reconciling.  Thx.
      
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2020

    Good suggestion.  Kroger does have Entertainment in the Category of MPL.  HOWEVER, other payees don't.  If I hit Delete while on the the MPL screen will that just delete Memorized Payees?  I don't mind starting over & creating new Memorized Payees as I go.  This is used for personal bookkeeping now so I don't have a lot of transactions monthly.  Also, let me say I don't generally Memorize  transactions.  I just fill in the category while I'm reconciling.  Thx.
      

    Working with MPL entries does not touch existing categories.
    However, do be sure to have (or create) a backup of your Quicken data file before you start working on unraveling this mystery. Nothing worse than working on making changes for several hours and then something goes wrong.
  • UKR
    UKR SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2018

    Are you
    automatically accepting downloaded transactions into your registers?

    You should, at least
    for a while, turn off the "automatically accept downloaded transactions
    into registers" setting to gain better control over what is downloaded and
    what to do with it. Review each downloaded transaction, make changes if necessary
    (e.g., to get a payee name = "Starbucks" instead of "POS TRANS
    070116 STARBU" or to assign a proper category) before you click to accept each
    transaction.

    Any changes you make
    to downloaded Payee Names are remembered in Renaming Rules.

    Any other changes
    you make (add/change Category or Memo text) are remembered in the Memorized
    Payee List.

    Next time the same
    transaction for this Payee comes along, Quicken should remember and give you a
    better new register transaction.


  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited August 2018
    Thanks.  I give your suggestions a try.  I'll come back & mark this Closed.  Really appreciate your help.
This discussion has been closed.