Q Mac 2018: Downloaded transactions not updating the Category
For the past two months all my downloaded transaction categories are automatically assigned Uncategorized. The downloaded payee name is correctly updating to my saved payee's and the category is always assigned Uncategorized. Never had this issue before. This is happing with American Express and other banks. Using Quicken 5.8.0.
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When you are downloading transactions from the bank, many transactions will come in as Uncategorized.
One recommendation of troubleshooting is to make a test file and try adding the transactions into a new file to see if the transactions auto-categorize as they are coming in.
If not, I would reach out to Quicken Support so that they can look into this issue further.
Hope this helps.
Respectfully,
~ Quicken Harold.
Community Moderator
I am not convinced this will solve the problem, since I don't use Quicken's default categories, and haven't for the 20+ years I have used Quicken. I was able to confirm that the Quicken categories populate my downloaded transactions, but the problem I am having is that Quicken doesn't seem to remember/recognize my custom categories. Since I just built my test file, I can't confirm one way or another. I will report back.
It appears that Quicken will auto-categorize transactions to Quicken's pre-existing categories after downloading, but doesn't auto-categorize to custom categories. Since I don't use, and delete, most pre-existing categories, all of my transactions are downloaded as "uncategorized". This was not the case when I first started using Quicken Mac 2016, so something seems to have broken it. Transactions are memorized properly, so if I manually enter a payee, the previously used category is automatically assigned. The problem is with downloaded transactions. This happens on my existing file, and also on a new test file, with newly set up accounts-- the test file auto categorizes, until I delete the Quicken categories and assign my own. Is this a bug?
If you only want to update future transactions, you need to create a new category to be used.
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(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
By design, Quicken Mac does not use renaming rules, which Windows did, to allow users to define Payee names and associated categories. Apparently that option opens the door to unintentional file corruption issues. In Mac, Quicken "learns" the payee and category from changes made directly to the register. In theory, if you change a category enough times, Quicken will memorize it. For some reason, pre-existing "rules" have been erased from Quicken's memory, so custom categories are no longer getting applied, but also not being re-memorized. Sergio said that we can FORCE Quicken to memorize custom categories, using a trick that has already been described in the forum-- I hadn't tried it because I didn't understand the rationale.
1) Before downloading transactions, clean up the payee list (Window/Payees). This is time consuming! You may see multiple transactions for a common payee-- Starbucks, SQUSTARBUCKS, Starbucks #2367, etc. If you select them all and call them "Starbucks", the next time Quicken downloads any related transaction, it will rename the payee "Starbucks". It's important to make the changes in the payee list-- changes made in the register will affect that register entry only. Needless to say, after three years, my payee list is huge. I only changed payees that I use regularly (Quicken shows you how many times a payee is used). You can search the payee list by name, which simplifies the process: if you search "Starbucks" every payee that contains Starbucks will show up and can be changed. NOTE: Be careful, because this process is destructive. Changes made to the payee list change the register. If you have a hundred entries for Starbucks and you delete the payee in the payee list, all those payees will disappear from the register, although the transactions will remain.
2) Download transactions. Find a payee you want to change-- using the above example, "Starbucks." Manually create a register transaction that EXACTLY MATCHES the DATE and AMOUNT of one of the downloaded Starbucks transactions. Assign the correct category. The newly created transaction will have a red pencil in the "status" column. Drag the newly created transaction OVER the matching downloaded transaction. The two transactions will merge, and the pencil will turn blue. At this point, according to Sergio, Quicken should have memorized the correct category for the payee Starbucks. Only do this ONCE for each payee you want to associate with a custom category. Then EXIT the program. Do NOT reconcile, because once a transaction has been reconciled or reviewed, Quicken will not "learn" from it.
In theory, this method will re-teach Quicken the custom category associations. I have only gotten as far as cleaning up my HUGE payee list, so I can't confirm that it works. I'll report back.
(Should you really want to do a major clean-up on your Payee list and get rid of a lot of one-time Payees you don't care about -- and there's no particular need to do this -- you could create a transaction with a Payee called "Misc. Payees" or "Deleted Payee", and then merge all the Payees you no longer want with that one -- again, just so you don't end up with mysterious transactions with no Payee.)
The absence of a renaming rules like the Windows version has been a frequent request from users to the developers, and the Mac product manager has indicated they plan to address this in a future version -- we just don't yet know when that will be.
First, click on the underlined link above to go there, then click VOTE at the top of THAT page, so your will vote count for THIS feature and increase its visibility to the developers by seeking to have the features you need or desire end up in the latest version.
While you are at it, you may want to add your VOTE to related IDEAS found on the
List of Requests for Downloading Data into Quicken. Click on the underlined link, then follow the instructions to add your vote to more related ideas. Your VOTES matter!
(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
- Where to find a Help Guide for Quicken for Mac?
- Quicken Mac FAQ list
- Quicken Windows FAQ list
- Help Guide and FAQs for Quicken Mobile
COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE onObject to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen? Add your vote here:
Quicken should eliminate the LARGE Ad space when a subscription expires
(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
I'm glad to hear you had such a great experience with Support and our Agent "Sergio", I was able to locate the contact in our system and have forwarded your message to Sergio's manager so they may be aware of what a great job he's doing.
Thank you for taking the time to share this experience and the information provided with the Community, it's appreciated!
Sarah