Accept Transactions to Register

I'm catching up on my transaction register hitting each transaction one-by-one. I'm glad Quicken automatically chooses the category, most of the time, but it seems to me it could be much easier. I'd like to open my transactions up in a big window, select a bunch of similar transactions, ie grocery stores, select the category (if required) and then accept all those transactions. Next I'd do the same thing for gasoline fillups.

Doing this transaction by transaction it pretty time consuming. Am I missing something? It seems like I used to be able to do something like this with Tobias - "Managing Your Money" years ago.

Reply to
Steve P
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Yes; it's called Find & Replace.

[Edit > Find/Replace > Find & Replace.]

Once transactions have been found, you can sort the results on most fields (click on the heading); then use Windows select techniques (as you would select files in Windows Explorer) to select multiple transactions to be modified. [In newer Quicken versions, at least.]

Reply to
John Pollard

I meant to state explicitly, what should be clear implicitly: this process occurs after your transactions are in the register.

To have Quicken assign the correct category to downloaded transactions as they are Accepted, use a combination of Renaming Rules, and Memorized Transactions. Use the renaming rules where necessary to make the downloaded payee name match the name of the appropriate Memorized Transaction.

Reply to
John Pollard

I take it that you don't save your credit card / debit card receipts and enter them into your register first.

When you download transactions for your credit card / debit card into your various registers, you can operate in one of two ways:

  1. Accept each downloaded transaction (as a NEW transaction) into your register.
  2. Match each downloaded transaction to an EXISTING transaction in your register. This requires more work because you're manually entering the transactions from your receipts beforehand.

If you're doing #1 you're opening yourself up to accepting the occasional fraudulent / incorrect transaction if something like that were to wind up in your account. You're essentially trusting the bank's record of what happened and not your own.

If you do #2 you are creating a mechanism whereby you can detect fraudulent / incorrect transactions pretty much on the day you download them to your register and probably 21-30 days before you'd see them on your printed statement.

I do #2; I think #1 is sloppy recordkeeping. If you do #1, you're missing out on one of the best benefits of the program.

Reply to
Melvin

"I think #1 is sloppy recordkeeping. " - Why is it 'sloppy'? Those transactions (fraudulent or not) are ALREADY in your credit card account, and you're merely making Quicken match reality. You can't ignore them!

So perhaps an alternate is to do your #2, but ALSO do #1 for those that are not pre-entered by you. THEN you need to figure out WHY you have "excess" transactions, and if indeed they're fraudulent or shouldn't be there, you'll need to CONTACT your CC company to have them reverse the charge. And of course, THAT will come in as a new transaction that you'll accept at the future date.

Reply to
Andrew

Melvin - I was re-reading your original comment, and I want to point out that I wasn't saying NOT to match the transactions that you have previously pre-entered. My comment about #1 was only for those trnsactions that you did NOT match because they were not in your register beforehand. I think the jury is out whether or not one should pre-enter or not (I do, as I think you do as well, but I think others can make a case with good memorized transactions and Quickfill, you need not pre-enter and still be fine....).

My comment was, again, only directed to transactions that you did not pre-enter nor had any prior knowledge of. One still needs to allow them to be entered as 'new' - THAT was my point. (Hope this was clear; apologize for the muddy waters the first time.)

Reply to
Andrew

It is interesting to read that you feel that #1 is sloppy record keeping. That is how I do it myself. I do review the bank statement every couple of days to make sure that there is nothing strange on the statement. But when you are keeping tabs on several credit & debit cards where 3 or 4 people are using them on a regular basis it is unrealistic to enter them in advance. We do not carry much cash on us so we use the debit card constantly. It is not uncommon for there to be 10-15 transactions in one day for us to record. In the 4 years that I have been doing things this way, nothing has gotten booked that was not authorized. It just takes monitoring closely but I don't have the time to key the transactions into Quicken on a regular basis. Downloading and categorizing them one at a time works for me. I do use memorized transactions and naming rules to assist me.

Reply to
Laura

Yes. I'm with you on this. When I first started downloading my transactions, I was careful to enter every one as I had before downloads were available. I would then match it to the downloaded data. Over a few years, I never found an error. I decided that I was wasting my time by hand entering everything.

I now download daily. I carefully examine each transaction as it is downloaded, and make sure it is valid. It is rarely the case that a transaction is unexpected. Yesterday, when I saw a large purchase, I asked my wife if she had a big charge at the supermarket. She confirmed that she had bought some extra items and confirmed the amount. So, I accepted the transaction. I have also found double charges on occasion. I would have found them whether or not I had entered them myself. The only thing I would miss is if a transaction was lost, and I never was charged for something. I doubt that happens very often. It is a risk I'm willing to live with. :-)

The one difference I have is that I use a credit card for all purchases. It has better safety than a debit card, and pays me a bonus for every purchase. The Discover gas card gives me 5% back on every gas purchase or car repair. It adds up over a year. I use it much like a debit card, in that I never run a balance and never pay any interest.

Reply to
JimH

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