Overview
Reviewing your transactions helps keep your reports, budgets, and tax estimates accurate. Quicken downloads and categorizes most transactions automatically, but automation is not always perfect. A quick, regular review helps you catch mistakes before they affect your finances.
During a review, you confirm that each transaction is accurate, make any needed changes, and then mark it as Reviewed.
Most people can review their recent activity in just a few minutes each week. Fixing a miscategorized transaction or duplicate now is much easier than finding it buried in a report months later.
Reviewing regularly helps you:
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Keep categories, budgets, and reports accurate.
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Spot unfamiliar or unauthorized charges.
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Catch duplicate transactions.
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Separate business and personal activity correctly (Quicken Business & Personal).
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Create transaction rules that automate future categorization.
What to Do During a Review
There isn't one "right" way to review your transactions, but having a consistent routine makes the process faster and helps you catch more mistakes. The Look, Fix, Approve framework is a simple way to work through each transaction.
Look, Fix, Approve
Use the Look, Fix, Approve routine each time you review your transactions. Most transactions only take a few seconds.
Look
Scan the transaction details to make sure everything looks correct. Check the payee, amount, category, date, tags, and memo. If you're using Quicken Business & Personal, also verify the Business or Personal assignment.
Fix
Correct anything that needs attention. You might update the payee or category, split the transaction, edit the amount or date, add a tag or memo, or change the Business or Personal assignment.
Approve
When you’re satisfied that the transaction is accurate, select the circle in the Reviewed column to mark it as Reviewed. The circle turns green to show that you’ve completed your review.
If a transaction needs more research before or after it’s approved, add a flag as a reminder to come back later.
Tip: While reviewing a transaction, consider whether it should be excluded from your Spending Plan, reports, or both. This can be useful for transactions that should not affect your planning or reporting totals.
Review Your Transactions
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Open the Transactions dashboard.
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Review all transactions, or select an account from the Accounts list to focus on a specific account.
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Use the Quick Filters to show Unreviewed, Uncategorized, or This month transactions.
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Use the Look, Fix, Approve routine for each transaction.
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Continue until you have reviewed the transactions that need attention.
Tip: You can also use custom filters, search, and column customization to narrow or organize your transaction list. See the related topics for detailed instructions.
Good Review Habits
Reviewing once a week keeps the list manageable and makes unusual activity easier to recognize.
If you're not sure where to start, begin with:
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Transactions from the last 30 days.
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Uncategorized transactions.
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Income transactions.
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Large or unusual amounts.
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Transactions in the accounts you use most often.
Pay particular attention to:
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An unfamiliar payee.
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An unusually large amount.
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A transaction that is still uncategorized.
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An incorrect Business or Personal assignment.
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What appears to be a duplicate transaction.
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A purchase that should be split across multiple categories.
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A recurring charge you no longer recognize or use.
Review your everyday accounts regularly, including checking, savings, credit cards, and manually tracked cash accounts.
Reviewing Pending Transactions
Pending transactions are worth checking for unfamiliar or suspicious activity. However, the amount, payee, or category may change before the transaction officially posts.
Wait until a pending transaction posts before marking it as Reviewed.
Tips
If you repeatedly make the same change to transactions from a particular payee, consider creating a transaction rule to automate future categorization.
Examples
Creating a Rule for a Gas Purchase
While reviewing this week's transactions, Sam notices that a purchase from Chevron is uncategorized. After a quick look, Sam assigns it to Personal: Gas & Fuel. Because purchases from this station should always use the same category, Sam creates a transaction rule so future Chevron purchases are categorized automatically. Once everything looks correct, Sam marks the transaction as Reviewed.
Splitting a Mixed Business and Personal Purchase
Priya stops at Costco to buy office supplies for her business and groceries for home. During her weekly review, she notices the entire purchase is assigned to a single category. She splits the transaction, assigning the office supplies to Business and the groceries to Personal. After confirming everything is correct, she marks the transaction as Reviewed.
Investigating a Possible Duplicate Transaction
Maria enters her electric bill manually so she can track it before it clears the bank. A few days later, the payment downloads from her financial institution, and during her weekly review she notices what appears to be two identical transactions.
Rather than immediately marking them as Reviewed, Maria adds a flag while she determines whether Quicken matched the transactions correctly or if one is a duplicate. Once she confirms which transaction should remain, she removes the duplicate, marks the remaining transaction as Reviewed, and clears the flag.