Compare Transactions

After downloading banking transactions, Quicken compares those transactions to ones already in your account registers. Some downloaded transactions will match items that exist in the register, and Quicken labels these as Matched . Other transactions that aren't already in the register will be labeled as New . In either case, you may need to properly categorize the transaction, and then you accept the transaction into Quicken. Quicken will then mark all of the accepted transactions as cleared in your account register.

To compare, match, and accept downloaded transactions on Windows, begin by looking for the flagged accounts in the Account Bar. The flag signifies that you have downloaded transactions that need to be dealt with (a flag can also denote an account with scheduled transactions that are due).

Click one of the flagged accounts in the Account Bar. The Transactions tab of the account will appear, split in two. The top pane is the account register, and the bottom pane contains the downloaded transactions.

In the Accept transactions into register section, transactions that already exist in your account register will be labeled as Match in the Status column. Transactions not in your register will be labeled New .

Click the first downloaded transaction. Two buttons , labeled Accept and Edit, will appear below the transaction.

If it is a matched transaction, Quicken will highlight the transaction in the register in the top half of the window. Click Accept. The status for the transaction will change to Accepted.

If the transaction is labeled New, you may have to enter the payee or category of the transaction (Quicken will remember this category for subsequent similar transactions). Click to select the new transaction, and it will appear in the account register.

If necessary, categorize the transaction in the account register, then click Enter in the account register. The downloaded transaction will change to Accepted. Repeat matching and accepting transactions until all of them have been accepted, then click Done at the bottom of the Accept transactions into register section.

On the Mac, after you have completed downloading transactions, the Download Transactions window appears. Because you could have downloaded transactions from multiple financial institutions, choose the one that you want from the Financial Institution pop-up menu. You may also have multiple accounts at the same financial institution, so choose the account that you want from the Account pop-up menu.

Quicken displays the downloaded transactions for the selected financial institution and account in the top half of the Download Transactions window. Quicken compares the downloaded transactions with transactions that are already in your account register. If the transactions correspond , the word Matched appears in the Status column, otherwise the word New appears. You will first convert all of the New transactions to Matched transactions, then you can accept them into your account register.

Click to select the top New downloaded transaction. It will appear in the register in the bottom half of the window. If necessary, enter the payee or category of the transaction, then click the Record button at the bottom of the window. The transaction will change to Matched. Repeat this process for all of the New transactions.

After you have matched all the transactions, select each transaction and click the Accept button, or click Accept All. Quicken removes the accepted items from the transaction list in the Download Transactions window. Close the Download Transactions window by clicking its close box.