How can I stop QBO from suggesting vendors when categorizing my bank transactions?

Hello, micah5.  

Thanks for joining us here in the Community. It could be that rules are created. We can turn off the Auto-add feature to stop suggesting wrong payee when categorizing your bank transactions. Let me guide you how: 

1. Click the Banking menu and go to the Rules tab.
2. Find the rule that you want the Auto-add feature to get rid of and click on the Edit link below the Actions column.
3. On the Edit rule window that appears, scroll down and click the button under the Automatically confirm transactions this rule applies to option.
4.  Click on Save once you're done. 

For more details about bank rules, see this article: How to Set and Use Banking Rules for Downloaded Transactions.

I'll be attaching these articles that will guide you in categorizing transactions and the reconciliation process: 

• Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online
• Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Should you need anything else, don't hesitate to leave a comment below. I'm always around to help you out. Stay safe!

Thank you for the suggestion. 

I don't see any rules that "Set vendor to X". In fact none of my rules seem to mention vendor at all. Would the auto-setting rule say that it's to set a vendor? I'm also happy to send a screenshot of my rules if it helps. 

In the meantime I disabled all the rules to see if that helps. Thanks for any add'l suggests. 

Thanks for your prompt reply, micah5.

I'd like to add a suggestion to help with your bank transactions.

We can turn off the Enable suggested categorization option in the banking settings by following these steps: 

1. Go to Transactions or Banking on the left navigation menu.
2. Click the Banking tab.
3. Under the Go to bank register link, select the Gear icon.
4. Un-check the Enable suggested categorization box.

Here's a sample screenshot for a visual reference:

After the steps, you can start categorizing and matching your downloaded transactions. Please feel free to watch a video tutorial in this article: Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.

To find more related articles about banking, feel free to visit this link: Banking.

Me and my colleagues are always available to assist you if you have more questions regarding the Banking feature or other concerns in your account. Just leave a reply below and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Have a good day ahead.

I have followed the directions above and turned off Enable suggested categorization.  However every downloaded transaction is assigned a category.  (Most of the time the category is a different account instead of a category.)  Please make this process stop. 

I have unchecked the "enable suggested categorization box.  Unfortunately this did not fix the issue.  The system continues to auto fill categories that are incorrect.  In most cases the "category" is my checking account.  I have checked and none of the transactions have rules applied that could be creating the issue.  Please help.

I recognize the relevance of turning off the auto-fill categorization options you mentioned above, @VTOH. I'll share the steps to submit feedback. 

I understand that system will automatically assign a category based on its description. I also agree with you. Turning off the Enable Suggested Categorization box won't disable this function since this is a default option in the Banking tab. 

With that, providing us with feedback will help improve and help you to have a better experience with QuickBooks Online.

Since QuickBooks Online offers these features as default, we can send a request to our product developer. This way, they'll see your suggestion and consider adding it to the next program update.

Follow the steps below:

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Under the Profile column, press the Feedback button.
3. Write your product suggestion, then click Next.

Our Product Development team receives your thoughtful comments (QBO) through the feature request link: QuickBooks Online Feature Requests website.

Visit this article for further information on how to keep track of your client's account growth: QuickBooks Help Articles. It includes topics about account management, banking, and expenses and vendors, to name a few. You can click the + More topics button to view other selections.

Please feel free to remark with your response. I'm eager to deliver knowledge with the Banking feature in QuickBooks Online topic. Have a great day.

Sorry, @ChristineJoieR, it's a BUG that when one unchecks "enable suggested category," that the system STILL suggests a category. It is NOT a "Feature Request."

It seems to me that this is likely the case that some manager for QuickBooks wanted to incorporate some "ai" feature because ai is hot right now. And the implementation was rushed. Rushed without proper vetting or testing. 

This is a sign of poor quality control  

This has me severely question why I'm paying so much for Quickbooks.

I discovered a WORK-AROUND to remove the Suggested Category for a Transaction: 

1. Select all Transactions
2. "Update"
3. Make the "Category": "Uncategorized" (it at least worked for me with "Uncategorized Expense")

Then the AI-Suggested Categories will be removed. And the Transactions go back to "Assign."

I could not have phrased my thoughts better, BradJN.  You are spot on. Jo

100 percent agree with you on this BradJN. It infuriates me to no end to continually have to deal with "new and improved" AI "suggestions" that are never helpful and cause me precious extra time to correct when they slip through. Leave the account field blank and if I forget to enter one, just don't allow me to accept the transaction.  Good grief.