Windows
MacOverview
If you track your financial activity by entering transactions ahead of time and then downloading transactions from your bank, you may need a way to confirm that both entries represent the same activity. The matching transactions feature helps you link downloaded transactions from your bank with transactions you’ve already entered manually in your register.
In this article, you’ll learn how to match transactions so you can combine manual and downloaded entries and keep your register accurate and organized.
Things to Note
Quicken will not match transactions that are already matched or already reconciled.
When a match is found, Quicken updates your existing transaction with details from the downloaded one.
Even if one transaction has a check number and the other doesn’t, Quicken can still match them if everything else lines up.
How automatic matching works
When Quicken downloads transactions from your bank, it tries to match them with transactions you already entered. It does this in steps, starting by filtering out the most exact details to match, then becoming more flexible.
The table below provides a simple overview of each match type and how close the dates must be for Quicken to consider them a match.
Action | Used When | Date Criteria |
|---|---|---|
1. Filter Out Duplicates | The downloaded transaction’s ID and amount match exactly to the manual transaction. | If the downloaded transaction's date is within 7 days before or after the manual transaction, Quicken identifies it as a duplicate and ignores it. |
2. Check number match | The downloaded transaction’s check number and amount match exactly to the manual transaction. | The manual transaction check date must be up to 180 days earlier or 3 days after the downloaded transaction date. |
3. Payee name match | The downloaded transaction’s payee name and amount match exactly to the manual transaction. | The downloaded transaction date must be within about 10 days before or after the manual transaction date. |
4. Close date match | The downloaded transaction’s amount matches exactly the manual transaction. | The downloaded transaction date must be within 3 days before or after the manual transaction date. |
5. Wider date match | The downloaded transaction’s amount matches exactly the manual transaction. | The downloaded transaction date must be from up to 15 days earlier to 3 days after the manual transaction date. |
Terms Used in Transaction Matching
New transaction: A downloaded transaction is marked as New when Quicken can’t find a matching transaction in your investment transaction list. When you select a New transaction, Quicken previews how it will look once accepted. It isn’t added to your list until you click Accept or Accept All. Before accepting it, make sure you don’t already have a transaction that should have matched.
Matched transactions: A downloaded transaction is marked as a Match when it’s the same as one you’ve already entered. Click the Match transaction to review the matching item in your list and confirm it’s correct.
Near match transactions: Quicken marks a downloaded transaction as a Near Match when it looks like the same transaction, but something is slightly different. In most cases, the downloaded transaction is more accurate, so you should accept it and let it replace the one in your list. If you believe the one in your list is correct, you can delete the downloaded transaction.
Tip: If a manually entered transaction doesn’t match a downloaded one, check whether they’re really describing the same activity. To learn how to handle matched transactions, refer to the article ?
Community Content
Overview
If you track your financial activity by entering transactions ahead of time and then downloading transactions from your bank, you may need a way to confirm that both entries represent the same activity. The matching transactions feature helps you link downloaded transactions from your bank with transactions you’ve already entered manually in your register.
In this article, you’ll learn how to match transactions so you can combine manual and downloaded entries and keep your register accurate and organized.
Things to Note
Already matched downloaded transactions are skipped entirely; they are not reconsidered for matching.
When a match is found, Quicken keeps your manual transaction and enriches it with the downloaded data.
Even if one transaction has a check number and the other doesn’t, Quicken can still match them if everything else lines up.
How Automatic Matching Works
Quicken looks for matches in four steps. It starts by filtering out duplicates, then goes with the most likely matches first, then moves on to broader checks if needed. Once Quicken matches a transaction, that transaction is no longer checked in the later steps.
Action | Used When | Date Criteria |
|---|---|---|
1. Filter Out Duplicates | The downloaded transaction’s ID and amount match exactly to the manual transaction. | The downloaded transaction date must be within 6 months before or after the manual transaction for Quicken to identify it as a duplicate. |
2. Check number match | The downloaded transaction’s check number, amount, and payee match exactly to the manual transaction. | The manual transaction check date must be up to 90 days earlier than or 3 days after the downloaded transaction date. |
3. Close date match | The downloaded transaction’s amount and payee match exactly to the manual transaction. | The downloaded transaction date must be within 3 days after the manual transaction. For scheduled transactions, the downloaded date is 3 days before or after. |
4. Wider date match | The downloaded transaction’s amount and payee match exactly the manual transaction. | The downloaded transaction date must be 15 days earlier to 3 days after. Scheduled transactions can be matched if the downloaded date is 15 days before or after. |
Terms Used in Transaction Matching
New transaction: A downloaded transaction is marked as New when Quicken can’t find a matching transaction in your investment transaction list. When you select a New transaction, Quicken previews how it will look once accepted. It isn’t added to your list until you click Accept or Accept All. Before accepting it, make sure you don’t already have a transaction that should have matched.
Matched transactions: A downloaded transaction is marked as a Match when it’s the same as one you’ve already entered. Click the Match transaction to review the matching item in your list and confirm it’s correct.
Near match transactions: Quicken marks a downloaded transaction as a Near Match when it looks like the same transaction, but something is slightly different. In most cases, the downloaded transaction is more accurate, so you should accept it and let it replace the one in your list. If you believe the one in your list is correct, you can delete the downloaded transaction.
Tip: If a manually entered transaction doesn’t match a downloaded one, check whether they’re really describing the same activity. To learn how to handle matched transactions, refer to the article ?