Can I turn off automatic category suggestions in QuickBooks Self-Employed?

It's a fair frustration, especially when the system confidently picks the wrong category every time and you're the one who has to clean it up. There isn't currently a documented setting to fully turn off automatic category suggestions in QuickBooks Self-Employed. The official categorization workflow covers reviewing and manually adjusting the category QuickBooks suggests, not disabling the suggestion itself.

That said, two things can cut down significantly on how often you're stuck fixing a bad guess.

Set up rules for your recurring vendors

If most of your mis-categorized transactions come from the same handful of vendors, a rule applies your chosen category automatically instead of leaving it to QuickBooks' best guess:

1. Select Settings, then Rules.
2. Select Create rule.
3. In the Description field, enter the vendor or customer the rule should apply to.
4. From the Type dropdown, select Business, Personal, or Split, and choose a category.

Fix a category without hunting for the transaction

Since selecting Business or Personal moves a transaction out of the list you were working from, you don't need to search for it manually. You can correct the category at any time:

1. Go to the Transactions menu.
2. Find the transaction you want to edit.
3. Select the ▼ icon to expand it.
4. Select the link in the Type or Category column, then choose the correct category.
5. Select Save.

Resources

Categorize transactions in QuickBooks Self-Employed

Create rules to speed up reviews in QuickBooks Self-Employed

Still stuck on something with categorizing? Ask below.