nightmare with qb lately-- changing categories- like ai autocorrect is making things up. horrible- anyone else with similar nightmare?

This isn’t the experience we want to leave to you, @userID67.

If you’re currently managing your bank transactions, please know that QuickBooks automatically suggests categories to simplify and streamline processes. You can disable the Enable suggested categorization feature to prevent this issue in the future.

Here’s how:

1. Within your QuickBooks Online account, go to the Banking menu.
2. Select the Banking tab.
3. Click the Small Gear icon and uncheck the Enable suggested categorization option.

For your existing transactions, you can manually categorize them in the meantime to put them into the right accounts.

You also mentioned “ai.” Are you using a third-party app to automatically categorize transactions? If so, then it would be best to reach out to their support team for assistance and resolution.

I’m adding this reference to make sure everything is balanced and accurate: Learn the reconcile workflow in QuickBooks. It contains steps to modify completed reconciliation and ways to correct balance issues.

Please don’t hesitate to visit us here if you have any other concerns besides categories. I’m always available to help.

Two things are usually behind categories changing on their own: the suggested categorization setting on the banking page, and bank rules that auto-apply to anything matching their conditions. Turning off the suggestion setting stops the automatic guessing going forward, and then you can fix the transactions it already changed. You're not imagining it, this is a built-in behavior, not something you did wrong.

1. Turn off suggested categorization

1. Go to Transactions, then Bank transactions (formerly the Banking menu).
2. On the For review tab, select the small gear icon.
3. Under Groups, uncheck Enable suggested categorization.
4. Select the gear again to save.

2. Check your bank rules, since a broad rule can recategorize batches

A rule with wide conditions (for example, matching a common word like "check") will apply to every transaction that contains it, which is a frequent cause of whole batches changing at once. Go to Transactions, then Rules, and review any rule that's too broad. If a rule is set to auto-add or auto-confirm, open it, turn that off, and tighten the conditions so it only catches what you intend.

3. Fix the transactions it already changed

For anything still in the review list:

1. On the Categorized tab, check the transactions that were changed and select Undo. They move back to For review.
2. On For review, select the ones to fix, choose Modify selected (batch actions), set the correct category, and apply.

For transactions already added to your books, open them from the account register (or a report) and change the category there, or use the Undo on the Categorized tab first if it's still available. Doing this after turning off suggestions means they won't get re-changed.

If reconciled periods were affected

If the recategorization touched already-reconciled transactions, changing the category alone doesn't un-reconcile them, but if amounts or accounts were altered, review the affected reconciliations carefully (ideally with your accountant, especially at tax time) so your balances stay correct.