Add ability to LOCK a payee and categorization in Quicken For Mac (189 Legacy Votes)

smayer97

...like QM2007 and QWin,

This way, a user can preserve categorization and splits, memo, amount, etc. for future use.


(If you find this feature helpful, please be sure to click "VOTE" at the top to increase the count and therefore its visibility by the developers, thanks.)

NotACPA

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

smayer97

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

They are memorized, but each time you use a Payee, all the info is replaced with the last entry. There is no way to LOCK it so the categorization, splits, amounts, etc get preserved.

NotACPA

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

AAAH, thanks for the info.  In QWin, you can "lock" a memorized payee.  Otherwise, they act as you report.

smayer97

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

:-)

RickO

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

The workaround, until this gets implemented, is to create a scheduled transaction with the splits/categories desired and a date far out in the future. Then use that scheduled transaction whenever you need the "locked" format for that payee.

smayer97

You may want to review and VOTE for other feature requests related to the Transactions Downloading Acceptance and Matching workflow, here: https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/restore-transactions-downloading-acceptance-and-...

Start at the top for the first one, then scroll down the reply list for additional related feature requests. Be sure to go to each link separately, then click VOTE at the top to increase the count and therefore its visibility to the developers.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

smayer97

I also highly recommend that you browse through the IDEAS section of this forum and VOTE for the request of each of the missing features to be added back into Quicken for Mac....to help direct the priorities of the developers.

To do that, I suggest you read this FAQ on how to filter the IDEAS to just show the ones for the Mac version, then VOTE to your heart's content:
https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-getsat-faq-how-to-filter-conversations-d...

The following are some of the many feature requests you will find:

• List of Requests for Report Types and Related Features
• Restore Transactions Downloading Acceptance and Matching workflow 
• Option to Have Debits and Credits Tallied Separately for Reconciliation Process
• Add ability to track/store Prior Reconciled Statements/periods
  
• Improve the Bill Reminders Graph (aka Forecast or Projected Balance)
  
• Add QuickMath functionality
  
• True multi-currency conversion support
  
• many requests for configuration options

Be sure to scroll down the page, as some contain lists of related features. Click on the link to EACH IDEA separately that you are interested in, then click the VOTE button at the top of EACH page that opens up respectively to increase the count and therefore its visibility to the developers.

If you do not click VOTE at the top of the page of each feature, your vote will NOT be counted for THAT specific feature!


(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

ChipD

The memorization feature has been unfortunately been so dumbed down it is unusable. With complex splits for same payees (like a pay stub) and not ability to control the application of downloaded transactions, there are too many manual steps and too many opportunities for error. It looks like I have find and edit each one manually - but the download transactions are marked clear, so I can't find track what's checked and what not. Hoped 2017 would bring a full featured version to the Mac. Guess it is back to Parallels and an old version of Quicken for Windows until the Mac catches up.

smayer97

smayer97 (QM2007, CDN user since '92) said:

I also highly recommend that you browse through the IDEAS section of this forum and VOTE for the request of each of the missing features to be added back into Quicken for Mac....to help direct the priorities of the developers.

To do that, I suggest you read this FAQ on how to filter the IDEAS to just show the ones for the Mac version, then VOTE to your heart's content:
https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-getsat-faq-how-to-filter-conversations-d...

The following are some of the many feature requests you will find:

• List of Requests for Report Types and Related Features
• Restore Transactions Downloading Acceptance and Matching workflow 
• Option to Have Debits and Credits Tallied Separately for Reconciliation Process
• Add ability to track/store Prior Reconciled Statements/periods
  
• Improve the Bill Reminders Graph (aka Forecast or Projected Balance)
  
• Add QuickMath functionality
  
• True multi-currency conversion support
  
• many requests for configuration options

Be sure to scroll down the page, as some contain lists of related features. Click on the link to EACH IDEA separately that you are interested in, then click the VOTE button at the top of EACH page that opens up respectively to increase the count and therefore its visibility to the developers.

If you do not click VOTE at the top of the page of each feature, your vote will NOT be counted for THAT specific feature!


(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

 The following are some additional organized highlights of the many feature requests you will find:

• List of Requests for Reconciliation Process
  
• List of Requests for Bill Reminders (aka Scheduled Transactions) and Graph Features (aka Cash Flow Forecast or Projected Balance)
  
• Loan Amortization
  
• List of Requests Related to Investments
• List of Requests Related to Budgets
  
• List of Requests for Data Entry and Usability Options and Features
  
• List of Requests for User Interface Options and Features
  

and many others.

Click on each link above, then be sure to scroll down each page, as some contain lists of related features. Then VOTE on EACH IDEA separately that you are interested in.

If you do not click VOTE at the top of the page of each feature, your vote will NOT be counted for THAT specific feature!


(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Sue

Having a list of memorized transactions for a Payee come up like in Windows would be really helpful. For example, my husband and I both get gas at the same gas station.  With the various memorized transactions, once I enter the Payee, I can choose whether it's gas for my car or his.  Another example would be a store purchase.  Sometimes I return merchandise, so if I enter the payee, I can then choose whether it's a purchase or a return.  

I also noticed what I consider a bug here.  I entered a transaction, and the last occurrence was a return (credit) and I wanted to enter a purchase (debit).  Because there is no separate Credit and Debit columns, even though I had changed my category to an Expense, the amount still entered as a positive number.  I had to physically enter a negative sign to get it to enter properly.  If there was a list of memorized transactions to choose from, then this could be avoided.  I would just have chosen a Debit transaction from the list.

RickO

Sue said:

Having a list of memorized transactions for a Payee come up like in Windows would be really helpful. For example, my husband and I both get gas at the same gas station.  With the various memorized transactions, once I enter the Payee, I can choose whether it's gas for my car or his.  Another example would be a store purchase.  Sometimes I return merchandise, so if I enter the payee, I can then choose whether it's a purchase or a return.  

I also noticed what I consider a bug here.  I entered a transaction, and the last occurrence was a return (credit) and I wanted to enter a purchase (debit).  Because there is no separate Credit and Debit columns, even though I had changed my category to an Expense, the amount still entered as a positive number.  I had to physically enter a negative sign to get it to enter properly.  If there was a list of memorized transactions to choose from, then this could be avoided.  I would just have chosen a Debit transaction from the list.

Sue,

My workaround for your first point is to create payees with slightly different names. In your gas station example, you might create two payees with the gas station name each appended with your and your husband's initials.

Another workaround is to use a scheduled transaction. I have a merchant for which I occasionally have a complex split transaction that is the same each time. But most of the time I don't need the split for this merchant. So I created a scheduled transaction with the split detail, dated way out in the future and always have that handy at the top of the register when occasionally needed. 

Having multiple memorized transactions for a payee would be a great improvement, but these workarounds might help in the mean time.

To your second point, you can turn on separate debit/credit columns in each register. In a checking account they are called "deposit" and "payment". In a credit card account, they are called "payment" and "charge". This would alleviate having to enter the +/- sign. Myself, I find it easier to just enter the sign rather than take up more space with two columns. (To enable/disable columns, go to menu View > Columns.)

ChipD

Sue said:

Having a list of memorized transactions for a Payee come up like in Windows would be really helpful. For example, my husband and I both get gas at the same gas station.  With the various memorized transactions, once I enter the Payee, I can choose whether it's gas for my car or his.  Another example would be a store purchase.  Sometimes I return merchandise, so if I enter the payee, I can then choose whether it's a purchase or a return.  

I also noticed what I consider a bug here.  I entered a transaction, and the last occurrence was a return (credit) and I wanted to enter a purchase (debit).  Because there is no separate Credit and Debit columns, even though I had changed my category to an Expense, the amount still entered as a positive number.  I had to physically enter a negative sign to get it to enter properly.  If there was a list of memorized transactions to choose from, then this could be avoided.  I would just have chosen a Debit transaction from the list.

Sue, to RickO's comment on the debit/credit columns, using the View menu let me make a number of changes to the view to show exactly what I wanted to better enter and track entries. You do need to set it per account, but that can sometimes be a good thing. Really helpful control.

I like your scenarios for memorized transactions. I have encountered the same where I want to be able to pull in different splits or lack of them for the same payee. The situations where lack of memorization becomes truly irksome are things with like mortgage payments between principle, interest, and tax escrow) and paychecks. My wife's paycheck changes by 1 penny in one category every few weeks and having 2 memorized splits of the 8-10 categories would make life a lot easier. I continue to use my old Windows version even on my new Mac for that reason alone.

RickO

Sue said:

Having a list of memorized transactions for a Payee come up like in Windows would be really helpful. For example, my husband and I both get gas at the same gas station.  With the various memorized transactions, once I enter the Payee, I can choose whether it's gas for my car or his.  Another example would be a store purchase.  Sometimes I return merchandise, so if I enter the payee, I can then choose whether it's a purchase or a return.  

I also noticed what I consider a bug here.  I entered a transaction, and the last occurrence was a return (credit) and I wanted to enter a purchase (debit).  Because there is no separate Credit and Debit columns, even though I had changed my category to an Expense, the amount still entered as a positive number.  I had to physically enter a negative sign to get it to enter properly.  If there was a list of memorized transactions to choose from, then this could be avoided.  I would just have chosen a Debit transaction from the list.

Chip,
In your paycheck example, you could use a version of my workaround above to help with this. You could create a memorized scheduled transaction for each version of the paycheck, both with the same payee name. You could put an indicator in the top level memo field to differentiate. At pay time, you would double click one and choose "Mark as Paid" and double click the other and choose "Skip this Instance". 

Yes, I recognize this has faults... a little more work having to deal with both scheduled transactions, and also artificially inflating the projected balance on the account. If these are not show stoppers for you, this workaround might work for you while we patiently wait for Quicken to implement the multiple memorized transactions idea.

ChipD

Sue said:

Having a list of memorized transactions for a Payee come up like in Windows would be really helpful. For example, my husband and I both get gas at the same gas station.  With the various memorized transactions, once I enter the Payee, I can choose whether it's gas for my car or his.  Another example would be a store purchase.  Sometimes I return merchandise, so if I enter the payee, I can then choose whether it's a purchase or a return.  

I also noticed what I consider a bug here.  I entered a transaction, and the last occurrence was a return (credit) and I wanted to enter a purchase (debit).  Because there is no separate Credit and Debit columns, even though I had changed my category to an Expense, the amount still entered as a positive number.  I had to physically enter a negative sign to get it to enter properly.  If there was a list of memorized transactions to choose from, then this could be avoided.  I would just have chosen a Debit transaction from the list.

Rick,
Yes, a possible solution but not one I would pursue personally. As it stands, I crank up a Parallels Windows instance and then Quicken for Windows. All the functionality I need is then available. That will work until the Mac version catches up.

Sue

Sue said:

Having a list of memorized transactions for a Payee come up like in Windows would be really helpful. For example, my husband and I both get gas at the same gas station.  With the various memorized transactions, once I enter the Payee, I can choose whether it's gas for my car or his.  Another example would be a store purchase.  Sometimes I return merchandise, so if I enter the payee, I can then choose whether it's a purchase or a return.  

I also noticed what I consider a bug here.  I entered a transaction, and the last occurrence was a return (credit) and I wanted to enter a purchase (debit).  Because there is no separate Credit and Debit columns, even though I had changed my category to an Expense, the amount still entered as a positive number.  I had to physically enter a negative sign to get it to enter properly.  If there was a list of memorized transactions to choose from, then this could be avoided.  I would just have chosen a Debit transaction from the list.

Thank you, RickO and ChipD, for your input on the Debit/Credit columns. I had customized my columns, but just hadn't seen those, and am still getting used to the Mac interface.  Thankfully, I just got a new 27" iMac, so I have lots of screen real estate to add columns, although, I am eagerly awaiting the addition of the 2-line registers like the Windows version. ;-)

I will hold out for getting Memorized Transactions like I used to have in Windows.

Carolyn Strecker

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

I recently migrated from QM2007 to QM2017. I am hating the new version, but I feel stuck with it because my old data file was becoming unstable. The inability to lock transactions is one of my (several) biggest beefs so far. All the previous versions of QM had it, and it worked perfectly. Why doesn't the "new, improved" 2017 program have this (and many other) essential features that have been in QM since the beginning? I have been a QM user for about 20 years. The scheduled transaction workaround suggested above is a good idea, but it certainly does make up for this obvious missing feature

smayer97

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

Understand that Quicken 2017 is a relatively new product built from the ground up (starting in 2010) and is NOT a continuation from QM2007 but rather from Quicken Essentials, so there are some features that are still not there or are not as fully developed yet. 

If you are interested in some historical background on how we got here, see the following compilation:  https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-mac-faq-why-is-the-current-version-of-qu...

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Kurt

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

RickO,

I looks like you have a work around for this. Could you please explain more about how the scheduled transaction works as a "lock"?

Do the amounts and/or Payees and/or Categories and/or Tags need to be identical to make it work? (I've tried manual and scheduled future transactions and can't seem to make this work.)

How do you replace the downloaded transaction with the scheduled "locked" transaction without deleting the original transaction?

If you could help me out here, I'd really appreciate it!!!


Thanks!

Kurt

smayer97 (QM2007, CDN user since '92) said:

You may want to review and VOTE for other feature requests related to the Transactions Downloading Acceptance and Matching workflow, here: https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/restore-transactions-downloading-acceptance-and-...

Start at the top for the first one, then scroll down the reply list for additional related feature requests. Be sure to go to each link separately, then click VOTE at the top to increase the count and therefore its visibility to the developers.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Thanks Smayer97!

If discover a work around in the meantime, please let us know!


Thanks!

RickO

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

Drag the downloaded transaction and drop it on top of the scheduled transaction. This will create a paid instance of the scheduled transaction and generate the next occurrence of the schedule.

Kurt

NotACPA - QW HBRP 2019 said:

Are there no "Memorized Transactions" in QM?  Doesn't that accomplish the same thing?

Very Cool!

This might just do it. It also works for manual transactions, but the scheduled ones - that's a quick fix!  

Thanks! 

Now to create all the scheduled transactions... :-/