Make linked transfer status visible

pls

When you see a transaction with a [account] category, you know it's a transfer, but it could be one of 3 kinds:
1. An unlinked transfer
2. The original entry in a linked transfer
3. The generated part of a linked transfer

You can identify case 1 by right clicking on the transaction and noting that Go To Transfer is greyed out. There is no easy way to distinguish 2 and 3.

Please and marks to the transaction for cases 2 and 3 (different marks) so that this status is visible. If this takes a new column, then ok.

Quicken Anja

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Chris_QPW

#1 Isn't possible with the exception of a bug that causes a "broken link".  Or in the case of a deleted account and in that case it will be [Unspecified Account].

So basically for #1 you are asking them to highlight a transaction that Quicken messed up because of some kind of bug.  If you run Validate and Repair it should clean up such broken links.  And if you find a way to reproduce creating such a situation you should submit it as a bug.

pls

#1 can happen very easily. Just have Transfer Detection turned off. Or have Confirm turned on and say No. I've never consider unlinked transfers abnormal. I just want a way to recognize.them. More to my point, I want a way to tell which part of a linked transfer is the "original" and which part is generated, because that affects how you can edit them.

Chris_QPW

In Quicken Windows there isn't any such thing as an "unlinked transfer".

When you (or Quicken) puts in [Other Account] that always creates a linked transaction in the other account.  If it doesn't that is a bug.

It is the [Account] syntax that makes it a transfer.

On the other hand it sounds like you have two transactions that either have the category field blank or set to something other than [Account Name] syntax.  And even though you think of them as a "transfer" they aren't recorded in Quicken as a transfer until the [Account] syntax is used.  And note that Quicken's transfer detection is "just a guess".  As in it sees two transactions one the has a deposit of X amount and another in another account the has a withdraw of the same amount.  So it "guesses" that they are a transfer and with your confirmation what it does is remove one transaction, and change the other so that it uses the [Account] syntax which in turn creates the link.

If you say no to this confirmation (or never even used transfer detection), and in fact these two are a transfer in the real world, Quicken has no way of knowing that fact.  And as such would have no way of "flagging" it as such.

Note all of the above is about #1.

On the second subject you brought up on the editing.  In the past Quicken would complain if you were editing a transfer on the "to" side.  You had to use the Go to transfer to get to the "from side" to change it.  But for quite a long time now they changed it that you can make the edit on the "to" side.  So in reality these days the to/from doesn't matter as much as it use to.

pls

"From" and "to" side aren't good terms. The transfer transaction has a side that was the "original" entry and a side that Q "generated". The "original" side of the transaction could be wither the send or receiving of the money. For example, on a payment to a credit card I could make the original entry in the checking accout as a payment or in the credit card account as a deposit.

"Original" is the terminology Q uses in documentation.

If I download transactions for both accounts and let Q match them, then I don't know which side is the original. It probably depends on which order the accounts are downloaded in. If I update both accounts with one step update, the order isn't predictable.

Editing the "generated" side of a transfer: In the latest Q version I can edit the reconciliation status, as would be necessary to reconcile the the account. I often want to edit the date, as it takes time to do a transfer so the date the money was sent and received are usually not the same. But I can't change the date on the to side. Nor can I edit any else on the "to" side.

I just want an indicator on the transfer as to whether it is the "original" or "generated" side.

NotACPA

"If I download transactions for both accounts and let Q match them, then I don't know which side is the original."

That is  why it's advisable to input your payment transactions yourself ... rather than depending upon the Q match process to do so.

IF you input the transactions yourself, as soon a practical but before the download, then when they ARE downloaded, but sides (checking and card) will be matched.

Chris_QPW

Personally I tend to avoid "transfer detection" because after all it is just a guess.
For transfers like the ones that pay off my credit cards I either have a reminder that pre-enters them of in the past I would have it create such an entry while reconciling my credit card.

But if I make a transfer from my savings to my checking I tend to just let that come up in transfer detection because that is "instant" and as such it tends to download really quickly and there is little chance of it being wrong or me mistaking it for something else (I still have confirmation on).

And about the only time I can think that I can't edit both sides is when the "from side" is a split transaction.  You can't change the date, the amount, or category or tag, but you can change the payee and memo.  That is because they don't handle changing the "split line" from another account.

I would be more inclined to have a feature request that allows the editing of these from the "to" account.

pls

I know I had seen cases where the two parts of a split transaction don't have categories that point back to the other account. I just accidently recreated the situation in the most recent Quicken:

With transfer detection turned on:
1. in [A] enter a transaction with date X amount Y and an expense category.
2. in [B] enter a transaction with date X amount Y and category [A].

Quicken will pick up the transaction in [A] and ask you if this is the matching transfer. Say Yes.

Now look at the transaction in [A]. It's part of a transfer, because you can right click and see Go To Transfer. But Q did NOT change the category, so instead of a category [B] as it should have, the transaction still has the expense category.

The only way you can tell this is a transfer is to right click it a look for Go To Transfer.

If this is a bug, how would I report it?

Chris_QPW

I'm not getting the results you did.
In the first account:

In the second account:

Hit Enter and I get:

Answer Yes
Go back to the first account:


The category has changed to the a transfer to the second account like it should.

I recommend that you try validate and repair on that data file.

You can also submit a problem report with: Help -> Report a Problem