How to set up or modify a scheduled transaction.

Allan L.

I must be missing something. Two things, in fact. I track periodic income payments in Quicken using scheduled transactions. These payments come on the fourth Wednesday of the month. The amount changes annually at the beginning of the year. If I try to make a change to the transaction now, to become effective in January, Quicken modifies the pending December one as well, which is not what I want. If I try to make a new transaction, it's not obvious that the current version of the calendar only allows me to set up a monthly schedule based on a monthly date, which is also not what I want. Would appreciate some help with both issues.

jacobs

For the first issue: you can only modify the next instance of a scheduled transaction. Think of a scheduled transaction as a "template" for future real transactions. So that gives you a few options for your current situation.

(1) You could mark the December instance as Deposited. It will still have its date in the future; marking it Deposited simply has the template generate a real transaction on that date. (Think of it like you got a cable bill or water bill stating that $xxx will be debited from your account on January 3; you could enter the transaction now, even though the date is in the future.) You can then double-click on the next instance of the scheduled transaction and change the amount to the 2022 value.

(2) You could set the current instance to end with the December deposit, and create a new scheduled transaction for 2022.


For the second issue, there's an easy answer which the developers unfortunately and stubbornly have insisted on keeping as a confusing user interface element. On the Schedule screen, to the left of the "Starting" field, click the little "v" icon to reveal more scheduling options. Now, it's easy to create a transaction which occurs monthly on the 4th Wednesday of the month:

jacobs

For the first issue: you can only modify the next instance of a scheduled transaction. Think of a scheduled transaction as a "template" for future real transactions. So that gives you a few options for your current situation.

(1) You could mark the December instance as Deposited. It will still have its date in the future; marking it Deposited simply has the template generate a real transaction on that date. (Think of it like you got a cable bill or water bill stating that $xxx will be debited from your account on January 3; you could enter the transaction now, even though the date is in the future.) You can then double-click on the next instance of the scheduled transaction and change the amount to the 2022 value.

(2) You could set the current instance to end with the December deposit, and create a new scheduled transaction for 2022.


For the second issue, there's an easy answer which the developers unfortunately and stubbornly have insisted on keeping as a confusing user interface element. On the Schedule screen, to the left of the "Starting" field, click the little "v" icon to reveal more scheduling options. Now, it's easy to create a transaction which occurs monthly on the 4th Wednesday of the month:

Allan L.

Fast and complete. Many thanks for the help! Happy holidays.

jacobs

@RickO I won. (But at least we both gave the same answers.) 

Allan L.

Two helpers on their toes! This makes using Quicken so much more satisfactory.