transfer column vs category column (Q Mac)

pamela77

In the past when I made a payment to a credit card from my checking account I would put the credit card in the category, and create a transfer. I am starting a new Quicken file and looking at the columns I see one labeled transfer. I tried using it for a payment to a credit card from the checking account, and that same account appeared as a transfer in the category column. Can I just continue to put the transfers in the category column? Is there any added benefit to using the transfer column? It seems like a duplication.
Thank you, Pamela

jacobs

You can do the exact same transfer two ways: use the Transfer column with account name, or use the Category column with the syntax "Transfer:[account name]". As you observed, information entered in one shows up in the other. 

There are only two small advantages I can think of for showing the Transfer column:

1. It makes it easy when skimming your registers to spot the transactions which have transfers.
2. When you hover over the Transfer field in an existing transaction with a transfer, a gray round circle with a right-facing arrow (->) appears; clicking this arrow open the the other register in a new window and highlights the same transaction in that register.

In the early days of the modern Quicken Mac, you couldn't specify a transfer in the Category column, so the Transfer field was necessary. Then they added the ability to enter and view transfers in the Category column (which exists in Quicken Windows and the legacy Quicken Mac), so you're correct that it is now redundant for many users. Hiding the Transfer column is an easy way to gain back some horizontal space in your registers. But for some people, one of the differences mentioned above makes it worth leaving the Transfer field visible.