Entering data in the memo field (Q Mac)

Question

It doesn't seem as though I'm able to enter anything into the memo field in future transactions.

I've got reminders on, showing the next 30 days of scheduled bills. I generally set up payment for a bill when it comes in. For instance, recent Gas Co bill shows up (paperless), I go to the Gas Co website and schedule the payment to occur on the due date, which is still in the future. I want to enter the the confirmation # in the memo field, but it seems that I cannot access the field for a future transaction. Or, am I missing something?

Thanks!

Bob_Mc · Answer

thanks for the guidance, everyone

Jon · Answer

I handle my bills the same as @jacobs - mark it as paid when I get the bill & set the date to when it will be paid.

jacobs · Answer

@Bob_Mc  There's still more to unpack here. 😉

There's no reason you can't record something in the Memo field of a recurring (scheduled) transaction; I do it all the time. As @RickO explained, you can't edit the Memo of the upcoming bill until you mark the next transaction as "Paid", but depending on your workflow, you can mark it "Paid" in Quicken when you get the bill, even though it hasn't actually been paid in the real world yet. As you discovered, "Paid" doesn't mean you paid it today; in other parts of Quicken's documentation, they call this action "posting" the transaction. A scheduled transaction is like a template for generating future transactions; making one Paid (or Deposited, for income) mean only that you have generated a new transaction which is completely separated from the template of the scheduled transaction.

For example, for my electric bill, I want to remember to record the month, in a consistent format, the time period and the number of kWh for each bill; once a year or so, I update a spreadsheet where I track our electric usage to see how we're doing over the years. So my scheduled transaction for my electric utility has this in the Memo field: "mmm-mmm (xxx kWh)". This week, I received by bill for mid-February through mid-March. I marked the next instance of the scheduled transaction as Paid, entered the amount, and edited the Memo field to show "Feb-Mar (2,175 kWh)". The bill is dated April 10, which is the day the utility company will debit my checking account for the amount, so it still sits above the green "today" line in my register.

Marking a future date as "Paid" in Quicken doesn't mean — in my workflow — that I've actually paid the bill, it means I have separated the next instance of the bill from there recurring transaction so I can customize it. In this case, where the fee is auto-debited from my checking account I can do this weeks in advance; if this was a bill I have to remember to pay in a week or two, I might leave it scheduled until the day I actually pay the bill.