Add automatic remainder calculation to split transactions Quicken for Mac (93 Legacy Votes)
Snoopy FC
Member ✭✭✭✭
Within splits in QM2007, it would automatically calculate the amount remaining. Could that functionality be added back in to the newest version of quicken? For instance, if I split a $150 transaction as follows: $100 to groceries and $25 to entertainment, quicken would automatically recognize that I still had $25 unallocated of the original $150 amount. As of now, the new version doesn't appear to recognize this and requires that we manual change the amounts to make it all balance.
QMac Subscription - iMac - Quicken Mac user since 1995
8

Comments
For anyone reading this who doesn't fully understand what's happening with split amounts, here's a brief explanation:
If you manually enter a new transaction, the split works the way you want and expect: if you create the $150 transaction, enter a split for $100, and enter the next split for $25, Quicken opens a third split line with the $25 remaining. Perfect.
But if you *edit* an existing split transaction, Quicken applies different rules depending which line of the split you edit. Let's go back to the example of a $150 transaction. Let's say it has two split lines, for $100 and $50. If you open this existing transaction to edit the split, and change the second split amount from $50 to $40, Quicken automatically changes the first split line from $100 to $110. But if you open the same transaction and edit the *first* split line amount from $100 to $85, Quicken opens a third split line for the $15 remainder, as expected and as Quicken has done in the past. It's terrible logic to have different things happen depending which split line you edit; it requires the user to think though how Quicken will process the edit, and work backward from the desired end result to figure out what sequence of change stop make in Quicken.
Here's one real-life example of how this is awful in practice. Like most salaried people, my gross pay doesn't vary from one payroll to another, but there's often a change of a penny or two in various payroll taxes. If my net pay changes by one cent, and I enter the extra penny in the total amount first, Quicken opens a new split line for one cent; I can then go to the appropriate tax line and edit the value that changed by one cent, the extra split line disappears, and all is well. But sometimes, net pay is unchanged, but two tax amounts change by a penny or two in opposite directions. As soon as I edit the first split line, Quicken automatically changes my gross pay (the first split line). I have to then manually change the first split line back to its original value, and then Quicken opens a new split line, and then I can edit the other split amount which needs to be changed. It's confusing to inexperienced users, and incredibly frustrating to me as a veteran Quicken user.
In other situations, I find I edit a split amount, realize the first split line amount has changed, but I don't know the original value, so I have to cancel my edit and start over, this time writing down the original amount of the first split line so I can manually change it back. Ugh, so frustrating!
And to add insult to injury, the Undo functionality -- which is otherwise great in Quicken Mac -- simply doesn't work when editing splits!
Here's hoping the developers will finally listen to user complains about split editing and change this in Quicken 2017.
For instance, our grocery receipts include cleaning products, toiletries, and of course food. So I'll input the cleaning and toiletry products first, leaving the remainder for food. Don't know it that helps, but that's how I've figured out how to work with this current framework.
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(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
- Where to find a Help Guide for Quicken for Mac?
- Quicken Mac FAQ list
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COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE onObject to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen? Add your vote here:
Quicken should eliminate the LARGE Ad space when a subscription expires
(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
- Where to find a Help Guide for Quicken for Mac?
- Quicken Mac FAQ list
- Quicken Windows FAQ list
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COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE onObject to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen? Add your vote here:
Quicken should eliminate the LARGE Ad space when a subscription expires
(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
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
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- Restore Transactions Downloading Acceptance and Matching workflow
- 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)
- Add QuickMath functionality
- Loan Amortization
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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.)
- Where to find a Help Guide for Quicken for Mac?
- Quicken Mac FAQ list
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- Help Guide and FAQs for Quicken Mobile
COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE onObject to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen? Add your vote here:
Quicken should eliminate the LARGE Ad space when a subscription expires
(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
So...just do it now.
Originally, product manager Marcus explained that they changed it to work this way because of the number of support calls they had logged in previous versions due to people not understanding how Quicken created a new split line with the remaining amount when a user edited a split. Unfortunately, I think they tried to solve a problem for a small number of users and created a new problem for a large number of users. Many, many Quicken Mac users have complained about this in various places over the past two years.
It's not clear if the complaints have convinced the development team they should make a change, but they have been working on things higher on their priority list and haven't gotten to changing this yet, or if they still disagree that it needs to be changed. (It would be great if Marcus would post to tell us if this is a planned change in the future or if they've decided to stick with their original philosophy, but so far, he's remained silent on this issue.)
To your broader comment about Quicken, yes, it's best if those of us who think in debits and credits just think of "money in" and "money out" when working with Quicken. I don't really have much problem with that. When it comes to putting a minus sign in front of a value, though, I'd not that Quicken is inconsistent in a number of ways. First, the registers allow users to use either a single Amount column or a pair of money in/money out columns (named Payment and Deposit for a checking account, Charge and Payment for a credit card account, Spend and Receive for a cash account, etc.) -- but in splits, there is only a single Amount column. So for someone like me, who has Payment and Deposit columns in my checking account, and therefore all positive numbers, it's a little jarring to open a split and see an expense as a negative number. Now, if I want to edit a transaction -- let's say to add $20 more expense in a new category -- I have to remember to ADD $20 to the transaction amount and subtract $20 in the split lines. It's workable, but having some values signed and others unsigned makes it harder than it should be for users to always to what they intend.
(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)
- Where to find a Help Guide for Quicken for Mac?
- Quicken Mac FAQ list
- Quicken Windows FAQ list
- Help Guide and FAQs for Quicken Mobile
COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE onObject to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen? Add your vote here:
Quicken should eliminate the LARGE Ad space when a subscription expires
(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
I also think we need more people helping direct its development. They just released version 4.4 of QM2017 today. I think smayer97 has done a fabulous job of organizing the many improvements that we and many others have suggested and are wanting. There's serious momentum building on this program and I'm looking forward to a program equal with Windows in the near future.
I thought when I switched form QM2007 to QM2015, that the lack of a 2-line register would be very annoying too. I may be in the minority, but I now find the single line register (in which I control the order, layout, column width, etc) to be preferable. I can't see going back to 2-line even if they eventually make it an option.