Notes-Memo confusion

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

Carpet Nailz <carpetnailz at researchintegration.org> writes:

> On Wed, 2011-04-13 at 09:13 -0400, Derek Atkins wrote:
>> "Maf. King" <maf at chilwell.net> writes:
>> 
>> > On Tuesday 12 April 2011 15:26:09 Carpet Nailz wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Where does this "Memo" value come from, since it's in neither the VISA
>> >> entry nor the Expense entry?
>> >>
>> >
>> > Hi,
>> > Are you looking at the register in Basic Ledger mode?  Try turning on Double 
>> > Line and Auto Split from the View Menu.
>> >
>> >> What's going on and how can I get the right "Notes" in my report?
>> >
>> > ISTR that a transaction can have a "notes/memo" entry, but each split can also 
>> > have a "note/memo" for just that split.  It sounds like you are picking up 
>> > that split-level text.  Sorry, don't know how to get the transaction-level 
>> > text.  From some casual experiments, it seems that if the split to 
>> > the "reported" account has memo text, then the transaction report shows that 
>> > text, but if it isn't there then the transaction text is shown.
>> 
>> Technically, the transaction has a "Notes" field, which is for the
>> transaction itself and is viewable only in double-line mode.  Then each
>> Split has a "memo" field that it part of the Split itself.
>
> I'm still confused, since I'm usually not doing a "split," just a simple
> entry with one credit and one debit in basic ledger mode. So why does it
> not just capture what I'm entering there rather than pulling in
> something from a "split" transaction that's not even being used now?

You are confusing a Split with "split transaction".  Even a BASIC
balanced transaction has two Splits (the credit Split and the debit
Split).  Each Split in the transaction ties an amount/value to an
account, and each one has its memo.  A "split transaction" is one with
more than two Splits.

There are too many pronouns in your statement so I'm not sure to which
field you are referring when you say "what [you're] entering there"?

Even in a basic transaction you still have two Splits, and each split
still has its own memo field.

> Does it follow that one should never use the basic ledger mode if one
> has ever used a "split" with that vendor/payer/"description", lest one
> inadvertently mess up one's notes? I've got lots of accounts where I
> normally don't enter splits, just one debit and one credit, but every
> once in a while need to use the split function when there are multiple
> debit or multiple credit entries for a given transaction.

That's up to you, but no, I do not believe that follows per se.
However, keep in mind that once you've made a split transaction then the
next quickfill will use that split-transaction content, so you'd have to
expand the transaction to remove extraneous Splits, and at that time you
can remove any extraneous Split memos.

You can get to the transaction notes field at any time by View -> Double
Line Mode --- and this is true in any ledger view (Basic, Split, or
Journal).  That's the only way to get to the transaction notes field.

>> It's the transaction notes that get printed into the "memo" field of a
>> printed check.
>> 
>> When you quickfill a transaction it pulls in the notes and memo fields
>> into the new transaction.  This is considered a feature, not a bug.
>> 
>> Unfortunately the terms "memo" and "notes" are kind of confused
>> throughout the app and docs.
>> 
>> Hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.
>> 
>> > HTH,
>> > Maf.
>> 
>> >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available