GnuCash - suggestion for possible enhancement

Sun May 11 17:38:01 EDT 2014

Wes,

Yep - that's a perfectly acceptable solution.

Thanks,
Jim

On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 3:29 PM, Wes Metz <wes704 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I do not manually enter transactions that are scheduled. For those that
> have variable amounts, I leave the amount blank in the Scheduled
> Transactions Template (an approximate amount would work also). The
> transactions are posted 30 days in advance. When the bill comes in, I find
> the transaction in the register and enter the amount.
>
> If you are having bills come in before the Scheduled Transactions post,
> you could post them more that 10 days in advance.
>
>
> On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 2:38 PM, Jim Thompson <jthomps6 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> OK, thanks - I'll try to restate this...
>>
>> Yep, I've found the very handy ways to create Scheduled Transactions and
>> the cool editor.  I have 10 scheduled trans, found the spiffy ways to
>> schedule and the templates - all is well there.
>>
>> 7 of the 10 transactions have amounts that stay the same for a long time.
>>  3 of them vary slightly from month to month.  I've now learned to make
>> the
>> templates for those 3 just have a dollar amount.  For example:  PayeeX
>>  Monthly: 25 ... $123.00
>>
>> I've also scheduled the above example to post 10 days early - on the 15th
>>
>> Sometimes I notice the bill for PayeeX before the 15th, with an amount of
>> 123.45 - so instead of waiting to correct the amount later, I'll enter the
>> 123.45 now.
>>
>> What Quicken would do is notice that I'm manually posting PayeeX for
>> 123.45
>> for the 25th and say, "Is this the scheduled payment for PayeeX on 25th?"
>>  If I say, "yes" ... it knows to skip this month's scheduled entry and
>> move
>> the scheduled payment to next month.  Actually Quicken seems to have a bit
>> of a fudge factor as well... so (another example) if I post a payment for
>> June 1, it might say, "is this the payment to XYZ scheduled for June 3?"
>>
>> If I don't manually enter the payment, it will automatically post and I'll
>> fix it later (at least I have an approximate number, so I can see it
>> coming).
>>
>> GC doesn't seem to notice the manual posting of a scheduled tran the way
>> that Quicken does... so I get both - the manually entered one and the (now
>> redundant) automatically scheduled one.  If I notice two payments of
>> PayeeX
>> on the same date (123.45 and 123.00) I can just delete the extra one...
>> but
>> GC would be a bit more clever if it emulated the Quicken trick and figured
>> out to not post the extra one (after asking me if I'm posting a scheduled
>> transaction).
>>
>> Worth the effort to change GC?  One can only put the suggestion out there
>> and see if it gets some interest and enough votes to make it onto a list
>> of
>> enhancements. Perhaps I should post this to a developer list??
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jim
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 6:25 AM, David Carlson
>> <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>> > On 5/10/2014 8:27 PM, Tommy Trussell wrote:
>> > > On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 12:01 PM, Jim Thompson <jthomps6 at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> > >
>> > >> Both Quicken and GC support Scheduled Transactions, but Quicken has
>> an
>> > >> extra feature I've not seen in GC.  When one manually enters a
>> > transaction
>> > >> which is also scheduled (and not yet automatically entered), Quicken
>> > pops
>> > >> up a window and says something like, "is this the scheduled
>> transaction
>> > for
>> > >> xxxx?"  If the user replies with "yes" then Quicken knows that
>> scheduled
>> > >> event is already taken care of and it skips the scheduled one
>> (instead
>> > of
>> > >> entering it a second time).
>> > >>
>> > >> The lack of this extra check in GC isn't a major pain - just have to
>> be
>> > >> aware of it.
>> > >>
>> > >> Why do I manually enter a scheduled transaction?  I've scheduled the
>> > >> transaction as a reminder, in case I forget to enter a monthly
>> bill...
>> > but
>> > >> these tend to be transactions where the amount can vary a little bit
>> > each
>> > >> month.  If I notice the actual bill amount before the automated
>> entry,
>> > I'll
>> > >> just plug it in... otherwise I correct it later.  Quicken just
>> helped a
>> > bit
>> > >> by noticing the manual entry might be the scheduled one...
>> > >>
>> > > Here's a feature you may not have noticed in GnuCash --
>> > >
>> > > Enter a transaction in your checking or credit account register, then
>> > click
>> > > on it (or any existing transaction) and choose the menu item:
>> > >
>> > > Actions --> Schedule...
>> > >
>> > > and you will activate the Schedule Transaction dialog, with all the
>> > > information copied from the existing transaction. If you choose
>> > Frequency:
>> > > "Monthly" (for example) you will notice the scheduled transaction
>> > defaults
>> > > with a date one month in the future from the selected transaction. If
>> you
>> > > click the "Advanced..." button you will see that you can then modify
>> the
>> > > parameters to adjust how weekends are handled, or choose a different
>> day
>> > of
>> > > the month, etc.
>> > >
>> > > I know this is "backwards" from what you are used to in Quicken, but
>> it's
>> > > actually a bit easier because it's MUCH easier to assign the credit
>> and
>> > > debit columns correctly in the "live" register than in the Scheduled
>> > > Transaction register. (The scheduled transaction register is intended
>> to
>> > be
>> > > a template so it allows you to enter variables or numbers that don't
>> add
>> > > up, so you have to supply the variables or "adjust" the scheduled
>> > > transaction after it gets created.
>> > >
>> > > Give it a try, and you may decide you prefer the "GnuCash way." :-)
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >> -----
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>> > >
>> >
>> > I always use that method to create scheduled transactions in GnuCash and
>> > I love it.
>> >
>> > If a transaction that has been created by the "Since Last Run" assistant
>> > is right clicked and scheduleed, the scheduled transaction opens in the
>> > Scheduled Transaction editor.  This makes it easy to modify settings, if
>> > desired.  I often change some of the text for the next instance, say in
>> > the memo or description.  The only downside is that using that procedure
>> > does not work if the original transaction is right-clicked.
>> >
>> > David C
>> > _______________________________________________
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