GnuCash - suggestion for possible enhancement

[Jim Thompson]

David C,

Btw... as follow-up

-> having a button in the scheduled transaction editor
-> window to "Enter the Next Scheduled Transaction Now".  That may be
-> easier to implement.  Would that work for you?

This sounds like a worthwhile change.  Of course I'm just another user -
but, if there were a list of possible enhancements to vote on, it would be
interesting to see how this one would fare among those who vote on
preferred changes.  As you might guess, I'd vote for it.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Cheers,
Jim




On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 4:38 PM, Jim Thompson <jthomps6 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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." :-)
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >> -----
>>> > >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>> > >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>> > >>
>>> > > _______________________________________________
>>> > > gnucash-user mailing list
>>> > > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>> > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>> > > -----
>>> > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>> > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>> > >
>>> >
>>> > 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
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > gnucash-user mailing list
>>> > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>> > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>> > -----
>>> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>>> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>>> >
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>>> -----
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>>>
>>
>>
>