Ability to change System Date for GnuCash

David Carlson david.carlson.417 at gmail.com
Tue Mar 17 14:53:33 EDT 2015


On 3/17/2015 12:46 PM, Michael Hendry wrote:
>> On 17 Mar 2015, at 17:11, John Nickell <jcnickell at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Yes MY (John) initial request was about changing the system date for GnuCash.  Michael Downey's request was I believe to format the date in a different manner. Perhaps it would be better to create a new thready (via new email to "gnucash-user at gnucash.org <mailto:gnucash-user at gnucash.org>" to simplify things.
> Sorry, John, I hadn’t spotted that the comment below was from you as the OP!
>
> Let’s say that you’ve found a way to fool GnuCash (“GC”) into thinking it’s the 31st of March.
>
> The Scheduled Transactions (“SXes”) that were due to take place in the next two weeks will automatically be made as if they’d happened on the dates you’ve chosen for them, and you’ll be able to spot bad stuff before it happens.
>
> Now you own up, and tell GC that it’s really the 17th of March after all. As the future SXes have already been processed, they’ll still be in your GC file. 
>
> If having these future SXes in your file upsets you, will you delete them, and let them be recreated as their dates come up? If you’re not upset, why not just have all SXes processed two weeks in advance of their due dates (or whatever period suits your way of working)?
>
> It’s always clear in any account’s register that a transaction hasn’t yet happened because of the blue horizontal line which separates the past from the future.
>
> Michael
>
> PS If Michael Downey’s question is about switching the way the date format (e.g. from DD/MM/YYYY to MM/DD/YYYY)  he can do that adjusting GC’s Preferences for Date/Time. 
>
> On my Mac, this is accessible via GnuCash=>Preferences=>Date/Time on the menu bar. Other OSes may be different.
>
>> On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 12:08 PM, Michael Hendry <hendry.michael at gmail.com <mailto:hendry.michael at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 17 Mar 2015, at 15:41, John Nickell <jcnickell at gmail.com <mailto:jcnickell at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I don't have it in front of me, but I think he's wanting to change the
>>> format to be DD/MM/YEAR instead of MM/DD/YEAR
>> Not according to the original post, which seemed to be requesting a means of changing the system date (or at least of making GnuCash think the system date had changed) so as to have all scheduled transactions made in advance.
>>
>> As GnuCash already provides a way of processing future scheduled transactions in advance, we’ve been trying to persuade him that that’s the way to go.
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
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Michael,
I believe that once the Since Last Run wizard has created a transaction,
it will not repeat that instance even if you turn back the clock and
delete the transaction.  You would have to start from a backup before
the transaction was created. 

Your central point, however, is valid, a transaction with a future date
is logically no different from any other transaction once it is in the
register.  The only difference is whether the user is comfortable with
it being below the blue line.  I use this method of entering
transactions early as a tool to estimate my future account balances. 
The only trick is define a procedure to determine which transactions are
estimates and which have been proven correct.

David C


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