[GNC] Transfer Account Changes - Sometimes?

[Adrien Monteleone]

Jack,

Consider the practice of always entering your transactions in the register the money is coming from. (A credit to either an asset such as Checking or liability such as a credit card)

This way, one side of the transaction will always be the same. (in that register)

Then your autocompletes will make more sense, and if you don’t need what is filled in, you can simply select the credit split and choose “delete other splits” to ’start fresh.’

Also, note that if you put in a memo on the split, and you are entering a new split line that has a similar memo, it will autocomplete both the memo and the expense account. (or whatever that split is) If your memo is similar to a previous one using the same expense account, but you want to change the memo slightly, it saves time to let it autocomplete the memo, hit TAB to autocomplete the account, then SHIFT-TAB back to the memo to edit it. Otherwise, the new unique memo will require a traversal of the account list to select the proper one.

Note, this practice works best with Transaction Journal View on rather than basic or simple split view mode. You can also turn on Double-Line mode to get a note field for the entire transaction to use in addition to each split memo.

Also, if you’re having trouble groking ’transfer’ consider the preference to ‘Use Formal Accounting Labels.’ Then they will always be labeled Debit/Credit rather than the various informal labels. Debits *increase* Assets & Expenses. (You have more or spent more) Credits *increase* Liabilities, Income & Equity. (You owe more, received more, or are worth more) If it helps to understand the ‘more’ with respect to positive/negative, consider setting the preference for “Reverse Balanced Accounts” to ‘Credit accounts’ which will show all ’normal’ balances in each type as positive. That is, if you owe money, have received money or are worth anything on net, those accounts will be positive. If you have assets, or have spent money on expenses, those will also be positive.

Regards,
Adrien

> On Sep 19, 2018, at 12:38 PM, Jack Slater <theilliniguy at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> It seems the auto input in this field is inconsistent - at least in the way
> I use it. Following examples from today:
> 
> In Account - Checking:
> I enter Walmart in Description, Tab Right, and Transfer (don't understand
> the naming convention) field auto-fills EXPENSES-GROCERIES. I click on the
> drop down and select EXPENSES-CLOTHING,  proceed to Tab Right, enter the
> $amount and press Enter to complete the transaction.
> 
> The next time I enter Walmart in Description and Tab Right,
> EXPENSES-CLOTHING auto-fills. That's what I would expect.
> 
> So Ingredients go to another Account - Sams:
> I enter Sams in Description, Tab Right, and Transfer field auto-fills
> ASSETS-CHECKING. I click on the drop down and select EXPENSES-AUTO-FUEL,
> proceed to Tab Right, enter the $amount and press Enter to complete the
> transaction.
> 
> The next time I enter Sams in Description and Tab Right,
> ASSETS-CHECKING auto-fills again! That's NOT what I would expect. What I
> expect from entry example above is EXPENSES-AUTO-FUEL, the last entry I
> made.
> 
> I don't know if this is a bug, option setting, or me using the software the
> wrong way, but I would like the actions to be the same all the time. The
> way it is now, leads to entry errors.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Jack in Illinois
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