Splasm Software Discussions

This subject has probably been covered before somewhere on this Forum, but hey, here goes !!!

I have imported over 8,000 QIF transactions from another software into more than 8 separate Accounts (some current, some closed) all of which have some content of inter-account dependent Transfers in them. I haven't counted them exactly but there are over 800 double entries (let's say just over 400 truly linked transactions, maybe more........)

CBP imported all of these "Linked" Transfers by creating "Categories" of the opposing Account in the Category field.
Whilst I think I understand why this is done, probably for ease of programming and accuracy when importing QIF, BUT, on the other hand it is not good Book Keeping practice as it produces inaccurate, cluttered and complicated Reports.

I have been tackling this problem by the "one at a time" manual method, i.e. creating two Smart Folders with opposite criteria for each of the two Accounts I'm working on....converting each Debit transaction one at a time, deleting the duplicate created in the opposing credited Account and so on.... very slow and time consuming as you can imagine............and you can mess up your Balanced Accounts very easily if your concentration slips.........

I previously took iFinance and iCompta for a test drive to see how they handle this problem..

iFinance imported every transaction accurately and with the linked transactions, "Truly Linked", maintaining Account integrity.............. so it is possible....

iCompta, on the other hand, imported all of the transactions accurately, however, like CBP it created Categories of opposing Accounts, BUT, and it's a very useful BUT... it had a great "All Accounts" facility where two Transactions could be highlighted and in the right click drop down menu a selection "Create Transfer" which you could hit and make the two transactions "truly linked" as a Transfer, this system also exists in Moneywell..... It's still "one at a time manually" but oh so much easier and quicker than nothing at all like CBP........

Does anyone know of an EASY way in CBP to create Linked Transfers quickly and efficiently ??? PLEASE ??
Better still, has CBP any plans to improve the importation of QIF "Linked Transfers" ??

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iMac i5, 1Tb, Lion, Win 7 Pro.

The problem with QIF is that it doesn't facilitate a standard way to link entries between accounts. Another problem is that Account names can change and one account in CheckBook doesn't necessarily mirror a destination or source account name.

You can fast track the process somewhat using CheckBook Pro. If those transfers do have a category of the account name in brackets, you can search for that category, then select all of the entries that were transfers, and edit them as a group by clicking the change button while they are selected. You can then check the box next to To/From, select 'To/From Account' from the To/From label drop down menu, and then choose the appropriate account from the Account in the drop down menu that appeared in place of the Account field.

You will also need to make sure you remove the equivalent imported entry in the other account so you don't have double entered items.

Let us know if this helps!

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Randy Knoble
Splasm Software
www.Splasm.com

Hi Randy K and Support,
Thanks very much for the reply, however, you seem to have slightly mis-understood exactly what I said.
I originally said that I was importing from another "software", not a Bank........
I first created an Account structure in CBP mirroring exactly the Account structure in the "old" software package, so there was no way that the source and/or destination Account names differed in any way in CBP before I imported the QIF file.

That said, after a couple of frustrating days of editing transaction one by one, I eventually devised a way to "mass" change entries without the risk of messing up the Balances in my 8 individual Accounts.

First basic rule.. "Back-up everything before changing anything"...........

My home made solution.........,
For "each opposing pair" of Accounts containing "[Transfers]" I set up a Smart Folder in "each" Account which searched for the Category of the [Named Account] in the other, then, in the Smart Folder, I "mass" changed the To/From destination of all "Debit" transactions to that of the opposite Account, I then deleted the Category [Account Name], then hit OK and all of the "Debits" (now Transfers) disappear from that Folder, now go to the opposing Account Smart Folder and delete all of the "Credit" transactions, this keeps everything in Balance with one key stroke.

As a second method of tracking what had been changed I also created two new "Types" of Transactions, one "Credit Transfer" and one "Debit Transfer"..... that way I could keep track of what had been "converted"....

It's a simple way for anyone, like me, who wish to have "Transfers" react as Truly Linked entries....
Hundreds of transactions can be changed at one time quite safely this way.. but,,, a word of caution....... stay focused at all times as mistakes can happen !!!
Who knows !! it might be useful to someone else one day,
Ron..

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iMac i5, 1Tb, Lion, Win 7 Pro.

In your case, yes, you took the time to match account names exactly. We can't rely on that to be the case for all users so we can't necessarily automate the process as it is. We can look at it more in the future. Thanks for posting your solution!

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Randy Knoble
Splasm Software
www.Splasm.com