Great minds think alike. Two insights that made sure I understood the process.
Great job. I am on my way.
--
Mike


"Dick Watson" wrote:

- quote -

The directions were very clear and helped me get it done. I appreciate the
generousity of your time.
--
Mike


"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:

- quote -

IF you are using Advanced Register/Reports and IF you categorize the
downloaded transactions and IF you use Transfer : [name of CC account] or
Credit Card Payment : [name of CC account], THEN you should be able to
customize the report to include the CC account and it will show all of the
categorized expenses from the transactions in that account.

"Mike" <Mike[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:68428281-8CDA-4B26-A7FE-F2D544E9C300[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Mike wrote:

- quote -

When you process the first transaction of the credit card payment,
set the category as a transfer to the other ( credit card or bank
account), or use the equivalent "SPECIAL Credit Card Payment"
category. When you process the second transaction, Money should
match it. Be careful to not just Accept if Money did not find the
match on its own for some reason. Click Change and match it to the
transfer you already made if Money did not match it for you. I
would consider this the classic of the ways I like. Note that for
this you would *not* use the Money "EXPENSE Credit Card Payment".
I would Delete that category.

For existing transactions that are already accepted, convert one to
a Transfer and Void/Delete the other.

If you don't see the SPECIAL Transfer category at the bottom of the
list, switch to advanced register. One way is
Tools-> Settings-> AccountSettings-> DisplayAllAccountsInTheAdvancedRegister

I am a non-financial type new Money Plus user in the midst of a 60 Day trial
and so far so good with one exception.

I have downloaded my credit card (CC) expenditures and they reside in my CC
Account with all expendures categorized. The lump sums payment from my
checking account however appears as a single entry in my monthy expense
report.

Is their an automatic way to transfer the CC Account Category Breakdown into
the Monthly Expense Report category breakdown in lieu of the single lump sum
amount?
--
Mike


"Dick Watson" wrote:

- quote -

The Bills (Advanced Bills, anyway) are like transactions but are "scheduled"
to occur at some frequency in the future. When you "Edit Series", you are
editing a scheduled series of future transactions. Think of them as
prototype transactions.

You might want to look at Bills Summary in the sample data file or create a
new file, set Advanced Bills, and go there and play around. Likewise, you
can take a transaction you've entered and schedule it to recur in the
future. R-click on a transaction in an account register and pick Add to
Bills... (Or similar.)

I have over 100 scheduled bills. Probably half of my transactions are
entered from predefined Bills I saved a long time ago.

Sound like you may be using Essential Bills.

"Boblink" <Boblink[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8D93592B-A4E2-4E98-9EEF-F8551ECE2BEA[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

Thanks Dick, I made the changes where needed (some settings were already set
as you suggested) and will see that happens.
I do have one follow-up / clarification question concerning:

How do I fix Scheduled Bills?

Bills Summary, select a bill, r-click on it, select Edit | Edit series...
I'm assuming you are using Advanced Bills. Probabaly similar in Essential
Bills

Do you mean to click on a specific bill that has already been paid,
Right-click on it and select Edit and make the changes that I want and then
do this for all the other Bills that I want to change / adjust?

Thanks again, Bob

comments inline below

"Boblink" <Boblink[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9196891E-4650-4173-B520-2957DCDD9F26[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

I've been at it since '93. I do make some errors by hand but I don't have 24
different variants of WalMart in my Payees and so on. And practice helps a
lot. Of course, I have over 100 scheduled bills and the most
complex/frequent transactions are there so I don't have to re-enter them
completely from scratch. For instance, I get paid weekly and that's over a
dozen split entries. But I haven't typed one in from scratch for a decade or
more.

- quote -

The setting I'm thinking of is Tools | Settings | Account settings (global)
| Transaction entry options | Use AutoComplete.

- quote -

Try Tools | Settings | Online service settings | Downlolading statements |
Automatically accept all downloaded transactions from banking statements.

Take what I say in this area with a grain of salts--I don't download
transactions so some of my specifics about proper workflow are ones I've
learned here but never tested myself.

- quote -

Bills Summary, select a bill, r-click on it, select Edit | Edit series...
I'm assuming you are using Advanced Bills. Probabaly similar in Essential
Bills.

- quote -

That's one strategy. The choice probably comes down to whether you want to
report on all of the data you've ever collected or be able to search for
stuff in all of the data you've ever collected or so forth. I have every
data entry in my fifteen years with Money in the same file. Because I enter
things like serial numbers and warranties and so on in memo fields, I
frequently go looking through old transactions. But entering that kind of
informaiton also comes as a set with the manual transaction entry thing.

- quote -

See if getting a chance to accept the downloaded transactions--you can edit
them before accepting them I'm told--helps you get that greater control over
the data being captured.

Thank you for ALL your help Dick, I really appreciate you helping me out.

I enter transactions by hand. I don't have to mess with the side effects
reported here on a daily basis. It's not for everybody, but I've collected
something like 31,000 transactions with an average of two split entries per
transaction this way.
Reply: 31,000 transaction WOW, I guess that I have 1,000 a year, WOW and
your right, it ain't for everyone and I think I would make more transcription
errors (sloppiness) if I did it by hand than by downloading them. It sure
would be nice if I can figure out a way that to have the Best of Both Worlds

One is turn off Auto Complete. (Tools|Settings|General|something or
other--don't have Money on this machine.)
Reply: I couldn't find the Auto Compete so I copied Tools---> Setting and the
topics that are listed are: (apologies if I can't read my handwriting and
typed something wrong, also SETTINGS follows almost all of these categories):
Account, alert, BU, Browser, Budget, Category, Home Page Display, Inv, Online
Services, Online Update, Planner, Print check, Program, Report, Sharing, Tax,
Toolbar Display

You can also just start correcting the auto-completed ones (turn off
transaction auto-accept) before entering them in the register. Future
downloads for that Payee will use the most recent one you corrected to.
Reply: where do I find Auto-Accept?

The other is fixing Scheduled Bills.
Reply: how do I fix Scheduled Bills?

Last, what are your thoughts about Starting MSMoney from scratch on 1/1/09
scenario?

One big problem with dependence on downloaded transactions is that new users
never get exposed to lots of these details about how transactions get the
way they get.
Reply: I use Downloads for my bank accounts (checking, savings, MM, Credit
Cards, and brokerage accounts and would love to have MORE CONTROL of what I
am doing (instead of accepting the defaults since I don't knwo better).

Thanks again Dick,
Bob

Again, if you want to control what CATEGORIES get applied to transactions as
a function of PAYEE, you need to control this at one of two places--the only
two places this association gets made before transactions are entered.

One is turn off Auto Complete. (Tools|Settings|General|something or
other--don't have Money on this machine.) You can also just start correcting
the auto-completed ones (turn off transaction auto-accept) before entering
them in the register. Future downloads for that Payee will use the most
recent one you corrected to.

The other is fixing Scheduled Bills.

One big problem with dependence on downloaded transactions is that new users
never get exposed to lots of these details about how transactions get the
way they get.

"Boblink" <Boblink[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:685C069F-B891-48B5-9FFA-71DC175C3530[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

I enter transactions by hand. I don't have to mess with the side effects
reported here on a daily basis. I get the data collected my way the first
time. And I don't mess with outages and passwords and merging accounts and
payees in the memo field and bad auto categorization and so forth.

It's not for everybody, but I've collected something like 31,000
transactions with an average of two split entries per transaction this way.

"Boblink" <Boblink[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:685C069F-B891-48B5-9FFA-71DC175C3530[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Boblink wrote:

- quote -

Instead of reinstalling, just do File-> New-> NewFile. Choose a new
descriptive name.

You could then switch back and forth between files easily by using
the MRU (most recently used) list at the bottom of the File menu.

Keep both files up to date until you decide which one you want to
update.

Note that the resulting backup files should have different names
too. Check on that. When you start over with a new file, with a new
name, that should be automatic I think. If you are starting with a
copy of an existing file, you would need to address that manually.



- quote -

Use the scroll bar on the right, the wheel on your wheel mouse, the
PageDown key, or the down cursor key to see the rest.
Reply: Sorry, I really am NOT that dumb, I APged Down and it only showed the
"A", "B" and "C" and it looked like the Scroll Down bar was at the bottom.
Sorry

Now suppose you see that "Bank Card Purchase" has been associated
with Acme Grocery. Now you know that the next time the stupid credit
card company sends you a transaction with "Bank Card Purchase", it
should not be assumed to be Acme Grocery. "Bank Card Purchase"
should have been in the memo field. But it wasn't. It should be
ignored as a Payee. That is what Excluded Payee Names is about.
Reply: Yep, this is exactly what's causing all the confusion. A Name
(category) is assigned and it lives on perpetually even thou it is wrong.
This is ONE of the problems that I am trying to correct, thanks


I also suggest the use of ShowStandardizedPayeeNames.
Tools-> Settings-> OnlineServiceSettings-> ShowStandardizedPayeeNames
will cause you to match an existing payee that differ only by a
numbers or punctuation. Click MoreDetails to the right of the
setting for more information.
Reply: Another one of the "pet peeves", thanks again
Bob

Hi again, let me try another approach to see if this might work?
If I make a copy of my current MSMoney file, I will always be able to go
back for future reference so I was thinking, can I start from scratch in 2009?
Specifically, uninstall MSMoney and the reinstall it and instead of loading
all my past history, I start a brand new Money file in 2009. I would then
re-enter the information to create links to my bank and investment accounts
and assume that I will have a Clean Slate of Categories, Payees,…….. to work
with.
I won’t be able to perform year to year analysis (at least for the first
year) and if I need to go back for some historical data (I can’t think of any
situation except if I am audited), I can also install the “old� Money file
(and save the “new� Money file(.
Once I am finished doing what I have to do with the “old� Money file, I
would then uninstall Money and then reinstall it again (so that I have a
Clean Slate to work with i..e none of the “old� categories, sub-categories,….)
Anyway, I am thinking out load and await your replies.
Thanks,
Bob

In microsoft.public.money, Boblink wrote:

- quote -

Use the scroll bar on the right, the wheel on your wheel mouse, the
PageDown key, or the down cursor key to see the rest.

Now suppose you see that "Bank Card Purchase" has been associated
with Acme Grocery. Now you know that the next time the stupid credit
card company sends you a transaction with "Bank Card Purchase", it
should not be assumed to be Acme Grocery. "Bank Card Purchase"
should have been in the memo field. But it wasn't. It should be
ignored as a Payee. That is what Excluded Payee Names is about.

Go to Payees-> PreferredPayeeNames
which shows how downloaded names are translated into Payees.
Record the Payee Name Variation(s) shown for the wrong payee.
Delete the entries that correspond to the wrong payee.

Then click on GoToPayeeRulesManager. Excluded Payee Names
identifies words and phrases that should be ignored from the payee
field (e.g., check, deposit). Add each word or phrase that was
listed as a Payee Name Variation that you recorded.

It is usually a good idea to select
Tools-> Settings-> OnlineServiceSettings-> ReplacePayeeNames....

You may want to set
Tools-> Settings-> OnlineServices-> AddADescriptionToTheMemoField

I also suggest the use of ShowStandardizedPayeeNames.
Tools-> Settings-> OnlineServiceSettings-> ShowStandardizedPayeeNames
will cause you to match an existing payee that differ only by a
numbers or punctuation. Click MoreDetails to the right of the
setting for more information.



- quote -

Well *I*, like most people, use downloaded data. It is much easier
for me. They make fewer mistakes than I do, plus I am better at
finding the mistakes of others.

Tools-> Settings-> AccountSettings(global)-> ConfirmNewPayees
will give you the option to not add a payee to the list that you
are using one time only. Unfortunately it does not apply to
downloaded transactions.

- quote -

Hi guys, I must be a glutton for punishment and am back for some more advice.
I tried the REPLACE Account List|Categories -ïƒ* Payees|Categories solution
and understand why it was not recommended. All it did was remove the
category from the items on my check register that I replaced (with a BLANK)
and obviously that was not what I wanted so I restored the current version of
Money and tried Set Up Prefered Payee Names but am confused.
The list has two columns, Payee Name Variation and Payee and it appears that
I there are about 200 listings (Payee Name Variation and Payee) but the list
only contains names that begin with “A�, “B�s and “C� (“E� thru “Z� do not
appear)?
Is this correct?
Anyway, I will play around a little more and would appreciate if you could
advise me what to try next?
Also, you said “Problems with data pollution are one reason I DO NOT use
downloaded transaction data and recommend others consider not using it as
well� so my question is, WHAT do you do / what do you use?
Thank you again for ALL your help guys,
Bob

Another way to look at this: they are always relevant to figuring out your
deductions. If you cateorize it right from the get go, then at the end of the
year you won't find yourself asking: "Gee, we did have a lot of medical after
all, maybe it was 7.5% of AGI…" and not have an easy way to figure out if it
was or not since you didn't collect the data right in the first place. My
operating concept is that it's never easier to get the data right than when
it first gets captured in Money.

"Cal Learner-- MVP" wrote:

- quote -

That puts a slightly different spin on things.

There is no simple way to touch up all of the categories in all of the
transactions. Find and Replace could probably get you there, but it will be
painful. Understand that Transactions are almost the ONLY place where a Payee
and a Category intersect. (A Bill is another place, but it's just a
transaction in drag.) So, If you have 10,000 transactions and each is
categorized, there are 10,000 of these intersections.

Also, there may be cases where, say, Walgreen's makes sense for Healthcare
and Household Goods as separate cases (sometimes in the same total
transaction, even). I'm not sure that you really want to think this is, ipso
facto, a problem. I have this case all over my data. When I get cash back or
buy an expensive prescription at the grocery store, I don't want it all
categorized as Food : Groceries. For this reason, analyzing the data, by
Payee and Category makes little sense. If I analyze by Category, I may see
Food : Groceries at the WalMArt and the grocery store and the gas station. So
what? IF that's what the spending was for, then the Payees are just noise in
that analysis. Ignore them.

OTOH, if you've been sometimes right and sometimes sloppy in fixing the
(usually lousy from what I hear and see) category guesses that the FIs
download, this will be a problem. (I see things like my Web Hosting provider
on my Discover bill as Retail. Yikes.) Or if you got an association that was
good one time (WalMart for Automobile : Gasoline, say) and then let it auto
correct the next 100 WalMart transactions to Automobile : Gasoline--even if
you never bought gas there again--this will also be a problem. But either is
a problem with no simple fix.

Problems with data pollution are one reason I DO NOT use downloaded
transaction data and recommend others consider not using it as well.

"Boblink" wrote:

- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Boblink wrote:

- quote -

Considering Walgreens', that sounds as if it a very appropriate
thing that you make some purchases Healthcare and some Household
Goods. In particular, the things that are tax-deductible would be
best to be differentiated. The threshhold makes most prescriptions
not deductible to healthy working people, but that might not always
be the case.

But if you wanted to change all Walgreens purchases to Healthcare,
the advanced find and replace is pretty powerful for that.


- quote -

That can work too. Maybe you could use Find and Replace to
repopulate some of the categories of some transactions.

- quote -

Hello Dick and Carl, thank you so much for your prompt and EXTREMELY helpful
responses. I think the best plan of attack would be to BACKUP my Money file
on Memory Stick, External Drive and another location on my computer (to
insure that I am able to get back to where I started) and the play around
with your suggestions to see if the achieve what I want. I probably will not
get a chance to do this until the weekend so I may POST again and want to
thank you guys again for all the great help!
Bob
P.S-just to give you an idea of what I am dealing with, I have about 20
different accounts (Checking, Savings, Money Market, Investment, IRAs,
Roths,......) and download / update, these accounts (just about) everyday and
when I try and analyze the data, the categories are "all screwed up" (i.e.
Walgreen’s appears as Healthcare as well as Household Goods) so what I would
like to do is DELETE all Categories (that are stored / in MSMoneys "memory")
and start over.
I understand that I will screw up "history" but I will keep a copy of the
current Money file (on Memory Stick and External Drive) so if I ever have a
need to look at "history", I can always SAVE the "new" Money data file (with
NEW Categories) and load the "old" Money data file to find what I need.
Thanks again guys