Auto-link manually created transactions
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Danny Fuhriman
I would like to be able to create a manual transaction in advance of the transaction occurring and have the incoming synced transaction automatically "merge" into the manually created transaction.
This is a great feature that YNAB has that allows me to proactively manage my finances.
Use Case:
I make a purchase on Amazon for $15. In the moment, I already have Lunch Money open so I decide to just throw the transaction in since I can categorize it right then and there.
Later, when the transaction syncs from my credit card, it should automatically detect that I created a manual transaction and "merge" the incoming transaction details with the manual details.
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JP Shipherd
There has been some recent activity in our Discord channel discussing this type of feature.
Din from Lunch Money described how you can set up a rule when you manually enter a transaction to have it automatically deleted when the synced transaction shows up: https://discord.com/channels/842337014556262411/1438922463022026802/1438959372326666240
I'm curious if extending this feature even easier to use in Lunch Money would make sense for the people looking for this functionality. For example if there was a "Merge When Synced" button that was available in the Create Transaction flow, that asked you to specify the account it will be synced from, would that meet the need?
Perhaps Lunch Money could extend this beyond just deleting the original transaction, but doing the "merge" as suggested in the original ask, capturing the category, notes, tags, etc from the manual transaction and adding it to the synced one.
Please comment if this approach would work, or if you have other ideas on how it should work.
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John Farrar
JP Shipherd I completely agree. Though on YNAB that does delete the original entery and overwrite it with the new one. It merges them by doing things like taking notes from the original and adding it to the new one, and or any category changes.
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Vadim R
Also budgebackers had this feature for ages (migrated from it)
In our more mobile world, this a must have feature imho.
Another use case:
Went shopping with family, various stores, while in-between shops, pre-enter purchase details on the go. Then when doing accounting in front of computer it would be much faster and easier to do.
Now I have to maintain a separate note, that I then reconcile when accounts get synced, not efficient :(
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Vadim R
bump this thread please.
Another use case:
Payment with card for something, but actual tx will appear on your statement in few days (over the weekend for example). Then you could pre-enter details for what it was, and when it actually hits - "link to existing transaction" similar how you link to "Recurring".
Also just experienced this during holidays in another country: a lot of small txes, with random payee and notes that are hard to decypher. However, If I can pre-enter tx - that would help a lot.
Even as simple as amount (mandatory) and then optional for category or note (at least one of two)
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Simon Apperloo
This is the biggest feature holding me back from moving away from ynab. When you have multiple people sharing a budget, entering purchases right away makes it so much easier, then to chase them a few days later for a receipt so that it can be categorized properly.
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Dustin Dauncey
Absolutely. This needs to be implemented 100%.
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Max
Not that they're used much anymore but another great use case for this would be for check writing, to preemptively deduct the money from your account balance in between the time you write the check and the recipient cashes it.
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Maria Kulikova
I love this. Especially with how infrequently some banks sync.