Merge suggestions too lenient
Sometime in the last few versions, Moneydance has started over matching for suggesting merge transactions. I have monthly subscriptions that frequently have similar or identical values, but they're separated by weeks or months. Still, Moneydance not only suggests to merge them with prior months' transactions (even with distinct transaction ids), but suggests them as the default action. This behavior is dangerous because it creates inaccurate records (treating two transactions like one) and is difficult or impossible to undo if not caught right away.
Microsoft Money and previous versions of Moneydance would only suggest merging transactions that were within a few days of each other.
Moneydance should be smarter and only suggest merging transactions if they're very likely a prior entry (transaction from another account or a raw entry without a transaction ID) or at the very least should not make these unlikely matches the default action.
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1 Posted by dtd on 28 May, 2024 09:07 PM
Moneydance/Settings/Network
at bottom:
Only match downloaded transactions when they at most [X] days apart
This might help.
2 Posted by he on 28 May, 2024 10:34 PM
Wow, thanks for pointing that out. It's an obscure place for that setting, imvho, but I was having the same problem and this just might fix it.
Also, just picking a nit here but on the most current Windows version it's Moneydance/File/Preferences/Network
Do you know what the default value is?
3 Posted by dwg on 28 May, 2024 10:51 PM
I'm a fellow user.
Unless it has been changed in recent times the default setting is that it will match older transactions within 90 days and future transactions within 14 days.
4 Posted by dtd on 28 May, 2024 11:56 PM
@he - yes it's obscure where it is.
Also, I don't use windows, I use a mac, and reported the mac setting accurately.
5 Posted by dwg on 29 May, 2024 12:43 AM
The mac Menu system works differently to that on Windows and Linux.
System closed this discussion on 28 Aug, 2024 12:50 AM.
jaraco re-opened this discussion on 01 Mar, 2026 08:44 PM
6 Posted by jaraco on 01 Mar, 2026 08:44 PM
I changed it from Default to 6 and that seems to have helped a lot, eliminating false matches on weekly and monthly recurring charges.
Still, I think the default behavior could be more intelligent - not matching transactions that were downloaded and have unique transaction IDs, or at least not making the match the default reconciliation.