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Transaction Filter Report not in date order

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limoncello

27 Sep, 2024 06:06 PM

I am using the same subject as an old discussion, which has been closed, as I have the same problem that the original post described (although as the discussion continued, it appeared that that customer had other problems, as well).

I have been using MD for a few years and have never encountered this problem before. Once a year, in order to prepare my tax return for my business, I generate a transaction report sorted by Category. (The Categories correspond to different kinds of business expenses listed on the return.) This is the first year that I noticed that many transactions are out of chronological order. I will still get the total for each category, but it would be awfully nice if the transactions in each category appeared in chronological order. It makes it easier to search for a particular transaction and to be sure nothing is missing—for example, I pay rent each month, and it is easier to verify I didn't miss a transaction if they are listed by date (within the category).

I can Edit the report, as you suggested to the other customer, to subtotal by week, and then transactions are in chronological order. But then they are no longer subtotaled by Category, which I need for my tax return. When I change the setting back to Subtotal by Category, the transactions are once again out of chronological order.

I am using the latest version on Windows 11. Otherwise, it appears that MD works just fine.

1. 1 Posted by KarenLove on 27 Sep, 2024 06:18 PM

   

   my register is alpha instead by date have used forever have not changed anything in preferences I'm thinking about getting a new app instead of MDues

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2. 2 Posted by dwg on 27 Sep, 2024 10:17 PM

   

   @limoncello

   I'd first suggest that perhaps an Income and Expense report may be more suited for taxation and suggest you try that and see how it goes, you would use the Detailed version of the report.

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3. 3 Posted by limoncello on 27 Sep, 2024 11:08 PM

   

   The income & expense detailed report pretty much works. At least transactions are in chronological order. It doesn't include chk # or tag, which is not a big deal.

   But I think I'll just use the transaction filter report I'm used to using and put up with transactions out of order, for now.

   Something is wrong with my MD installation, because if I try to create a NEW transaction filter report, it only shows one account. Fortunately, I had "memorized" the one I was working with before, so I could get it back.

   I guess I need to see what official support can do. I don't think they will be back until Monday. Now I'm hesitant to change anything, with possibility things will get worse, and I will not be able to file my return online. I do appreciate your suggesting this alternative, which is a backup if transaction filter report fails altogether.

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4. 4 Posted by limoncello on 27 Sep, 2024 11:12 PM

   

   @dwg,

   I might use your suggestion and print out both reports to be sure the category totals are the same.

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5. 5 Posted by dwg on 27 Sep, 2024 11:20 PM

   

   When trying to creating a new report it is a good practice to first select "Reset" that should remove any previously remembered settings.

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6. 6 Posted by limoncello on 28 Sep, 2024 12:04 AM

   

   I did that. Still showed transactions for only one account. Thanks anyway.

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7. 7 Posted by dwg on 28 Sep, 2024 12:06 AM

   

   Ensure that you also have the account box deselected.

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8. 8 Posted by limoncello on 28 Sep, 2024 12:21 AM

   

   Just in case I missed something:

   1. I closed MD.
      
   2. I opened MD.
      
   3. I clicked on Tools | Graphs & Reports
      
   4. Clicked on Transaction Filter. Account box is unchecked. In the space it shows the first account on my account list.
      
   5. Clicked Reset and Last Year. Didn't click anything else.
      
   6. Clicked Generate.
      
   7. This time it shows transactions from TWO of my many accounts; they are not the account at the top of the list, which was the one displayed in the filter screen.

   I really appreciate your efforts to help, but I'm not going to try anything more now. I was just trying to establish that something is wrong with my installation. I will just work with the report I memorized which—thank God!—still works.

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9. 9 Posted by sth on 28 Sep, 2024 11:40 PM

   

   What version of MD is this? I am using 2024.2(5146) and I get the transaction filter sorted by date. BUT there doesn't seem to be a way to set the sort order or change it.

   If I ask it to subtotal by accounts it gives me accounts in reverse alphabetical oder. Hmmm.
   Can you show a screen shot of the transaction filter options page? The account setting should not affect things unless it is checked.
   (NOT IK Support)

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10. 10 Posted by sth on 28 Sep, 2024 11:44 PM

    

    @Karen, Completely different issue. You can sort a register by date by clicking in the date heading at the top.

    There are sub sorts (by check#, status etc.) that can be selected by control-clicking (right clicking) on the date column itself.

    If you know of another program that offers the privacy and security and features of this one, let me know.
    (NOT IK Support)

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11. 11 Posted by limoncello on 29 Sep, 2024 12:44 AM

    

    @sth, Thanks for wanting to help. I don't know the number of my MD version, but I checked a day or two ago and it said it was up-to-date. I'd have to close windows I'm working on to get to the home page to check again. I'm busy working on taxes. As I said in earlier post, don't have time to work on the software issues. Believe me, I've looked at transaction filter settings 50 times and there is no way to specify sorting by date. It has always happened automatically until a day or two ago.

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12. 12 Posted by limoncello on 29 Sep, 2024 01:00 AM

    

    @dwg,

    I may end up using the Income and Expense report–detailed, after all. Besides the fact that it does show transactions chronologically, it automatically totals sub-categories, which the transaction report doesn't.

    If I select Subtotal by Category in transaction report, it will total the LOWEST level of category, but not the higher level. In a few cases, I have TWO levels of subcategories, below the Category level. The Transaction Report only shows the total for the lowest level of subcategory; if I want the total from all the subcategories in a Category, I have to add the numbers myself.

    OTOH the Income and Expense Report–Detailed automatically provides totals for each Category AND Subcategory. Maybe this this is one reason you suggested it. Downsides are it doesn't allow me to customize the name of report, but I could print to PDF and change it in the PDF file. It doesn't show chk # or Tag, but that isn't too big a deal for me, as each report I print will be for only one tag.

    I'd still like to see if Official Support has a fix for the two problems with transaction reports once I finish the work I need to do to prepare my returns.

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13. 13 Posted by limoncello on 29 Sep, 2024 01:23 AM

    

    @dwg,

    Just noticed that there is one other value (besides chk # and tag) which the transaction report shows but Income/Exp.–Detailed does not: whether the item has cleared. But I don't need that, either.

    I was able to change the name of the report after I had printed it in PDF-XChange Editor.

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14. 14 Posted by dwg on 29 Sep, 2024 02:05 AM

    

    Income and expense report it fundamentally a category report, as such fields like cleared and tag are not really relevant, tags in the context of this report are used as a filter.

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15. 15 Posted by limoncello on 29 Sep, 2024 06:26 AM

    

    It turns out that I was able to set the title of the Income and Expense Report in MD, after all.

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16. 16 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 11 Oct, 2024 12:18 PM

    

    You can click into the report heading and subtitle fields and type a new name that will print out etc...

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17. 17 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 11 Oct, 2024 12:54 PM

    

    OK, I can see the issue... The sorts on txn filter report are as follows:

    when grouping by:
          Account then sort Account then date/time entered 
          Category then sort Account then date/time entered
          Description then sort Description, then txn date, then amount
          Check numbers then sort CheckNumber then date/time entered
          Security then sort Security then txn date, then amount
          Fee category then sort fee category then date, then check number, then amount
    otherwise sort by date,  then check number, then amount
    

    So when using category, I can see that it first sorts by account and then date within account....

    The question is what's right...?

    • as is?

    • by txn date, then check num, then amount

    • by date entered?

    etc....

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18. 18 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 11 Oct, 2024 05:20 PM

    

    OK, so further digging... The date/time entered was the issue.. This has now been changed by the developer to txn date.. I've tested it and it's sorting now properly as txn date within the category.... Should hit one of the next alphas....

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19. System closed this discussion on 10 Jan, 2025 05:20 PM.