I then use the columns to add the new entries and delete the ones that I pasted. I copy that to the Batch Create window, but only some of the columns are recognized. (second screenshot).
P.S. I wanted to put this into “Bug Reports” but I cannot select any option other than “Uncategorized”; no other option exists for the category, so maybe that should be fixed, too.
Unfortunately it didn’t fix the whole problem. My accounts are not populating, even when I copy the account names from Manager and paste them into the spreadsheet. Based on other reading on the forum I am wondering if the problem is that I am using text names for the accounts rather than numbers.
Use Update (NOT Create) to copy your column headings and example transactions that you paste into your spreadsheet.
The Update copy and the Create copy are identical in every way except that the Update has an extra column on the right to identify the entry by key. When creating new transactions, you will not paste the key column into the create box. But you will paste into the create box (and not update) when creating.
When you are Creating, remove the example entries and the GUID keys before you paste into the Create box.
Globally Unique Identifiers (GUIDs) are available throughout Manager Accounting to identify receipts, payments, customers, suppliers, and everything else. The GUIDs are hexadecimal strings. Here is an example: Notice that it is nearly invisible (and I don’t know whether it will show on your screen):
You could use these GUIDs to identify accounts and customers (etc.) as you batch-create transactions. But it is easier to use codes to identify accounts, customers, and other items.
You don’t need to make up a code for everything. You only need codes for things you want mnemonic identifiers for updating and creating transactions. And codes can be temporary, so that they can be reused. In any case, codes must be unique. Having two accounts with the same code won’t work.
Here, you see I use the code for the customer, but the account has a GUID. I could make a code for the account if I want. If I later blank out the code in Customers, Manager Accounting will revert to showing the GUID when you paste into the spreadsheet.
So, those are some tips for using the Batch Create and Batch Update. I find the batch functionality very useful.
Sometimes, bank statement imports work well and are the easiest option. In some situations, they don’t work well and sometimes cannot work at all to automate creates and updates. Batch Create and Update can work where bank imports will not.
Very useful information. I have used Batch Create myself for initial population of the database, with good success.
One note of caution: Batch Create does not check for duplicates already present, whereas Import Bank Statements does. You might want to make sure there are no duplicates.
I really do appreciate all of the comments. The reason I can’t import from my bank is that the bank I do my business banking with does not allow me to export my transactions in any format other than .pdf (i.e. my account statement).
And thanks so much to everyone who has helped me out on this. I have now got it working and I expect things to go much more smoothly!
I like @jeroen1 ‘s caution. Batch Create and Batch Update for sure don’t check much of anything.
So, Batch Create will indeed create duplicates of transactions already in Manager. I think Import Bank Statements checks for transactions having matching dates and amounts. It is possible that if you entered a check and then later ran Import Bank Statements, you would wind up with a duplicate. That is because the manually entered date does not match the imported date exactly.
I don’t know of a way Import Bank Statements would be able to detect that kind of duplicate, and neither could we humans by looking only at the amount and the date. I feel that Import Bank Statements works as it is supposed to for what it does.
I anticipate having a Reconciler program in a few months. With such a program, you download a CSV file of bank transactions. You load the CSV file to the left side and paste Manager transactions to the right side of Reconciler. Then, Reconciler tells you which transactions are in the Bank but not in your Books, and vice versa. Reconciler takes into account that a transaction, such as a check, might be entered manually when the check is written, but cashed or deposited later.
Still, Reconciler only looks at the dates and amounts. So, Reconciler cannot always tell you precisely which transaction is on one side but not the other when dates and amounts are not unique. Even so, when all transactions on the left and right sides match, you have a higher degree of assuredness (than checking only for matching balances) that Manager and the Bank transactions match, and that the books are correct.
I had no idea it could load data from a pdf! Just did it and it wasn’t perfect, but I think I can adjust the process in Excel to make it work completely. Thanks again for the help!
@Indinfer: I had the same question about how to reconcile.
I did not do a nice interface as you are doing, but instead wrote a program that uses the api to enter the transactions directly from the csv file.
But the problem is the same. Date and amount combined are very safe to rule out most duplicates but maybe not conclusive, in the sense that you can have two transactions with the same amount on the same day as you say. So I added the description to the information to check if date and amount match. If the descriptions match, it is virtually certain that the transaction is a duplicate. If they don’t match, there is a good chance that the transactions are different. (Not conclusive either in my case, since I found that my bank from time to time adds information to the description it judges useful. So manual checking remain advisable. As an extra check, my bank gives the closing balance after each transaction, so if that matches after the import - I import payments, receipts and transfers in one go - it is a very strong indication that all is well.)
Maybe adding description to the checked data could also work for you?
I agree with you that the bank descriptions are usually helpful. Reconciler will allow specifying one or more CSV columns for a composite description. And this composite description helps us resolve many discrepancies without referring to the bank transactions online.
We will see what happens when other people try to use it. I anticipate there will be change requests for things I did not foresee. I appreciate your suggestion and encouragement.
