Scheduled Transactions - Tips and Annoyances

Tips

You have many choices on repeatability:

• Weekly (or every 2, 3, 4, etc. weeks, with a shortcut for 2 and 4 weeks)
• Monthly (or every 2, 3, 4, etc. months, with a shortcut for quarterly)
• Yearly (or every 2, 3, 4, etc. years)
• Twice a month (e.g., the 1st and 15th)
• A special repeatability for estimated taxes (the 15th of January, April, June, and September)

Scheduled transactions can end after a certain number of repetitions, on a certain date, or continue in perpetuity.

Annoyances

One thing that's missing from scheduled transactions that existed in previous versions of Quicken is the ability to indicate whether a scheduled transaction:

1. Doesn't vary, and should be automatically entered
2. Doesn't vary, but shouldn't be entered automatically
3. Varies, and needs reminding a certain number of days in advance.

This annoyance manifests itself in how scheduled transactions actually get entered. As I mentioned in my previous post, upcoming scheduled transactions appear in the appropriate register. When the day for a scheduled transaction comes, however, nothing really happens -- the scheduled transaction is still in the register, and you have to take action to have it get entered.

Specifically, you need to use the "Mark as Paid"/"Mark as Deposited" toolbar button (or action under the Transactions menu). When you do, the transaction is updated, but with the specific amount that you used when you first set up the scheduled transaction (acting like all scheduled transactions should be treated like #2 above). This is annoying, since many of my scheduled transactions do vary.