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'Unlink' not available on transaction created from a recurring reminder

savvvvy

Having the 'Mark as Paid' option on a reminder is really helpful. However, I noticed that if I mark a reminder from a series as paid, the transaction doesn't have the ability to get unlinked to the series. The 'Unlink' option is greyed out.

Is there any particular reason for this? I would like to be able to unlink transactions, if needed. To add additional context, my accounts are not linked to Simplifi so I'm tracking all expenses manually.

Thank you!

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Recurring

Transactions

Reminders

Comments

Coach Aldair

Hi @savvvvy,

Thanks for sharing these details! I'm glad to hear that the Mark as Paid option has been helpful.

To help us better understand why the Unlink option is grayed out for transactions created from recurring reminders, could you please provide a screenshot showing the transaction details and the disabled Unlink option?

Since you're tracking your expenses manually, we'd like to better understand what you're experiencing and recreate your scenario on our end.

Thanks!

DryHeat

@savvvvy

This may be because when you mark a Reminder as Paid you aren't really linking it to a transaction. The system is creating a brand new transaction from the Reminder, rather than linking the Reminder to an existing transaction.

I'm not sure what I would expect to happen if there were an Unlink option in that case. One sensible thing to do would be to restore the Reminder as Unpaid and delete the transaction that was created. Is that what you expect?

savvvvy

Thank you for the response. Below is a screenshot where the "Unlink" option is greyed out. To reproduce the behavior, on a recurring reminder, please click on Mark as Paid. It'll move the reminder as a transaction and will always be linked to the series.

Hope this helps.

[edited image to reduce size]

SRC54

Adding to this, I find it disconcerting that when you mark something as paid in a manual account, that you have to then edit the "transaction" to clear it, but right clicking will still give you the option to "Link to a Transaction", when it is the transaction. Of course, it would be silly to say Link to a Recurring Series, since it was made from a recurring transaction.

It's as if it is still a reminder, just one never linked to a transaction. I have taken to creating the transaction and then linking it to the reminder since I need it to be cleared anyhow, and it is just as easy.

Edit: Here's some examples of what I mean:

Here you see my Oct 1 tithe that I just entered from a reminder. The icon shows it as recurring and hovering over it says the same thing.

The September tithe was first entered as a manual transaction and then linked. You get a different icon and hovering gives you the unlink option. If you open the transaction modal, you will see the option to "Unlink Series" where as the October example will have the option "Link to a Transaction". But there isn't going to be such a thing.

In a connected account, it works the same way except that the first case will get linked to a transaction so you'll get in the modal an option to "Unlink Transaction" and in the second case, you'd see "Unlink Series".

So the programmers when they added the "Mark Transaction Paid" didn't create a transaction and then link it, they just moved the recurring into the Transaction list to await a linking to the actual transaction, which in the case of a manual account will never happen.

DryHeat

@SRC54

Most of us don't have the new "Source" column yet, so we may not be seeing the same display.

From your description, it sounds like using the "Mark transaction paid" feature moves the reminder into the Transactions list where it behaves exactly like a regular transaction that is linked to a Recurring Series… with one exception. Instead of a context menu option to "Unlink transaction" it has a "Link to transaction" option.

Perhaps that is to handle the case in a connected account where (1) you have used the "Mark transaction paid" feature to move the reminder into the transaction list, and (2) the bank transaction related to that payment later downloads — meaning you now have two transactions for the same payment. I would expect the "Link to transaction" option to then merge the two.

SRC54

Yep, that's what I think, and one reason why it might be hard for them to have the "Mark as Paid" in manual accounts be cleared from the get-go.

I was glad to figure out some of what the icons mean, and the fact that putting in a transaction manually and then linking is going to give you a different option (Unlink from Series versus Unlink Transaction).

Ill be interested in your thoughts once QBP users get the Source column.

savvvvy

Yes, it seems like they’re simply converting the reminder into a transaction rather than creating an independent transaction that gets linked to the reminder. With a manually created transaction, there’s an option to unlink it from a series if needed.

Since that option isn’t available, my workaround is to delete the transaction generated from the reminder and recreate it with the adjustments I want, without linking it to any series. However, deleting the transaction also means losing the original reminder. I then have to create another transaction and manually link it to the appropriate series.

Ideally, at least for me, transactions created from reminders should behave like regular transactions, with the option to unlink them from a series without losing the original reminder.

EL1234

What I find weird is that even a manual transaction that I created that was never a reminder has the "Link to transaction" option in the menu. What is that even supposed to do? Is it for transfers?

SRC54

This would be normal if it is just a manual transaction that is regular spending and not a recurring expense?

EL1234

That's what it is but what is Link to Transaction for when it already is a transaction and not a reminder?

SRC54

Oops. I misread your comment. Yes, it is odd; it says this because it's a manual transaction and it wants to find a downloaded transaction to which to link.

SRC54

@EL1234 I misread your last reply so go back to my edited reply. Basically, linking has 3 meanings at least.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/74536#Comment_74536

EL1234

But then it doesn't even find any to suggest. Lol. It's fine, this is a manual account, there ARE no downloaded transactions!

I pretty much only use the Mark as Paid feature for manual accounts, since my other bills are all on autopay and I use the reminders with cash flow projections to make sure the cash is there when needed.

I'll try to Mark Paid a reminder that I know will download; I'm curious what options the menu will offer then.

SRC54

Yep, manual accounts are sort of a stepchild in Simplifi. They've always been a bit weird.

EL1234

I guess it's basically like another way to access the merge feature. Interesting and could definitely be worded more specifically!

EL1234

Okay I Marked Paid a reminder for a CC payment that should go through automatically today. Here are the menu options:

No option to link to series here since it's already linked. And when editing the transaction, unlink is grayed out:

But a credit card payment that was downloaded does have that Unlink button

Which is interesting I guess. If you wanted to unlink a manual transaction that you created via Mark Paid, seems you would have to delete it and create it even more manually (lol).

The other thing that I think is really weird is that the link/unlink buttons are in the same place (right under the Edit button) but they mean wildly different things. That should really be addressed.

SRC54

Right, the Link to Transaction is there until the actual transfer downloads and gets linked automatically. Then it will become Unlink Transaction.

As you said in another reply, it is all very ambiguous and unlink depends on what kind of link it is. And link as well.

DryHeat

@EL1234

@SRC54 and I had a discussion about the wording regarding "linking" last year. At that time, I came up with this (although I now realize there are more variations than just these):

I've tried to sort out the language by perusing the support articles. It's pretty consistent, but there are some gaps. Here's how it looks to me.

(1) Link (meaning 1) — Simplifi uses this term for the connection of new downloaded transaction to a reminder in a recurring series. It means the downloaded transaction becomes part of the series history in place of the reminder, which disappears.
(2) Link (meaning 2) — Simplifi uses this version of Link for connecting a manual transaction with a refund (not a reminder or transaction).
(3) Link (meaning 3) — Simplifi uses this version of Link for connecting a manual transaction with a downloaded transaction (not a reminder). This appears to be the same as merging (see below), but for some reason the menu option says "Link."
(4) Match — This term means the process of determining which downloaded transactions get linked to an existing manual transaction, a recurring series reminder, or a refund. If there is a match, then Simplifi links the transaction to the transaction, series, or refund as described above. Sometimes match is used to mean both match and link.
(5) Merge — This is a process where a manually entered transaction is combined with a bank downloaded transaction. The docs talk about this as "duplicate transactions." The downloaded one survives, the manual one disappears. It is used when a match fails.

@SRC54 chimed in with this:

My conclusions:
(1) Link Transaction will work to merge the downloaded transaction with a manual one.
(2) UnLink Transaction will not (yet) unlink them. But you can unmerge them the old way.
(3) UnLink Transaction will also unlink a transaction from a recurring transaction.
(4)Link Transaction will NOT let you link a transaction to a recurring transaction. It only offers transactions, not reminders.

and this:

I think the nomenclature needs to be refined as well. Linking can refer to
(1) linking transaction to reminder
(2) linking one side of a transfer to the other side
(3) And now it has been extended to matching a manual transaction to a downloaded one so they can be merged.
So in context, I would recommend Match Transaction and UnMatch Transaction.

SRC54

As always, Dryheat summarizes everything beautifully, and it all makes my head hurt. Thanks.