V4 to V5 - What happened to my transfers?

[MintySliver]

Hello!

First of all congrats on the release of v5. I'm getting used to the new interface but I haven't major problems so far. Well done.
The only issue i had in upgrading from v4 is about transfers: about 40% of my activity is money transfers between accounts. In v4 it was vey easy to set up a new transfer as there was a specific button for it and the program would automatically link the accounts and, when needed, apply the current exchange rate.

Since I have upgraded I'm having 3 specific problems:

1. I cannot seem to find an easy way to set up new transfers like I used to to in v4.
2. The old transfers are now simple transactions and I seem to have lost all the links to the accounts involved in each transfer.
3. When generating a report I don't have the option to exclude transfers as I used to do before by just ticking a box.

I have searched throughout the user manual but I couldn't find anything that would help me either solve these problems or suggest a suitable workaround.

Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong. Until this problem is solved I won't be able to fully embrace v5.

Many thanks for your help!

[Angeman]

1. I cannot seem to find an easy way to set up new transfers like I used to to in v4.

In upcoming 5.0.1 : click on the + next to "Splits" in the right panel and choose transfer.

2. The old transfers are now simple transactions and I seem to have lost all the links to the accounts involved in each transfer.

That could be a bug, can you send me your V4 file so that I can check and debug ? Thanks

3. When generating a report I don't have the option to exclude transfers as I used to do before by just ticking a box.

Add the following condition to the report : "[Splits] The linked account is None"

[lizith]

I've just installed v5, tried to view the charts and immediately ran into the same issue over transfers.

My solution is to return to v4 which worked as I needed it to.

I've just read the solutions given and I really am none the wiser. I have no idea what a split is and I don't want or need to know. I do need to be able to transfer money easily between accounts and to be able to view the charts minus transfers without messing around. Please, please make this possible again.

My first impression of the new version is that it has become far too clever for its own good - I have used v4 for some years, but cannot see any gain in the new version.

[Angeman]

A transactions is divided into splits (or categories if you prefer). It was already like that in V4, there's nothing complicated here.

[lizith]

Sorry - you are not getting the point. In V.4 I could click on an icon and make a transfer; I could put a tick in a box and my diagrams appeared without transfers. In V.5 these facilities are no longer present. There may be an alternative way of achieving the same objective, but it is no longer as simple. Why not make the original functionality and usability available, rather than assuming users want the supposed benefits of a more complex system?

I get the impression this is software designed for the software developer rather than for the end user.

[Angeman]

There may be an alternative way of achieving the same objective, but it is no longer as simple.

This is different and because you are used to the old version you find it difficult, but it's not.

I get the impression this is software designed for the software developer rather than for the end user.

Everything that wad added has been requested by users.

[lizith]

So you add new facilities at users request, but do not restore former facilities at users request, but play the software expert game of knowing what is best for the user and insisting on learning to do things one doesn't need to know how to do, rather than retaining a straightforward user interface that is easy to understand and use. I just wonder who you consider your end users are - professional accountants or home users needing to track their own finances or both.

[Angeman]

So you add new facilities at users request, but do not restore former facilities at users request, but play the software expert game of knowing what is best for the user and insisting on learning to do things one doesn't need to know how to do, rather than retaining a straightforward user interface that is easy to understand and use.

I don't have to restore former facilities because the ones you are referring to are still there ! The old "Ignore transfers" box would be nonsense in the new reports context. It's part of a larger concept which is customizing which transactions are included in the report. So you can choose to add a condition ignore transfers and you can also do more.

[lizith]

From your perspective that may be so, but not necessarily from the perspective of the end user.

I have been using computers for around 30 years in various ways and have a postgraduate qualification in IT. If I spent sufficient time, I could probably work out how to use your product. However, I am not looking for a product which I have to spend considerable time understanding and learning to use; I am looking for a product which works out of the box, or does what it says on the tin. v4 was such a product. v5 is not. There is little point in having a brilliant product if it is not fit for purpose in end user terms. To my mind your new product does not work for me because it requires too much work on my part to make it work - I might as well create my own spreadsheets if I want complexity. Your previous product worked well, showed me what I needed and required virtually no learning curve.

It's a pity that what might be a technically forward step is also a backwards step in terms of usability. I am sorry I've wasted my money on what I thought would be making a good product better.