forums.lyricapps.com

Quite often I want to be able to quickly search for a specific transaction, based on something I know about it.

What i really want is a search bar (like in Mail.app) where i can press cmd+F and type some a word to find matching transactions. I notice there's a Find... item (with shortcut cmd+F) in the Edit menu, but it's always greyed out.

I know this can be done via Advanced... filter but its a really clunky interface to find one transaction (it's very useful for getting a specific set of transactions, especially as a saved filter for regularly checking some set like unassigned or purchases by one person, but not simple for one-off searches).

e.g. compare trying to find when I bought a toaster from Kmart for a warranty claim

Currently:
- click advanced
- click +
- click add new condition
- click first field
- click "The name"
- click second field
- click "contains"
- click 3rd field
- type "kmart"
- click done

Ideally:
- cmd+F
- type "kmart" (or even "toaster" if I entered a useful comment at the time)
- press enter

I search for transactions quite a bit (for seeing how i categorised something similar to ensure consistency, to check if i've paid for something or received money from someone, looking for previous transactions with a vendor if i can't remember what the payment was for, checking how much something cost...). Sometimes I'll know the category (which is equally awkward to filter by), sometimes I'll know what I put in the comment or part of the 'name', and sometimes I have no idea so need to try a few things (which is even more clunky with the Advanced... filter)

A simple and useful search would be to match each word in a search string against all fields of transactions (text/category name/amounts/dates/etc) as "contains" matches. A better search would also allow allow specifying things like name:X or comment:Y or amount:Z for partial matches of each (see Mail.app for a nice implementation of this).

There is a search field in the top right corner of the window (in the toolbar).

ah... thanks! sorry have somehow removed it from my toolbar...

any chance of

1. hooking up the "Edit:Find" (cmd+F) menu item to the toolbar? (its always greyed out, even with the search bar back in my toolbar)
2. having transaction search match against categories too? (seems to be name & comment only)

drfrogsplat wrote:1. hooking up the "Edit:Find" (cmd+F) menu item to the toolbar? (its always greyed out, even with the search bar back in my toolbar)

Yes you're certainly right, I'll change that.

drfrogsplat wrote:2. having transaction search match against categories too? (seems to be name & comment only)

You can do that with the filters bar above the transactions list (in blue). The filters bar and the search field work together.