"Duplicate" Option in Status Field?

[Daddy Peacebucks]

When creating an entry, I noticed there is an option called "Duplicate" in the Status field (the last choice, after "Follow Up"). Two questions:

1) Is this new to v1.8.1? I don't remember seeing it before.

2) What is its purpose?

I changed the status of an existing entry to "Duplicate" and the only thing that happened was the icon in the far left column changed to two overlapping squares, and the Status column changed to "D". It had the same effect on the Balance as a single entry.

Also, in the Help file it says (under the "Transaction Status" section):

Duplicate:The status will be automatically be changed to duplicate if it is recognized as such.

So I tried to create two identical entries (both manually, as well as simply duplicating an existing entry, even keeping the dates identical), but all I got were two entries, neither had the overlapping box icons, and neither had the "D" in the Status field. So again I'm not sure what the purpose of this option is.

[Daddy Peacebucks]

Nobody can answer either question (especially the 2nd one)?

[Daddy Peacebucks]

Still waiting for an answer.

[Renato]

Who do you expect an answer from? ?

[Daddy Peacebucks]

Who do you expect an answer from? ?

The developer.

[Renato]

The purpose of this forum is: Users help users, developers rarely provide support here, unless it's about bugs that affect the functionality. Moneymanagerex is freeware and there is no guaranteed support for freeware. Freeware is as it is.

I can't tell you why this "Duplicate" status was introduced, I would have to search/read through all the discussions on Github. n.b. I also do everything voluntarily here.

It is well known that with freeware the documentation is usually not updated on time, because this would also have to be created/maintained by volunteers. Every change/correction made by volunteer developers triggers a change to the documentation.

[Daddy Peacebucks]

Renato,

Respectfully, please allow me to continue to request an explanation as to the purpose of this option to MMEX. At this point, I don't care about an answer to my first question (how new is it), but I still think it's reasonable to try and find out its purpose. If a developer won't respond, then maybe one of the other users has experimented with it and figured it out, maybe my question will CAUSE another user to experiment with it and let the entire forum know how it works. What if it turns out that if this option is used incorrectly, it results in data loss? I think all users would like to know that! But for now, since there is no documentation as to its function (at least none that I can find), there's no way to know how to properly (or improperly) use it.

In over 2 months, I have posted a total of two "bumps" to my original post, in the hopes that someone sees it and can answer it. Why not let me continue my very infrequent posts, instead of criticizing my attempt to get an answer?

Danke sehr!

[whall3y]

I can tell you that the 'Duplicate' status is never set or used by any logic in the code. It is currently only a visual status that can be set/un-set by the user.

Despite some of the documentation stating that it is set automatically, I can confirm that it is not... https://moneymanagerex.org/docs/features/transactions/

[Daddy Peacebucks]

Thanks (I think!). So currently its only purpose is for the user to indicate that this is a duplicate of another transaction?

Since changing the status to Duplicate has no effect on the transaction, this doesn't make sense. Most of the other status choices (Reconciled, Void, etc.) can have an effect on the balance in the account. I don't understand why Duplicate would be used. "Follow-up" also has no effect on the balance, but that status reminds me of a transaction that I need to complete (for example, reminding me to transfer funds after a deposit is made). Once that transaction is actually made, I change its status to "Unreconciled" (and then "Reconciled" when it gets posted). "Duplicate" doesn't seem to serve any useful function (at least in the Status column).

Am I misunderstanding something?

[whall3y]

> Am I misunderstanding something?

Nope, you have understood correctly.

[Daddy Peacebucks]

Good to know. Mystery solved. Thanks again!

BTW, moving "Scheduled Transactions" near the top of the sidebar was a logical change and is greatly appreciated!

[frankieorabona]

I’ll take the liberty of answering this. The "Duplicate" status has actually been around for at least a year. I personally use it when I manually enter transactions in an account.

For example, when I later import transactions from a CSV file for reconciliation, I mark the manually entered transaction as "Duplicate" to differentiate it from the imported one. Once all transactions are correctly entered and reconciled, I simply delete the duplicate entry because its presence would otherwise affect the balance incorrectly.

This status is mainly useful as a temporary marker during the reconciliation process, but it does not automatically affect the balance or transaction detection.