MONEYDANCE acts differently under Windows7 vs WindowsXP
My son-in-law got fed up with Quicken and Money because of "sunsetting" or non-support, so I suggested MoneyDance. When trying to help him get accounts set up, etc., I ran into this problem:
When downloading from the bank, the new transactions are NOT identified with the "blue dot" as it does on my WindowsXP platform. Also when I eXit from the program, it asks "do you want to save your changes", whereas under WindowsXP the program AUTOMATICALLY saves my changes, without ASKING. There are numerous other ways, that the program does DIFFERENTLY. I do NOT understand why this JAVA based programs acts differently under different OS and is frustrating to ME because I cannot show my son-in-law how to use Moneydance the SAME way I use MoneyDance.
2 Posted by -Kevin N. on 23 Jun, 2012 07:27 PM
Hi marvin.s.perry,
The option to have Moneydance prompt the user to Save the file when you quit is a setting in Preferences.
File > Preferences > General tab > Save on every quit. Add or remove the check mark.
As for the blue dot issue, check to make sure that the 'Split Window' button is not selected.
While in the account register, it's in the upper right-hand corner of the Moneydance window, next to the 'New Transaction' button.
When this button is selected all blue dot txns are relegated to a lower split window. If by chance that lower split window is set too low, it may be hiding the blue dot txns.
HTH -Kevin N.
3 Posted by marvin.s.perry on 23 Jun, 2012 11:29 PM
When reconciling the account, NONE of the DEPOSITS showed up in the reconciling window. Why would that happen? I don't see anything among the preferences that would cause this. Had to put the yellow-diamond on the deposit transactions, but even then the deposits did not show up in the window, but then it showed a difference of 0.00$, instead of NO deposits at all. All transactions were marked with green check-mark, after DONE.
4 Posted by -Kevin N. on 23 Jun, 2012 11:51 PM
Hi marvin.s.perry,
When the Reconcile window opens, re-size or maximize the window to reveal the Deposits.
HTH -Kevin N.
5 Posted by marvin.s.perry on 24 Jun, 2012 12:05 AM
Window was NOT the problem - - the whole right side showed all the buttons (Finish Later, Unmark All, Done), and the balance difference was totally erroneous because there was NOTHING under the deposits side of the window...the only place transactions showed up was on the left side under Payments. Like I said, putting the yellow diamond on the deposits, allowed the "Difference" to go to zero, but there was STILL no transactions (deposits) on the right side of the window.
I double-checked about the "blue dots" also, as to whether the "split screen" was on, and it was NOT. I know that the version my son-in-law is using is the latest build, but he is so frustrated with it, that he's probably going to find some other solution in software, unless I can guide him out of this problem.
When we click on HELP > Money Dance Guide, it crashes his IE browser, also. BUT under the WindowsXP OS, it brings up the PDF users guide. I think there is still something going on here that is Windows7 fault.
6 Posted by james f on 24 Jun, 2012 01:06 AM
My Mom's Moneydance program is setup under Win7. I set it up on a brand new Acer Dual Core computer with 64bit Windows 7 pre-installed.
Does your reconcile window look something like the attached screenshot MDReconcile.png?
If so, you need to follow Kevin's advice as to re-sizing the window.
As for Help>Moneydance User Guide, works quite well on my Mom's system, albeit I have set her computer up to use FireFox.
7 Posted by james f on 24 Jun, 2012 01:16 AM
Here is a screenshot of the Reconcile Window after you've re-sized it.
8 Posted by james f on 24 Jun, 2012 01:31 AM
Here is a screenshot of account after transactions were downloaded. MDDownloadTrans.png
Also is a screenshot of the optimal Network Preferences for Moneydance. MDNetworkPrefs.png
These are Optimal settings for you then have the best control over the entire Merge process.
Oh, and BTW:
Starting Moneydance 2011r2 (803)
Settings Folder: C:\Users\Priscilla.moneydance
OS: Windows 7 6.1 x86
Java: 1.7.0_05 (Oracle Corporation)
Moneydance seems not to like running under 64bit Java, only 32bit Java.
9 Posted by marvin.s.perry on 24 Jun, 2012 01:51 AM
The machine is running Windows7 at 64-bit.
The reconcile window looked like your second example, with NOTHING in the DEPOSITs column. That is why the "difference" total was NOT zero, but an erroneous number.
How do you force Java to only run at 32-bits, or can you?
10 Posted by marvin.s.perry on 24 Jun, 2012 02:24 AM
oh, I see, there are two versions of JAVA - - I just need to make sure that the 32-bit JAVA is the one being used on my son-in-law's machine.
11 Posted by james f on 24 Jun, 2012 11:13 AM
marvin,
From your description, it sounds as though the deposits were not Merged into your son's account within Moneydance. Check your son's account within Moneydance very carefully for any blue dotted deposits that were downloaded from your son's bank.
12 Posted by marvin.s.perry on 24 Jun, 2012 03:32 PM
downloaded transactions from his bank created NO blue dots, hence they could not be merged. This was true of ALL checks, ATM withdrawals, AND deposits.
13 Posted by james f on 24 Jun, 2012 05:26 PM
If there are no new transactions with a blue dot next to them in your son's Moneydance account, then that would indicate that no transactions were downloaded.
When did you perform the last download?
Did you set the Network Preferences per my screenshot?