How to work with transactions

Once transactions are extracted from a source file, there are several things you can do to manipulate them:

Use the ProperConvert app to convert your transaction files to required by your accounting software file format.

How to work with transactions Step 1: main window

Set the Output Format

The first thing you should do is to select the Output format because the Output format defines which fields or which columns you can work with.

How to work with transactions Step 2: select the Output format

For the QBO, QFX, OFX files - there is no category column.

How to work with transactions Step 3: category column for QBO, QFX, OFX

But there is a category column for the QIF files.

How to work with transactions Step 4: category column for QIF

There is also an additional Split Name column for the IIF files. Set the Output format as the first thing.

How to work with transactions Step 5: Split Name column

Edit Transaction Details

You can edit any cell in this table, so you can edit it any way you like. Dates should stay Dates, Amounts should stay Amounts, and for Names and Memos, you can enter anything you like. That's it about working with transactions inside the application.

Edit Option 8: Edit transaction details

Set the View Date Format

Look for 'Show Dates as' on the Settings-Main tab, which defines how dates are shown inside the application. In your source file, like a CSV file or PDF file dates could be in a different date format.

set view date format

They could be in date/months/year format, they could be just months/day format, and it's not how you expect to see dates usually inside, let's say Quickbooks or other financial application, so, it could be quite confusing if dates are not shown in an expected format. So, this control defines, that dates regardless of how they are presented in the input file, they will be shown always the same way inside the application.

Include or Exclude Transactions

Checkboxes define if a transaction will be included in the Output. If you want all transactions to be included - make sure all of them have checkboxes checked off.

How to work with transactions Step 9: Check transactions

If you want some transactions excluded - just exclude once you don't want to.

How to work with transactions Step 10: Uncheck transactions

You can use this header of checkboxes to quickly check or uncheck all transactions.

How to work with transactions Step 11: header of checkboxes

Highlight Multiple Transactions and Apply action

When you work with transactions, you would want to do certain things to a group of transactions, so for this, you have to first highlight them. If you click on one transaction left-click, then you would highlight this transaction, and you click another one - you highlight this one.

How to work with transactions Step 12: highlight transactions, one

If you want to highlight a few of them, let's say the range, click the first one, hold the 'Shift' key on your keyboard, and click the last one to select transaction range, so those are highlighted ranges.

How to work with transactions Step 13: highlight transactions, few

You can click one and then hold 'Ctrl' (Command on macOS) and click another one and that would make them those two highlighted.

How to work with transactions Step 14: highlight transactions, two

Once you highlighted them, you can right-click (Command click on macOS) on any highlighted area to bring a popup menu. Any action you select will apply to highlighted transactions only so you can check/uncheck (include/exclude) them, and you can change +/-, you can adjust the year.

How to work with transactions Step 15: highlight transactions, menu

Adjust the Year

If you have a missing year in your CSV file or the year cannot be determined, you can quickly change the year of dates, without touching month, year and day. So this way you could adjust it without touching other parts of the date. Click on the 'Set year' arrow buttons to adjust all dates loaded inside the application or with the popup menu adjust year only for highlighted transactions. How to work with transactions Step 8: Set year

Adjust year for crossing year statement

Let's say, you have a statement, that goes over year-end and the year-end is not detected. Then you would have December 2015, December 2015, then January 2015, which should be 2016. So, what would you do - is just select those January dates, and then right-click and then say 'Year +'.

How to work with transactions Step 16: Year +

Change the Amount Sign

Another button, that works a similar way is a 'Change +/-' for all. It applies to all transactions loaded inside the application and some CSV files may have a reverse amount sign like especially Credit Card files - they could have expenses as positive numbers and payments to the account as negative numbers.

Expenses must be always negative and payments to the account must be always positive. So, to quickly adjust that, click the button once per file.

Add a New Transaction

The next thing you can do is to click 'Add Transaction' to add just an additional transaction, as part of your conversion. Sometimes you need to do this quickly add a couple of transactions and this button allows you to do that.

Related articles