<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<chapter id="faq">
<chapterinfo>
  <authorgroup>
    <author> &Jack.H.Ostroff; &Jack.H.Ostroff.mail; </author>
  </authorgroup>
  <date>2024-12-01</date>
  <releaseinfo>5.2.0</releaseinfo>
</chapterinfo>
<title>Questions and Answers</title>

<para>
  This chapter addresses a number of issues that frequently cause confusion,
  especially for new users of &kmymoney;.  If you find that &kmymoney; is doing
  something you don't understand (or sometimes not doing something you want it to
  do,) please check this list before asking for help on one of the mailing lists.  If
  your problem is not mentioned here, refer to the section
  on <link linkend="firsttime.contact">getting help</link>.
</para>

<qandaset>

<qandadiv><title>Installation and Startup Questions</title>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>&kmymoney; crashes when I try to launch it.</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      There are many reasons &kmymoney; might crash or give an error instead of
      starting up normally.  Sometimes an error message is shown, but if not, you can
      run &kmymoney; from a command line, to see if any useful information is output
      to the console.  On &Linux;, this just means typing "kmymoney" in a shell.
      &macOS; should be similar.  On &Windows;, you will need to type the full path
      to the &kmymoney; executable.
    </para>
    <para>
      If this does not show the cause of the problem, you need to determine if there
      is an issue with the software or with your data.  To do this, you need
      to <link linkend="firsttime.launch">launch &kmymoney;</link> without opening
      your data file.  If the application starts up, but crashes when you try to load
      your data file, try loading an older copy of your file.  (You did make a
      backup, didn't you?)
    </para>
    <para>
      If &kmymoney; crashes on startup without trying to load a data file, there may
      be a problem with your installation.  See the section
      on <link linkend="firsttime.contact">getting help</link>.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      Will &kmymoney; work on my X/&ubuntu; desktop?  Will &kmymoney; work without a
      full &kde; desktop?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      Yes, &kmymoney; will work without a full &kde; desktop, but you will have to
      install the basic &kde; libraries first.  The easiest way to do this is to use
      your distribution's package management system, which will handle these
      requirements automatically.  If you are going to install from source, you will
      probably need development versions of those libraries.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>

<qandadiv><title>Configuration Questions</title>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      Can I change the start of the fiscal year, to match my tax year or accounting year?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
   <para>
     Yes, you can easily set the start of the year in
     the <link linkend="details.settings.general.global">Global Options</link>
     section of the <guilabel>Configure &kmymoney;</guilabel> dialog.</para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>

<qandadiv><title>Account and Transaction Questions</title>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>Why can't I edit a transaction?</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      You cannot make any changes to a transaction with a date before the opening
      date of the account it is in.  The most common reason for this is importing all
      the data for an account.  If the import file does not contain an opening date
      for the account, &kmymoney; will use the current date.  The way to fix this is
      to edit the account, and <link linkend="details.accounts.edit">change the
      opening date</link> to be earlier than any transaction in that account.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      Why is a transaction shown in red and how can I get rid of the color?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      A transaction is shown in red if any part of the amount has not been assigned
      to a category.  This is most commonly caused by importing a QIF or OFX file or
      by downloading statement data online.  All you have to do is to modify the
      transaction such that the whole amount of the transaction is assigned to
      categories.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>Why can't I add an opening balance to an account?</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      If you provide an opening balance when you create an account, it is shown as
      the first transaction for the account.  If you do not, then the transaction is
      not there, and because it is a special type of transaction, you cannot simply
      add it as you could a deposit or withdrawal.  However, you can add it later
      by <link linkend="details.accounts.edit">editing the account</link>.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      When I created an account, I used the wrong type, and now it won't let me
      change it.  I can edit the account, but the dropdown for account type is either
      disabled, or does not list all the possible types.
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      <!-- FIXME: this still needs a link to the section on moving transactions, which
           does not yet exist.  Short term - to be added to reference section. -->
      You can easily change an account type between checking, savings, and cash.
      However, because of the way &kmymoney; stores the account information, it does
      not allow other changes of account type.  The way around this is to
      <link linkend="details.accounts.create">create a new account of the correct
      type</link>, move all the transactions from the old to the new account, and
      then <link linkend="details.accounts.delete"> delete the old account.</link>
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      I have a loan with 0% interest, but I get an error in the New Loan Wizard that
      does not let me use this value.
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      The internal calculations of the new loan wizard do not allow a 0% interest
      rate.  The best way to handle this situation is
      to <link linkend="details.accounts.create.account">create a simple liability
      account</link> with a starting balance for the amount of the loan, and then
      <link linkend="details.schedules.new">create a schedule</link> for the required
      payments.</para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>Why don't I see all my transactions in the ledger?</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      There are several settings that control which transactions are displayed in the
      Ledger View of an account.  First, check
      the <link linkend="details.ledgers.view.filter">ledger filter area</link>.  If
      there is anything typed in the search box, only transactions containing that
      text will be shown.  If the status dropdown has been changed from <quote>Any
      status,</quote> then only transaction of the selected type will be shown.  In
      addition, there are two important settings in
      the <link linkend="details.settings.general.filter">filter options</link>
      section on the &kmymoney; Settings dialog.  If the <guilabel>Do not show
      transactions prior to</guilabel> field is set, only transactions on or after
      that date will be shown in the ledger.  If the <guilabel>Do not show reconciled
      transactions</guilabel> box is checked, then no reconciled transactions will be
      shown.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      I mistyped the name of a payee and want to change it in all transaction. Is
      there a global search/replace?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      There is no global search and replace function in &kmymoney;.  Nevertheless, it
      is easy to change a payee's name: select the Payees View and find the entry
      with the name you want to change.  Click with the &RMB; on the payee,
      select <guimenuitem>Rename payee</guimenuitem> from the context menu, and enter
      the new name.  Since the transactions only use a reference to the payees
      record, all transactions now show the new name.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>Why can't I delete an account?</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      In order to delete an account, &kmymoney; can have no other references to it.
      That means you must delete all transactions from that account or move them to
      another account.  If you still can't delete an account, there may be scheduled
      transactions referring to that account, which may not be visible in the ledger.
      You need to delete any future transactions and the schedule itself, or switch
      them to a different account.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>

<qandadiv><title>Import and Export Questions</title>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>Where do I find some more information about OFX parameters?</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      Searching the web with specific questions can sometimes provide useful results,
      but there is still one site which might give you more
      information: <ulink url="https://www.ofxhome.com/">OFX Home</ulink>.
    </para>
    <!-- <ulink url="https://ofxblog.wordpress.com/">OFX Blog</ulink> -->
  </answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>

<qandadiv><title>Miscellaneous questions</title>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>Why is there no translation for 'my' language?</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      &kmymoney; uses the &kde; settings for language, so first, make sure that your
      region and language settings are correct.  If they are, the most likely reason
      is that no one has offered to translate it yet.  Translating &kde;/&Qt;-based
      applications is very simple, and does not require any programming skills.  If
      you would like to translate &kmymoney; into your language, please post a
      message to the proper <ulink url="https://l10n.kde.org/teams-list.php">team
      mailing list</ulink>.  Should you fail to find your language in the list or
      could not contact the team members please mail directly to
      the <ulink url="mailto:kde-i18n-doc@kde.org">&kde; translation mailing
      list</ulink>
      (<ulink url="https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-i18n-doc">subscription</ulink>
      required) and someone will give you the details on how you can easily provide a
      translation for &kmymoney;.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      Why did the version number jump from 1.0.5 to 4.5, and what happened to
      KMyMoney2?
    </para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      The use of KMyMoney2 was a historical legacy from when the project went from
      &kde; 1 to &kde; 2.  To avoid changing the name every time there was a new
      &kde; version, we decided to stick with &kmymoney;.
    </para>
    <para>
      The first version of &kmymoney; that was considered sufficiently stable was
      labeled 1.0, even though it ran under &kde; 3.  As the project became more
      closely aligned with &kde; we decided to use the same major release
      number.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>How can I report a bug?  How can I request a new feature?</para>
  </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      The developers encourage your feedback.  See the section
      on <link linkend="firsttime.contact">Contacting the Developers/Reporting
	Bugs</link>.
    </para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
  <question>
    <para>
      Why isn't there an easy way to print some scheduled transactions, or part of
      the ledger, or ...
    </para>
 </question>
  <answer>
    <para>
      Look in the <link linkend="details.reports.avail">Reports</link> section.  Many
      of the reports actually provide an easy way to print thing you can't quite do
      directly from the ledger or other screens.</para>
  </answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandadiv>
</qandaset>
</chapter>
