Direct Connect / OFX Matching

[Jack]

On 2023.01.22 14:35, Brendan Coupe via KMyMoney-devel wrote:
> When I import transactions via direct connect or with OFX files, KMM  
> appears to match the new transaction to the previous transaction with  
> the same Payee based on the transaction total that is closest to the  
> new transaction total.
> 
> This normally works pretty well but in the case of paychecks, it  
> makes a complete mess of the splits. My wife has received about 300  
> paychecks from her company. When the total changes, sometimes even  
> slightly, the new transaction can match a paycheck from 5 or 6 years  
> ago. This means that the splits are all wrong. This happens many  
> times each year due to changes in some taxes, travel expenses  
> reimbursements and for other reasons. I usually have to delete the  
> imported transaction, copy the previous paycheck, change the date and  
> amount, fix the one or two splits that caused the total to change and  
> then re-import the new transaction and match it to the one I entered  
> manually. Pretty frustrating. There are so many transactions from the  
> same payee it's starting to happen when the difference is less than  
> $1.00.
> 
> In the KMM config settings under Ledger, Import you can set the limit  
> to match transactions within a certain number of days. This has no  
> affect on this process and probably shouldn't. I think that is meant  
> for a different purpose.
> 
> Unless I'm missing something, I propose that a similar option be  
> added to each payee. The default should probably stay as it is, but  
> in the "Matching" tab, it would help to able to limit the time frame  
> used for selecting which transaction to match. In my case, I would  
> limit the paychecks to no more than 15 days since I am much more  
> interested in the splits matching than the totals matching. This  
> would limit the matching to the 2 previous paychecks. A Payee  
> customizable limit on the percent difference in the transaction total  
> might also be useful. I would not set this since I do not care how  
> much the total changes.
> 
> Please let me know if I'm missing a setting that would solve this now  
> or if anyone has a better idea. I will submit this as a wishlist item  
> based on the feedback.

I have the same problem with some stores.  Most of the time, purchases  
are for a single category, such as groceries or hardware, but sometimes  
I buy different things, and split among multiple categories.  These  
latter (and often much older) transactions are sometimes the ones  
matched on OFX import.

I suspect a wishlist bug would be the best way for this to not be  
forgotten (I haven't checked, but don't think there is already one.)  I  
also wonder if it might be reasonable and useful to have more than one  
set of matching rules, which could be chosen per account.

Jack