&Jack.H.Ostroff; &Jack.H.Ostroff.mail;
2010-07-25
4.5

# Questions and Answers

This chapter addresses a number of issues that frequently cause confusion, especially in new users of &kappname;. If you find that &kappname; 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 getting help.

## Account and Transaction Questions

Why can't I edit a transaction?

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, &kappname; will use the current date. The way to fix this is to edit the account, and change the opening date to be earlier than any transaction in that account.

Why is a transaction shown in red and how can I get rid of the color?

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.

Why can't I add an opening balance to an account?

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 editing the account.

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.

You can easily change an account type between checking, savings, and cash. However, because of the way &kappname; stores the account information, it does not allow other changes of account type. The way around this is to create a new account of the correct type, move all the transactions from the old to the new account, and then delete the old account.

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.

The internal calculations of the new loan wizard do not allow a 0% interest rate. The best way to handle this situation is to create a simple liability account with a starting balance for the amount of the loan, and then create a schedule for the required payments.

Why don't I see all my transactions in the ledger?

There are several settings that control which transactions are displayed in the ledger view of an account. First, check the ledger filter area. 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 Any status, then only transaction of the selected type will be shown. In addition, there are two important settings in the filter options section on the &kappname; Settings dialog. If the Do not show transactions prior to field is set, only transactions on or after that date will be shown in the ledger. If the Do not show reconciled transactions box is checked, then no reconciled transactions will be shown.

I mistyped the name of a payee and want to change it in all transaction. Is there a global search/replace?

There is no global search and replace function in KMyMoney. Nevertheless, it is easy to change a payees name: select the Payees view and find the entry with the name you want to change. Click with the &RMB; on the payee, and select Rename payee. Enter the new name. Since the transactions only use a reference to the payees record, all transactions now show the new name.

## Installation and Startup Questions

&kappname; crashes when I try to launch it.

There are many reasons &kappname; might crash or give an error instead of starting up normally. You first need to determine if the problem is with the software or with your data. So, the first thing to try is to launch &kappname; 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?)

If &kappname; crashes on startup without trying to load a data file, there may be a problem with your installation. See the section on installing &kappname; or the section on getting help.

When I start KMyMoney I get a "Malformed URL" error. What's wrong?

Usually the reason for this is that you didn't run 'make install' as root. This step actually copies all of the icons, and other files needed by KMyMoney to run properly. If you did run this, make sure you passed the correct prefix to cmake at the beginning of your compile. See the section on compiling from source for more information.

When I compile from source, all the icons show up as missing. What did I do wrong?

Usually the reason for this is that you didn't run 'make install' as root. See the previous question/answer for more information.

What options are useful to pass to cmake?

The most important option is -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. This specifies where you want to install KMyMoney; it should be the same location where &kde; is installed. In many distributions, cmake will find this location on its own, but if it can't, you can use the command line tool `kde4-config --prefix` to read out what the prefix should be. For &RedHat;-based distributions, including Mandriva and Fedora, &kde; is installed in `/usr`.

Another useful option is -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE. Normally this is not set, but if it is set to Debug, it will allow you to build KMyMoney with debug symbols, which help in trying to figure out crashes. This option is essential if you are a developer and want to contribute.

The Git version is broken! What do I do now?

Usually the reason for this is that one of the developers made a change to the code that requires a clean reconfigure. See the end of the section on compiling from source for instructions. If you follow these steps carefully, and still have a problem compiling, please post a message to the &kappname; Developers List at &devlist;, and include the failed output of either the cmake or make command.

Will &kappname; work on my X/&ubuntu; desktop? Will &kappname; work without a full KDE desktop?

Yes, &kappname; 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 requirement automatically. If you are going to install from source, you will probably need development versions of those libraries; refer to these instructions for details.

## Import and Export Questions

Where do I find some more information about OFX parameters?

Here are some external sources which might give your more information: ofxblog and ofxhome.

## Miscellaneous questions

Why is there no translation for 'my' language?

First, &kappname; 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 &kappname; into your language, please post a message to the proper team mailing list. Should you fail to find your language in the list or could not contact the team members please mail directly to the KDE translation mailing list (subscription required) and we will give you the details on how you can easily provide a translation for &kappname;.

Why did the version number jump from 1.0.5 to 4.5, and what happened to KMyMoney2?

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 &kappname;.

The first version of &kappname; that was considered sufficiently stable was labeled 1.0, even though it ran under &kde; 3. As the project is now becoming more closely aligned with &kde; we decided to use the same major release number.

How can I report a bug? How can I request a new feature?

The developers encourage your feedback. See the section on Contacting the Developers / Reporting Bugs.