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How do I enter negative values for returns? - Knowledgebase / Paperless for Windows - Mariner Software

How do I enter negative values for returns?

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Unfortunately, it is not possible in the current release of Paperless for Windows (version 2.3.x) to set money-type fields to a negative value.

To enter data in a format that reflects that a value is negative, I can suggest either of the following strategies:

- Create or specify a field that you will only use for negative values.  For example, if the negative values you are referring to represent rebates on a purchases or a payments to an account with a balance, I can suggest specifying an additional field that will only be used to store negative amounts.  This way, when you export the data (for example to XML or to a report), it should be clear which amounts are negative and which are positive.

- Instead of using a money-type field to store negative amounts, consider using a text-type field.  With a text-type field, it should be possible to add a minus sign before the value.  This should be valuable if you export to a spreadsheet program via XML; if you export to XML, the negative values should export with the leading minus symbol.  Although I have not tested this myself, I suspect that this would not be as helpful when exporting to a report as specifying a field that only stored negative values: it stands to reason that the report will likely not be able to return a total for text-type field.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

This feature is definitely on our radar for a future release - it is a feature that is currently supported in the Mac version.

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