Answers.Body: <p>The reason is probably that no financial transaction (which is different from contributions) is recorded for pending contributions. </p>
  
  <p>Once you have a financial transaction e.g. if you change the status to completetes you will be able to edit it in the edit contribution screen (click on the little pen - see screenshot). <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/enSdk.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/enSdk.png" alt="edit contribution screen"></a></p>
  
  <p>I think this behaviour was introduced only recently and I am not sure if it is a bug or a feature that you cannot change the payment instrument before you have a financial transaction.  </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-30T12:29:11.427Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-08-30T12:29:11.427Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Fabian
Answers.Body: <p>my observation is that whether the contribution was pending or not in the first place, you can no longer change the payment method without generating this history log. And, even if you do attempt to change the payment method, it does <em>not</em> change it.
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/R6vQH.gif" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/R6vQH.gif" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-30T16:44:27.940Z
Answers.Text: how can you change the Payment Method if the dropdown is hidden after Creation? Anyway I'm feeling this *Contributions / Payments  / Methods* workflow it's not very consistent, this could a be good place to discuss with others about this issue
Answers.UserDisplayName: luciano_s
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Answers.CreationDate: 2018-09-03T06:44:07.613Z
Answers.Text: That's true it seems like the payment method is still stored with the contribution as well and cannot be changed via the UI after creation :(
Answers.UserDisplayName: Fabian
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-09-03T08:00:08.167Z
Answers.Text: Theres is an issue for this problem on gitlab: https://lab.civicrm.org/dev/core/issues/306
Answers.UserDisplayName: Fabian
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-05-15T17:24:10.117Z
Answers.Text: Recently upgraded, didn't know about this change.  My users are hopping mad.  It also appears some of the donation reports use the payment type entered first and no amount of changing it after the fact (adding rows in the lower section) will get the donation to show up on the reports.  The only fix seems to be to delete the whole contribution and start over.  So much for audit trail which seems to be the argument for why this was changed in the first place
Answers.UserDisplayName: Paul-Tahoe
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Answers.CreationDate: 2018-08-30T15:48:34.330Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: PTP Mark
Body: <p>I don't really understand Contribution / Payment Method (Instrument) workflow.
  This is a typical scenario when creating Contributions (In many organizations that collect manually the money offline):</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>Create a Contribution, Status: <strong>Pending</strong>, Payment Instrument: <strong>EFT/Bank</strong> <em>(or any custom)</em>
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Ne7QA.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Ne7QA.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p></li>
  <li><p>Then when go back to Contribution to Edit it, Payment Method drop-down is not displayed anymore (the only place to see the selected method is in Contribution / View)
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/N2ZQc.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/N2ZQc.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p></li>
  <li><p>Change Contribution Status to <strong>Completed</strong></p></li>
  <li><p>It creates a new <strong>payment</strong>, but its Payment Method is empty
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/GRCuo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/GRCuo.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>So this behavior is kind of confusing, and I've got some questions to understand the logic behind it:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Why Payment Method is available to be selected when you create a Contribution, but then when go back to Edit it, it disappears ? <em>(just the drop-down, the payment_instrument_id value still stored in <strong>civicrm_contribution</strong> table</em>)</li>
  <li>Why when Completing the contribution, the payment created doesn't share the Payment Method of its parent contribution? </li>
  <li>Is there any internal difference between Completing a Contribution or Recording a Payment?. Recording a Payment allows to select a Payment Method, but what's the point to select one for the Contribution then?</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I think it's kind of confusing the way this was implemented in 4.7/5.x, but maybe I'm missing another point of view to understand it.</p>
  
  <p><strong>PS: this is based on CiviCRM 5.4.0</strong></p>
  
Tags: <civicontribute><contributions><payment>
Title: What's the logic behind Contribution's Payment Method for offline Contributions?
ThreadText: # What's the logic behind Contribution's Payment Method for offline Contributions?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-30)
  
  I don't really understand Contribution / Payment Method (Instrument) workflow.
  This is a typical scenario when creating Contributions (In many organizations that collect manually the money offline):
  
  1. Create a Contribution, Status: **Pending**, Payment Instrument: **EFT/Bank** *(or any custom)*
     [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/Ne7QA.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Ne7QA.png)
  2. Then when go back to Contribution to Edit it, Payment Method drop-down is not displayed anymore (the only place to see the selected method is in Contribution / View)
     [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/N2ZQc.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/N2ZQc.png)
  3. Change Contribution Status to **Completed**
  4. It creates a new **payment**, but its Payment Method is empty
     [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/GRCuo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/GRCuo.png)
  
  So this behavior is kind of confusing, and I've got some questions to understand the logic behind it:
  
  1. Why Payment Method is available to be selected when you create a Contribution, but then when go back to Edit it, it disappears ? *(just the drop-down, the payment\_instrument\_id value still stored in **civicrm\_contribution** table*)
  2. Why when Completing the contribution, the payment created doesn't share the Payment Method of its parent contribution?
  3. Is there any internal difference between Completing a Contribution or Recording a Payment?. Recording a Payment allows to select a Payment Method, but what's the point to select one for the Contribution then?
  
  I think it's kind of confusing the way this was implemented in 4.7/5.x, but maybe I'm missing another point of view to understand it.
  
  **PS: this is based on CiviCRM 5.4.0**
  
  **Tags:** civicontribute, contributions, payment
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2018-08-30. Score: 1
  
  The reason is probably that no financial transaction (which is different from contributions) is recorded for pending contributions.
  
  Once you have a financial transaction e.g. if you change the status to completetes you will be able to edit it in the edit contribution screen (click on the little pen - see screenshot). [![edit contribution screen](https://i.sstatic.net/enSdk.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/enSdk.png)
  
  I think this behaviour was introduced only recently and I am not sure if it is a bug or a feature that you cannot change the payment instrument before you have a financial transaction.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2018-08-30. Score: 1
  
  my observation is that whether the contribution was pending or not in the first place, you can no longer change the payment method without generating this history log. And, even if you do attempt to change the payment method, it does *not* change it.
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/R6vQH.gif)](https://i.sstatic.net/R6vQH.gif)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: how can you change the Payment Method if the dropdown is hidden after Creation? Anyway I'm feeling this *Contributions / Payments  / Methods* workflow it's not very consistent, this could a be good place to discuss with others about this issue  
  > **username_1**: That's true it seems like the payment method is still stored with the contribution as well and cannot be changed via the UI after creation :(  
  > **username_1**: Theres is an issue for this problem on gitlab: https://lab.civicrm.org/dev/core/issues/306  
  > **username_3**: Recently upgraded, didn't know about this change.  My users are hopping mad.  It also appears some of the donation reports use the payment type entered first and no amount of changing it after the fact (adding rows in the lower section) will get the donation to show up on the reports.  The only fix seems to be to delete the whole contribution and start over.  So much for audit trail which seems to be the argument for why this was changed in the first place  
  
  ---
  
  