import question, other newbie things

[Brian Craft]

hey -- My bank lets me download QIF records of my account. To use them with
gnucash, it looks like I need to go through and edit all the "transfer"
fields, so they are recorded in the right accounts.

Is that right? And if so, is there some way to get gnucash to do this
automatically? Like if I mark "Thai Hut" as coming from expense account "meals"
once, do I have to do this for EVERY "Thai Hut" entry? And do it EVERY time I
download a new QIF?

I tried using the "find" button, which will pull up every relevant transaction,
but won't let me edit all the "transfer" fields in one step.

I think the bank has some web app that will let me automatically categorize
items by transaction location, like mapping "Thai Hut" to "meals". This info
should then be in the "L" field in the QIF. Will gnucash use that to figure out
where to balance the transaction?

Finally, are there any other references anyone could recomend for starting from
zero with gnucash? In spite of its "easy to use" claim, the docs are really
fantastically complicated and bizzare for someone without an accounting
background. Like:


"When, for instance, salary is deposited in a bank account, the bank account is credited, and the income account is debited, thus:

Table 1. Accounting for Salary
Account                 Debit   Credit
Chequing Account        1,600.00  
Salary                          1,600.00"

uhhhhh.... ok, "bank account is credited" mean we put 1600 under "debit" on
the chequing account row? And "income account debited" means we put 1600 under
"credit" on the salary row? AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Why does "debiting" mean putting
something under "credit" and "crediting" mean putting something under "debit"?

It's things like this that make stuffing all the bank statements in a box seem
like a more reasonable accounting practice. ;) 

b.c.