a Quicken user tests out GnuCash...

[Thomas J. Baker]

On Fri, 2003-02-21 at 04:37, James Ralston wrote:
> I've been using Quicken for about 7 years now.  I've been a unix geek
> for about 12 years, and a Linux geek for the past 5 years.  Although I
> suspect it'll be a while until I can get rid of Windows entirely (too
> many games are Windows-only), I'd like to wean myself off of Quicken,
> if possible.
> 
> I exported all of my Quicken transactions into a giant QIF file, and
> loaded them into GnuCash.  I've been playing around with it for about
> 4 hours so far.  Here are my comments/questions so far.
> 
> The biggest problem so far is that GnuCash can't seem to cope with
> importing QIF split transactions.  All QIF transactions which
> contained splits are counted as the exact opposite of what they should
> be (i.e., receive instead of spend; spend instead of receive).  This
> is a showstopper for me, as the vast majority of my transactions are
> splits.
> 
> Is this a known bug?  (I'm using Quicken 2000 on Windows 98 SE.)

Known bug. It will be fixed in 1.8.2. (I had it and helped debug it).

> 
> I've also been having difficulty dealing with split transactions in
> general under GnuCash.
> 
> GnuCash seems to want to reorder the split transactions.  How can I
> configure GnuCash to use the exact order I give it?
> 
> What is GnuCash's equivalent of Quicken's "adjust split total" button?
> 
> In Quicken, when entering a transaction with splits, I find it very
> handy to enter the total transaction amount first, before I start
> entering splits; that way, if all of the splits total to the amount I
> entered, I know I've gotten the splits correct.  In GnuCash, however,
> I haven't found a way to edit the transaction total directly; I can
> only change it via entering splits.  How do I change it directly?
> 

I am in your same boat. I'm switching from Quicken 2000 to GnuCash and
it takes some getting used to. What I've found is that if the split is
new (not filled in from a previous transaction), the amount you enter
for withdrawal from the current account (say checking) is like the total
split amount. Then you add the various split parts which are deposits to
other accounts that have to add up to that first withdrawal total. Also,
gnucash likes to put all withdrawals last so if you're writing a check,
doing a debit, etc., the withdrawal from the current account will be
last. If it's a deposit to the current account, like a paycheck, it puts
the deposit to the current account first followed by other deposits to
other accounts (like taxes), and the withdrawal from the Income account
last. 

It's a little confusing at first coming from Quicken. I decided to skip
the Quicken import and start using GnuCash fresh from 1/1/2003. I still
will have an import of the Quicken account to use as a reference for
when Quicken doesn't exist on my system anymore but the way GnuCash does
accounts and subaccounts is nice. I could have gone through and
reconfigured all the accounts from Quicken into Asset, Liability,
Expense, etc. but I thought it was time for a house cleaning anyway. I
am currently still using both Quicken and GnuCash but plan to drop
Quicken at the end of this month.

tjb
-- 
=======================================================================
| Thomas Baker                                                        |
| Baker Consulting                     email: tjb at BakerConsulting.com |
| 90 Gile Road                         http://www.BakerConsulting.com |
| Nottingham, NH 03290                                                |
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