moving transactions between accounts

[Kaaren Shalom & Richard Gilligan]

I have tried to tuck doug's suggestion into the proposed answer below.

-Richard
On Monday, September 15, 2003, at 02:36 PM, doug foskey wrote:

> On Tuesday 16 September 2003 06:47 am, Kaaren Shalom & Richard  
> Gilligan wrote:
>> Glen,
>>
>> I have rewritten the FAQ for this question to clarify and extend.  If
>> it appears improved to your "new user eyes"  maybe Jon and the doc
>> squad will adopt it.
>>
>>  From
>> <http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v1.8/C/gnucash-guide/ 
>> appendixb_using.html>
>>
>> B.3.1. Q: How can I move the transactions from account A into account
>> B, thus combining them?
>>
>> <Current answer>
>> A: There is no easy way to do this, you will need to change every
>> transaction reference for account A to account B.  Use the "Find
>> Transactions" feature and search for splits where Account = account A.
>> This will list all of them in a single journal-style register window
>> where you can actually edit the accounts.  Change the transfer account
>> in each from A to B.  As you edit the transactions they will be  
>> removed
>> from the register. When the register is empty, account A will be empty
>> and you can remove it.
>> </Current answer>
>>
>> <Proposed Answer>
>> A: At present, Gnucash does not offer a way to move groups of splits
>> from one account to another. You will need to move them one at a time.
>> Open the register for account A and select
>> Menu>View>Style>Transaction_Journal to expose all the splits.  For
>> every split where the "Account" field shows account A reset it to
>> account B. The transactions will disappear from the A register (and
>> reappear instantly in the B register if you happen to have it open.)
>>
>> Be careful!  If you inadvertently reset the "Account" field to some
>> other account, you will need luck to correct your mistake.  For this
>> reason, if you need to move more than a few splits it is safer to open
>> registers for both account A and B and use  Menu>Edit>Cut_Transaction
>> and Menu>Edit>Paste_Transaction.  This will do what you want and
>> because the end points of the move are predetermined there is no  
>> danger
>> that transactions will get dropped accidentally into unknowable
>> accounts.

Another way to reduce the risk of misplacing splits while transfering  
is to change the "parent account" property for account A to make it a  
child of account B.  Because the end points of the move will now appear  
very close together in the list of accounts, the process of resetting  
the "Account" field of a split will be faster and less error prone.

>> </Proposed Answer>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Richard
>>
>>> glenn wrote:
>>>> hi
>>>> I've just imported my bank statement using QIF - somewhere along the
>>>> way
>>>> I've ended up with a second instance of my libilities hierachy
>>>> (actually
>>>> 3 if you count the liablities2 tree that got created) - possible due
>>>> to
>>>> consuming wild turkey while selecting accounts. I want to move the
>>>> transactions from the credit card under the second
>>>> tree, into the credit card in the original tree. I'm tempted to hack
>>>> at
>>>> the xml file, but is there a more 'civilised' approach I should  
>>>> take?
>>>
>>> Glenn-
>>>
>>> I think we cover this once... checking old emails... ah, there it is,
>>> and we even put it as a FAQ:
>>>
>>> B.3.1. Q: How can I move the transactions from account A into account
>>> B, thus combining them?
>>>
>>> http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v1.8/C/gnucash-guide/appendixb_using.html
>>>
>>> The solution isn't pretty, but it is the best you can do for now.
>>> Does that help?
>>>
>>> --
>>> -**-*-*---*-*---*-*---*-----*-*-----*---*-*---*-----*-----*-*----- 
>>> *---
>>>  Jon Lapham  <lapham at extracta.com.br>          Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
>>>  Work: Extracta Moléculas Naturais SA     http://www.extracta.com.br/
>>>  Web: http://www.jandr.org/
>>> ***-*--*----*-------*------------*-------------------- 
>>> *---------------
>>>
> The only comment I may suggest adding, is that a whole account can be  
> moved
> under an existing account using the edit accounts menu. (open the  
> accounts
> tree, then select the account to be moved & go to edit on the toolbar,  
> then
> edit the account details to move the account to the new location) I  
> have used
> this to move accounts completely, as then you open the splits, & only  
> remove
> the sub-account from the end. Once empty, the account can be removed.
>    (not really clear: maybe someone can translate what I am trying to  
> say??)
>
> regards Doug
>