`Balance' dialog box.. what is it for.

[Derek Atkins]

Harry Putnam <reader at newsguy.com> writes:

> Josh Sled <jsled at asynchronous.org> writes:
>
>> Yup; it can't really guess.
>>
>> It will remember the mapping, though, and match similar transactions in
>> the same way in future imports.
>
> Here's a thought.  The QFX file tells if a transaction is debit or
> credit. On the stregth of that maybe gnucash could default to expenses
> or income/asset.
>
> At a glance it looks like those two are the main divisions. It would
> be no more work for someone wanting more detailed splitting.  However
> those of us who only want to go as far as one or the other could just
> zip thru by pressing [guess] or something.

The problem is the vast majority of users have tens or hundreds of
expense accounts (and probably a handful of income accounts).  What
does it mean to "default to an expense account" when you have a hundred
of them?

The system requires training.  The training can only occur via human
intervention.  The good news is that it remembers the training so
subsequent imports are easier.

-derek
-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available