Hello, My name is Roberto and I'm a Microsoft Money user...

[Bryan Phinney]

On Monday 17 May 2004 12:48 pm, Roberto Leibman wrote:

> So, for the nth time in I don't know how long, I'm going to try
> converting to gnucash. This time I'm not going to try converting every
> single account (open and closed) that I've accumulated, in fact, I've
> decided to just stick with the accounts I have open and those only for
> the past three months or so, and actually, I'm not even exporting them
> from Money but will try to recreate them from the bank's QIF. As you can
> imagine I have lots of questions, not only about how to do particular
> things, but as to good general strategies that other users may be
> following. So here's a first round, some of these are just "nice to have":

I made this move about 2 years ago.  I converted from Quicken to Gnucash.  
First I archived all but the current year of transactions, then I exported to 
qif files and the imported into Gnucash.  I had to do a bit of manual editing 
to get accounts reconciled but once the major data conversion was done, I 
haven't looked back.  A lot of the features that I thought I liked in Quicken 
were actually more trouble than they were worth.  I have been happier without 
them and using a stable, accurate money-manager without the distractions of 
features that I didn't actually need.

> 1) Printing. In Money, when I enter a check transaction I have the
> option to choose 'Print' for check number, checks therefore queue to be
> printed. I use checks that come 3 to a sheet, and it is very convenient
> to just enter them all, then print them all, then sign them all then
> stuff all of the envelopes. What is the equivalent strategy in gnucash?
> Is there a way to print more than one check at a time? I could see a way
> to print a single check, and of choosing which of the three vouchers to
> use, but I'd hate to have to reload the same page three times unecessarily.

I use online banking, using the web interface that most banks offer and simply 
download the transactions and reconcile.  Saves money on postage, is fast and 
I don't have to enter transactions twice, just have to take care to remember 
or note every payment to make sure that I have actually made them.  It is not 
that hard, I used to have to do much of the same thing with Quicken.  Of 
course, any extra recording work is offset by the ease of reconciling my 
books.

> 2) Importing. My bank (BofA) gives me the option to download to Quicken
> Web Connect, Money Active Statement (ofx), 2 digit QIF or 4 digit QIF.
> Which is the prefered method for Gnucash?

OFX is the quickest and fastest for me, that is what I use.

> 3) Forecast. In MSMoney, I can take a look at a nice graph that shows
> (given all scheduled transactions) the curve of available moneys in a
> timeframe. This is very convenient to maximize my interest and makes my
> daily averages look better, it helps me choose the best time to send
> particular payments. Is there something similar in gnucash?

N/A, I don't use such a feature so I don't know if it has one.

> 4) MSMoney lets me automatically download my American Express
> transactions. Though I can log into the website and download the
> transactions manually, it's nice that it does it automatically.

Discover offers the same thing for Quicken, but not for Gnucash.  You might 
want to let them know and perhaps offer your business to someone who does 
support the financial package of your choice.