dealing with invoices and QIF imports

Charles Day cedayiv at gmail.com
Wed May 28 11:30:37 EDT 2008


On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 6:47 PM, Leigh Morresi <dgtlmoon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sounds good, tho in my many years of using gnucash it never dawned on me
> to use this kind of syntax in the "account name"
>
> maybe for now we could just some extra text to saying something to give
> the user a bit of a heads up about what to enter here, ie "Assets:AR"
>
> might be a fun easy hack for myself?
>
> i'de like to start contributing to this project somehow, that would be a
> great start :)
>

If you want to try playing with the text in the labels, you can use a text
editor on a file named qif.glade on your computer (search for it).  Make a
backup first. No recompiling... just edit the file, save, and start the QIF
importer again.

However, keep in mind that any minor adjustments to text labels will affect
all the existing translations, so it might not be a bad idea to rethink the
entire design of that page and really make all the improvements at once. It
really needs an account tree to pick an account from, and that takes changes
to the C code.

-Charles


>
> leigh
>
>
> On Tue, 2008-05-27 at 21:17 -0400, Derek Atkins wrote:
> > Oh, we understand the importance.  The QIF Importer UI was written, oh
> > a decade ago... Well before ANY of the current developers even started
> > working on GnuCash.  Nobody has offered to re-implement it, and in the
> > name of "if it aint broke, don't fix it" nobody has wanted to touch it
> > either.
> >
> > As for knowing to type <foo>:<bar> --- that UI is EVERYWHERE in the
> > application.  The only difference is that elsewhere there are additional
> > UI features to help you along, like QuickFill or dropdown lists.  But
> > it's there, everywhere, if you look.
> >
> > -derek
> >
> > Quoting Leigh Morresi <dgtlmoon at gmail.com>:
> >
> > > Cool
> > >
> > > I wish developers would realise how important the UI is.
> > >
> > > I've been - believe it or not - stuck on this same issue for maybe 2 or
> > > 3 years and have just been "plowing ahead" with my old ways and working
> > > around having duplicates.
> > >
> > > All because I should have been selecting an existing account
> name/branch
> > > instead of typing in an arbitrary account name??
> > >
> > > leigh
> > >
> > > On Tue, 2008-05-27 at 17:51 -0700, Charles Day wrote:
> > >> On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 5:46 PM, Leigh Morresi <dgtlmoon at gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >>         Cool, i'll give it a go shortly
> > >>
> > >>         sounds like a bit of an oversight in the UI if it it asking
> > >>         for you to
> > >>         *type* in an "Account name:" instead of selectin it from a
> > >>         list, surely?
> > >>
> > >> Yeah, it's pretty lame. The QIF importer won't win any beauty
> > >> contests.  -Charles
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>         theres nothing else in gnucash that acts this way... it seems
> > >>         to be all
> > >>         select lists, and users dont know to use the
> > >>         "parent{colon}child"
> > >>         syntax?
> > >>
> > >>         leigh
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>         On Tue, 2008-05-27 at 17:36 -0700, Charles Day wrote:
> > >>         > On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 5:16 PM, Leigh Morresi
> > >>         <dgtlmoon at gmail.com>
> > >>         > wrote:
> > >>         >         Charles
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         thanks for your reply
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         On Tue, 2008-05-27 at 08:03 -0700, Charles Day
> > >>         wrote:
> > >>         >         > On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 2:08 AM, Leigh Morresi
> > >>         >         <dgtlmoon at gmail.com>
> > >>         >         > wrote:
> > >>         >         >         heya's
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         Something i've never been able to clear-up
> > >>         for
> > >>         >         myself even tho
> > >>         >         >         i'm
> > >>         >         >         following the recipe from the
> > >>         documentation, can
> > >>         >         someone shed
> > >>         >         >         some
> > >>         >         >         light?
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         Im creating an invoice, with the 'Income
> > >>         account'
> > >>         >         set to
> > >>         >         >         "Income:consulting" and "Post"'ing it to
> > >>         my Assets
> > >>         >         -> A/R
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >
> > >>
> > >>
> http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.0/C/gnucash-guide/bus-ar-invoices1.html
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         And then once i receive payment i process
> > >>         the
> > >>         >         payment as per
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >
> > >>
> > >> http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.0/C/gnucash-guide/bus-ar-payment1.html
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         So now now the payment is "Transfer
> > >>         account: Assets
> > >>         >         ->
> > >>         >         >         Checking" which
> > >>         >         >         is all cool.
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         now the part i dont understand
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         I'm doing a QIF import from my bank, I
> > >>         have a
> > >>         >         structure as
> > >>         >         >         thus;
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         + Assets
> > >>         >         >          - Accounts Receivable
> > >>         >         >         + Expenses
> > >>         >         >          - Computer Repairs
> > >>         >         >         + Income
> > >>         >         >          - Consulting
> > >>         >         >         + MyBank
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         When I import a .QIF it asks me for an
> > >>         'Account
> > >>         >         Name' so i
> > >>         >         >         enter
> > >>         >         >         'MyBank' - now i end up with a 'MyBank'
> > >>         entry in my
> > >>         >         account
> > >>         >         >         tree (whhich
> > >>         >         >         is fine i guess? or should this be
> > >>         elsewhere?)
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         > If the bank account already exists in GnuCash as
> > >>         >         Assets:Checking, then
> > >>         >         > that's what you should tell the QIF importer
> > >>         instead of
> > >>         >         making up a
> > >>         >         > new name (MyBank).
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         My gnucash gives me a textfield to enter not a
> > >>         select list...
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         > Simply type Assets:Checking into the text field, or whatever
> > >>         is the
> > >>         > name of your existing account.
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         I tell it to put payments in the QIF
> > >>         import for
> > >>         >         monies for
> > >>         >         >         work i've
> > >>         >         >         invoced for into "Income:consulting"
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         Now when i view "Income:consulting" i see
> > >>         have
> > >>         >         duplicates of
> > >>         >         >         just about
> > >>         >         >         everything, the "Transfer" field says
> > >>         either
> > >>         >         "Assets->A/R" or
> > >>         >         >         "MyBank"
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         so it looks like my income:consulting is
> > >>         roughly
> > >>         >         twice that of
> > >>         >         >         what i
> > >>         >         >         should be at.
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         what am i doing wrong?? should i be
> > >>         deleting the
> > >>         >         items from my
> > >>         >         >         "Income:consulting" that have a transfer
> > >>         of
> > >>         >         "MyBank" ? (so
> > >>         >         >         that
> > >>         >         >         Income:consulting always shows my total
> > >>         income not
> > >>         >         includin
> > >>         >         >         the fact
> > >>         >         >         that those invoices might not have been
> > >>         paid - altho
> > >>         >         this
> > >>         >         >         difference
> > >>         >         >         *should* be sighted in accounts
> > >>         receivable?)
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         > What you are manually entering into GnuCash sounds
> > >>         >         reasonable to me.
> > >>         >         > Now if you set up the QIF import correctly, all
> > >>         the
> > >>         >         transfers from
> > >>         >         > Assets:A/R to Assets:Checking that have already
> > >>         been entered
> > >>         >         by hand
> > >>         >         > should get noticed during duplicate detection,
> > >>         allowing you
> > >>         >         to check
> > >>         >         > them off and avoid importing duplicates.  However,
> > >>         since you
> > >>         >         seem to
> > >>         >         > be saying that the imported transactions are
> > >>         transferring
> > >>         >         from
> > >>         >         > Income:Consulting rather than Assets:A/R, take a
> > >>         good look
> > >>         >         at the
> > >>         >         > account, category, and payee/memo mapping pages of
> > >>         the QIF
> > >>         >         importer.
> > >>         >         > Anywhere you see Income:Consulting, you should
> > >>         change it to
> > >>         >         > Assets:A/R.
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>
> > >>
> http://www.gnucash.org/docs/v2.0/C/gnucash-guide/bus-ar-invoices1.html
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         So you mean on the invoice where it says (in this
> > >>         >         documentation under
> > >>         >         the Edit section) "Income:sales" it should be
> > >>         "Assets:A/R" ?
> > >>         >
> > >>         > When enter your checking deposits by hand, you are
> > >>         transferring from
> > >>         > Assets:A/R to Assets:Checking, correct?  And I think you
> > >>         said that
> > >>         > imported checking deposits are instead transferring from
> > >>         > Income:Consulting to Assets:Checking (or would be, if you
> > >>         entered
> > >>         > Assets:Checking instead of MyBank). If those two things are
> > >>         true, then
> > >>         > I'm suggesting that while in the QIF importer, you change
> > >>         any existing
> > >>         > mappings for "Income:Consulting" to "Assets:A/R". Then the
> > >>         imported
> > >>         > deposits should get detected as possible duplicates of your
> > >>         existing,
> > >>         > hand-entered deposits.
> > >>         >
> > >>         > I didn't say anything about changing how you enter invoices.
> > >>         I really
> > >>         > don't know about the business part of GnuCash.
> > >>         >
> > >>         > -Charles
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         thanks
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         leigh
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         > Cheers,
> > >>         >         > Charles
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         cheers
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >         leigh
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         _______________________________________________
> > >>         >         >         gnucash-user mailing list
> > >>         >         >         gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> > >>         >         >         -----
> > >>         >         >         Please remember to CC this list on all
> > >>         your replies.
> > >>         >         >         You can do this by using Reply-To-List or
> > >>         Reply-All.
> > >>         >         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >         --
> > >>         >         Leigh Morresi
> > >>         >         +61401883741
> > >>         >         dgtlmoon at gmail.com
> > >>         >         http://dgtlmoon.com
> > >>         >         skype: dgtlmoon
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>         >
> > >>
> > >>         --
> > >>
> > >>         Leigh Morresi
> > >>         +61401883741
> > >>         dgtlmoon at gmail.com
> > >>         http://dgtlmoon.com
> > >>         skype: dgtlmoon
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > > --
> > > Leigh Morresi
> > > +61401883741
> > > dgtlmoon at gmail.com
> > > http://dgtlmoon.com
> > > skype: dgtlmoon
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > gnucash-user mailing list
> > > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> > > -----
> > > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> --
> Leigh Morresi
> +61401883741
> dgtlmoon at gmail.com
> http://dgtlmoon.com
> skype: dgtlmoon
>
>


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