Imported transactions ignored?

[Jim Elliott]

Having spent around 12 hours working with GnuCash, it seems to be a good program with documentation that is well above average.  

The documentation is oriented towards users who will manually enter transactions then check them against bank and credit card statements.  However my intended use is to minimize manual entry and use imported data downloaded (via browser) from financial institutions.  

There is little information available about the Generic Import Transaction Manager.  In addition, I am pointing the program to a file that I know has data (I can see it when I open it with a text editor), but nothing appears in this "Manager".

Why is the data not displayed?  Does this have something to do with the program's wish to avoid duplicate transactions?  Is data filtered according to accounting period?  

Perhaps of additional interest:  why I will be returning Quicken Starter...
1) won't import money market mutual fund transactions (must get another version to do that
2) goes online and contacts banks without permission
3) built-in obsolescence