Confused about importing bank transactions in OFX

[David Reiser]

On Jun 11, 2009, at 7:42 PM, Michael Leone wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 4:56 PM, David  
> Reiser<dbreiser at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>> On Jun 11, 2009, at 4:40 PM, Michael Leone wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM, David Reiser <dbreiser at earthlink.net 
>>> >
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Jun 11, 2009, at 2:15 PM, Michael Leone wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I've just started using GNUCash for personal use, and I am  
>>>>> confused
>>>>> about
>>>>> importing transactions in OFX format from my bank. I have  
>>>>> created all my
>>>>> accounts, and now want to import all the transactions of my  
>>>>> checking
>>>>> account
>>>>> for the last 5 days, rather than enter them by hand. But when I  
>>>>> go to
>>>>> import
>>>>> the OFX file, GNUCash seems to put all the transactions into an  
>>>>> account
>>>>> called "Imbalance".
>>>>
>>>> Imbalance is the other side of the transaction already. The first  
>>>> time
>>>> you imported an ofx file from a particular bank, gnucash asked  
>>>> you what
>>>> account you wanted to associated with that ofx source.
>>>
>>> Actually, no, it didn't ask me what account to associate. That's  
>>> why I
>>> was confused ...
>>
>> Hmm. That's not a good sign. Can you open the ofx file in a text  
>> editor and
>> see if there is an <ACCTID> entry? Perhaps the bank isn't emitting a
>> conforming ofx file.
>
> It does. However, I was *not* prompted to associate an account. I
> imported, and was was then immediately presented with a "Generic
> import transaction matcher". I do use the bank account number in the
> name of the checking account, however (I have more than one, at the
> same bank, so I re-named the GNUCash account names to include the
> account number. Makes things easier for me).  Dunno if that means that
> GNUCash made the association for me ...

I don't see how it would have. You could check by making sure your  
data file is uncompressed and then using a text editor to search for  
an online_id slot that matches your <ACCTID> tag, as described in:
https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2004-August/011179.html

I don't think the aqbanking wizard sets the same slot, so I don't  
think it could have interfered. Have you ever run that wizard?

>
> Here's the beginning of the OFX file:
>
> -------------------------------
> OFXHEADER:100
> DATA:OFXSGML
> VERSION:102
> SECURITY:NONE
> ENCODING:USASCII
> CHARSET:1252
> COMPRESSION:NONE
> OLDFILEUID:NONE
> NEWFILEUID:NONE
>
> <OFX>
> <SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
> <SONRS>
> <STATUS>
> <CODE>0
> <SEVERITY>INFO
> </STATUS>
> <DTSERVER>xxxxxxxxxxxx
> <LANGUAGE>ENG
> </SONRS>
> </SIGNONMSGSRSV1>
> <BANKMSGSRSV1>
> <STMTTRNRS>
> <TRNUID>1
> <STATUS>
> <CODE>0
> <SEVERITY>INFO
> </STATUS>
> <STMTRS>
> <CURDEF>USD
> <BANKACCTFROM>
> <BANKID>xxxxxxxx
> <ACCTID>xxxxxxxxxx
> <ACCTTYPE>CHECKING
> </BANKACCTFROM>
> -------------------------------
>
> So importing that OFX file isn't working for me. GNUCash 2.2.9, Win  
> XP Pro.
>
> I suppose I can try the QIF format. My bank (Citizens Bank, in the US)
> has a choice of "Quicken 99" format, which gives me a QIF file ..


Depending on how much overlap there is in downloads, you may end up  
forever checking duplicates with qif files.
--
David Reiser
dbreiser at earthlink.net