HOW TO IMPORT OFX TRANSACTIONS

[Jerry]

Hi there.   I was having trouble setting up my online banking with 
National City Bank until I referred to the following links.   That 
helped me figure it out with a direct connect so I did not have to first 
download from the bank's website.   GnuCash did it for me with a direct 
connect, once I set up all the parameters.  Or, maybe once you review 
these instructions, you might be able to figure out the problem with the 
download also?

Jerry

http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Setting_up_OFXDirectConnect_in_GnuCash_2

http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/OFX_Direct_Connect_Bank_Settings

On Oct 22, 2009, at 5:01 AM, Robert Smits wrote:

> > On October 21, 2009 07:10:04 pm David Reiser wrote:
>   
>> >> On Oct 21, 2009, at 3:04 PM, Robert Smits wrote:
>>     
>>> >>> I'd really like to be able to import financial transactions from my
>>> >>> financial
>>> >>> institution, in this case Coastal Communities Credit Union on
>>> >>> Vancouver
>>> >>> Island.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> I'm using Gnucash 2.2.4 with opensuse 11.0.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> My credit union does let me export files in .qfx, .ofx, and .csv
>>> >>> files.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> So I do that - and download and save the files.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Next, I try to import the files, select the statement, and then I  
>>> >>> get
>>> >>> a "generic import transaction matcher" window, but it shows
>>> >>> absolutely no
>>> >>> transactions.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> I can't find any way to configure this anywhere.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> I have looked at the docs, but see only a cursory description, not
>>> >>> details of
>>> >>> how this is actually done.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Can someone enlighten me here?
>>> >>> --
>>> >>> Bob Smits, bob at rsmits.ca
>>>       
>> >>
>> >> Which kind of file are you trying to import? (Just making sure it
>> >> isn't csv.)
>> >>
>>     
> >
> > I've tried both ofx and qfx.
> >
>   
>> >> You may have to look at the contents of the ofx or qfx file to see if
>> >> there are any oddities. They are text files.
>>     
> >
> > Well, I've looked at them and they are text files but I don't know  
> > how to spot
> > any oddities.
>   
>> >>
>> >> The behavior you are seeing matches what you would see if the bank
>> >> weren't properly assigning unique ID's to the transactions in the
>> >> statement. But usually that failure requires that you do one
>> >> successful import, and every one after that turns up empty because  
>> >> the
>> >> bank is reusing transaction IDs, so gnucash discards the new
>> >> transactions because it has already import transactions with those  
>> >> IDs.
>> >>
>>     
> > When I look at the FITID fields , they do seem to be different for  
> > each
> > transaction. Like this <FITID>4023
>   

That's pretty short for an identifier that's supposed to be guaranteed  
unique for as long as the account exists, but maybe it'll work.

> >
>   
>> >> The other possibility is that you want a transaction list, not a
>> >> statement. Normally, statements include transactions, but maybe
>> >> something about the way they are constructing the statement is
>> >> confusing gnucash and/or libofx.
>> >>
>>     
> > Is there documentation on what I should expect to see?
>   

The ofx spec
http://www.ofx.net/DownloadPage/Downloads.aspx
contains sample ofx files. You can probably start with any of the  
versions they present because the differences between them are much  
smaller than the information you're looking at. At the top of your  
files there should be a VERSION: label. Most of my banks use 102 in  
that field. If yours does, too, then I recommend downloading the  
version 1.0.3 specification document.

> >
>   
>> >> Unless you can find someone that successfully uses files from your
>> >> bank, I think you are going to have to look at one of the downloaded
>> >> file's contents to see if there is anything obvious wrong.
>> >>
>>     
> >
> > Well, yes, but that's pretty useless unless you know what to expect.
> >
> > Bob
>   
>> >> Dave
>> >> --
>> >> David Reiser
>> >> dbreiser at earthlink.net
>>