Understanding the generic import transaction manager

[David Reiser]

On Apr 14, 2010, at 5:18 PM, Paul A. wrote:

> 
> I've managed to import the entire history of my Discover card (in OFX format)
> and get the Generic Import Transaction Manager window.  But how do I make
> use of it?  And what is the meaning of a checkmark in the A column?
> 
> Most transactions have a checkmark in the R column and are shown in green; I
> assume that means that the transaction has been reconciled.   Of the others,
> some are in red and some in yellow.  The yellow ones have an indication
> "UNBALANCED" and a checkmark in the A column.  The red ones have an
> indication "Do not import" and no checkmark in the A column.
> 
> I tried changing a couple of checkmarks and then clicking OK.  The result
> was very unpleasant; the same transaction kept getting inserted into the
> account register over and over.  I assume there's a bug causing that
> behavior, but how can I get around it?
> 
> I assume that neither the yellow ones or the red ones have matching
> transactions in the account register, but what is the difference?  If a
> transaction is unbalanced, what's the right way to fix it?  It seems that
> the only options in this window are to insert or remove checkmarks.  And
> what happens to transactions that are in the account register but not in the
> import file?


I'd say the first thing is definitely do not have the entire history in a single file. gnucash will learn which accounts various transactions go. But it can only apply what it learns the next time you import another file. Do 10 or 20 transactions, then do another 10 or 20. If you think most of your recurring payees are covered, then you could turn gnucash loose on a big import. It will save you a whole lot of time picking accounts for the "A" transactions.

A is Add. R is really Clear (not reconcile). And a red transaction means gnucash will ignore that transaction when it finally gets to finishing the import.

Double click on the right side of a yellow transaction and you can select an account into which that transaction should go. You can only select one target account split per transaction (with the second split being associated with the account linked to the ofx source). After the import is completed, you can go back and edit transactions that require more than 2 splits. If you don't assign an account for the required split, gnucash will throw the transaction in "Imbalance-CCC" where CCC is symbol for the currency associated with the transaction (which it knows because you have to assign one to the account associated with the ofx source).
--
David Reiser
dbreiser at earthlink.net