MS-Money user so GNUcash newbie and first post

[Elizabeth Dodd]

On Sun, 7 Nov 2010 09:11:07 -0000
"Ian Waddington" <iwaddox at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
> 
>  
> 
> Hopefully I have got this post right, I have never used a mailing list
> manager before, I'm more used to the traditional forum approach.
> 
mailing lists are older than internet fora, so welcome

>  
> 
> I have been using MS-Money in the UK since day one, in fact I was a
> beta tester on several of the UK versions. My current 40Mb UK 2005
> file has 11 years' worth of data and is struggling with some serious
> performance issues which seem to have been made worse by a recent
> move to Windows 7.  I've a number of options for continuing with
> Money, including archiving, virtual machines or a new file from say
> Jan 1.  Very mindful I'm using a very unsupported product and that
> one day it might just all stop I have decided to explore alternatives
> so installed GNUcash 2.3.15 to have a look and play.
This version is unstable, please install a version from the 2.2.9
series for production use

> 
>  
> 
> I am sure all my questions have been asked before so my first
> question is whether or not there is a list of questions for ex Money
> users? If so could someone point me in the right direction.
> 
>  
> 
> If not my questions so far are
> 
>  
> 
> 1, I am used to recording a Payee for each transaction. This helps me
> find things at a later date. Is there a way to record this
> information?
Yes, this is recorded in the register view

> 
> 2, I make extensive use of classifications to give an extra dimension
> to reporting and tracking, two examples, to track household
> decorating project to track all expenditure against that project
> irrespective of the account (or category), or to track the total cost
> of a holiday, a classification allows you to report on a quite
> disparate set of transactions.
this may need a different approach to gain the same effect

> 
> 3, Memo field to capture information about a transaction, for example
> it was a Toaster or the car mileage and litres purchased on a full
> receipt.
> 
yes, but repeats on autofill, so if not using doubleline view, you will
find you have bought 600 dishwashers
>  
> 
> So far I believe I could probably do all the above with a structured
> Description field but I'm not yet sure how successful that would be
> for subsequent searches and would ideally like something a little more
> structured. Perhaps, I can define my own fields into the database, is
> there a way?
each individual defines their own accounts

> 
>  
> 
> I also have some non-Money related questions
> 
> 4, Is there any best practice guidance about protecting my email
> address using this type of mail manager?
use a non-critical email address

> 
> 5, IE complains about the GNUcash site certificate, why is this?
because we don't pay a certification authority for a certificate

> 
> 6, Is there a sample file somewhere that would give me a head start
> with my evaluation?
i don't know of any....

> 
>  
> 
> Thank you for your help
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
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