Transferring data between two Gnucash files

[Jesse C]

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Derek Atkins <warlord at mit.edu> wrote:

>
> > It also seems like (from the mailing list archive) that the OFX importer
> can
> > match up transactions from different OFX files with the same date and
> amount.
> > So I could technically generate OFX files for each account and once they
> are
> > all imported, GnuCash will automatically match them up.  Is that correct?
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by this.  What do you mean by "matching
> ... from different OFX files"?
>

What it appears is that if I import, say, a Liability account with the
transaction:
1/1/2012 "Spent some money"  $100
and an Expense account with a transaction:
1/1/2012 "Spent some money"  $100
Then Gnucash should be able to connect them up as being the opposite sides
of the same transaction.  Or least that is the impression I got from
reading the mailing list archives.  If that is case, then it is perfect for
what I'm doing (and way simpler than I was fearing).


>  > Is there a preference in GnuCash for QIF vs OFX?  There appear to be
> java
> > bindings in some form for both (and QIF is so simple that writing a
> generator
> > for it would be trivial), so I can create either with minimal effort.
>
> IMHO QIF is easier to generate, and QIF also has a way to create Split
> transactions.  OFX AFAIK does not provide any means to specify a Split
> Txn nor a way to pre-specify target categories or accounts.
>

I don't need splits, but having looked at the syntax for OFX, I have to
agree that QIF is a much simpler format.


>  > Once I get this working, I'll push out the results of my work to the
> > community, in case there are other people who are interested in doing
> > something similar.
>
> That would be good.  :)
>
> Not sure how useful it will be, since I've got no idea how many people are
trying to move transactions between 2 GnuCash files like this, but if
someone is, hopefully it will help them.

cheers
jesse c