Importing CSV files

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

Richard Thomas <richdthomas at gmail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> Thanks for pointing all that out, I have given the concepts and tutorial guide
> a read and understand about the double accounting system now (which admittedly
> I had no idea was the way that GnuCash worked).
>
> There's a few things I'd like explain at this point...
>
> Firstly, the way I have been entering transactions.  If I can take the "buying
> a pizza" example (just search the PDF for "pizza" and you'll see it).  I would
> typically pay for a pizza using my debit card, so I'd enter the transaction in
> my Checking Account (the only account I really use).  So in the description, I
> enter the name of the pizza place that I ordered the pizza from.  The default
> "Transfer Account" that is used is called "Imbalance-GBP".
>
> Whether this is the correct Transfer Account for this type of transaction, I
> really don't know.  All I know is that the Transfer Account should really be
> the pizza place's bank account, as they are the ones receiving the money that
> I am sending.
>
> I have tried to figure out from the guide what the correct way of using
> GnuCash is for this type of activity, but I don't mind the Transfer Account
> being Imbalance-GBP, as long it does not seriously go against GnuCash's
> principles or cause me a really big headache down the line.
>
> The second thing I'd like to explain is what I'm trying to achieve by
> importing the QIF file.
>
> A number of days later, my pizza transaction will be cleared by my bank and
> this is indicated by the transaction appearing on my on-line bank statement.
>
> So I save the QIF file, add in the missing parameters, such as the num record
> and cleared record and go to import it into GnuCash.
>
> What I want GnuCash to do when importing the QIF file is to simply correlate
> the transactions in the QIF file, with the uncleared transactions in GnuCash
> and to change them from uncleared to cleared.
>
> To make sure my terminology is correct, I want the letter in the "R" column to
> go from "n" to "c".
>
> Am I trying to attempt something that is not possible with QIF importing?
>
> If so, I can go back to importing CSV files instead, as what I'm trying to do
> works fine with CSV files.

AHA!  I see your problem here.  You are hand-entering the transaction
and then later importing from QIF.  No, the QIF importer will not change
the reconcile flag on an existing transaction.

Yes, this *is* possible with the CSV and OFX importer.

> Thanks,
>
> Richard.

-derek
-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available