Bank statement import strategies from bad formats?

[Cristian Marchi]

Il 04/02/2014 20.49, yggdrasil at gmx.co.uk ha scritto:
> Hi,
>
> Sorry for polluting the list with a very peripheral gnucash issue, but I
> guess others have faced challenges in getting bank statements imported
> to gnucash when the bank doesn't kindly provide any usable format.
>
I had a similar experience a couple of days ago when trying to import 
paypal statement (CSV format) in GnuCash 2.6.1. In my case I needed to 
edit the CSV file with a text editor:
- I had to change the date format from XX-XX-XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX as the 
GnuCash CSV importer need the date in this format
- I had to remove some rows related to currency exchanges and keep only 
the rows with my current currency in GnuCash

Then the file was ready to import in GnuCash using File->Import->Import 
transactions from CSV
After selecting the CSV file I selected the options about the date 
format, the separator, the columns matching etc.... Then you need to 
select the "starting" account for the transactions (in my case 
"Assets:PAYPAL"). In the last screen of the assistant you can assign 
every transaction to a "receiving" account, mark them as reconciled or 
exlude them from the import.
Not a straightforward process, but developers can't cover any format 
that institutions adopts.

Regards
Cristian