Wondering how to handle > 10 years of .qif data; if mapping changes old transactions; and how to make a new sub account

[Wm]

Fri, 23 Jan 2015 13:10:59 
<BF73BA5A-FC66-4A14-A50B-F66388D2EAC2 at mail.com>  paula maas 
<paulamaas at mail.com>

[won't quote correctly, sorry]

>I'm new to GnuCash, and have 3 questions to start.?
>?
>1. Please tell me whether to import the last 10 years of .qif data (it's in one file now), or if it would be easier, given that all payees
>become accounts, (and we have already many accounts), to split the data into files for each year. ?

I'm not telling you to do anything, however, Michael has suggested you 
just get going with your current transactions.  This is good advice [1]

>The reason to keep the accounts all together is to track long term earning and expenses, e.g. to assess the basis of real property, or other
>investment. ?

10 years worth of data could be millions of transactions or 500.  It 
makes a difference as gnc loads all of it into memory <-- if that seems 
technical just say how many transactions are in your .qif files or how 
big they are on disk.

>How is this done if I create an archival file for up to 2014, then another each for 2014 & 2015? ?

If the number / size is manageable I'd go for one file once you've 
assured yourself the transactions are importing correctly.

>2. When you map these payees & categories into accounts, are categories changed for all old transactions as they are imported, or is this only
>for future downloads? ?

I think it is important to understand that in gnc what used to be the 
"category" is likely to be more important than the payee.  Essentially 
from an accounting POV "did you buy timber" becomes more significant 
than who you bought timber from (using your real property e.g. from 
above)

>3. When mapping, I have the opportunity to choose among GnuCash accounts, or create a new account, but how do you create a new subaccount? e.g.
>I have an account "utilities" with 4 different subaccounts, not including "City Services", how do I add the subcategory "City Services" under
>the account "Utilities"? ?

[1] in a separate book / file import some transactions from your .qif 
data and play with it, the account structure will form itself as you 
look at your imported data in gnc and adjust the tree.  Run some balance 
sheets and p+l / income stmt reports to see if things are appearing as 
you want checking the report options as you go along.

Here is a neat trick, import the City Services transactions into an 
expense account any place in the tree. Now edit the a/c (not the 
transactions, the a/c itself) at the bottom right of the edit dialogue 
you can change the place in the tree you want City Services to appear, 
just move it under Utilities and you're done.

You can also delete an account and merge the transactions with another 
but that is probably best left for another day.

Meanwhile run Actions / Check & Repair All at intervals from the main 
Accounts tab to see if you have done anything that makes gnc think 
you've broken a rule.

>I’m very grateful for your help, and look forward to your response.?

get on with real transactions *and* play with the old, best of both 
worlds

-- 
Wm...