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

[KindWoman]

Wm <wm+gnc <at> tarrcity.demon.co.uk> writes:

> 
> 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
> 

Thanks, Wm. I appreciate your time.
I'm "getting going with new accounts", and also following your advice about
importing City Services. I found an example of one transaction, clicked on
edit>edit account> changed account name in dialogue to "City Services",
confirmed account type (expense) and attempted to locate it to the parent
account "utilities" on the drop down, clicked OK and got "You must choose a
valid parent account."

The problem with bringing accounts from iBanks is that the sub-accounts,
e.g. Utilities/City Services" appear as "Utilities"without it's subaccount.
Perhaps you know how to import the subcategories.

About the new accounts, online set up is difficult to understand. I've been
monkeying around with it for a few hours now and can't talk to any of the
banks I've tried. (I've gotten this going a few times over the years with
other software). There are other users with similar problems. I'm told I've
entered a wrong user or password, even after making new ones to be sure I'm
on target there.

Gratefully,  Paula