How to find/delete/convert all split transactions?

Oon-Ee Ng ngoonee.talk at gmail.com
Fri Jul 31 19:40:50 EDT 2015


Hey, thanks for the reply.

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 5:22 AM, Wm... <tcnw81 at tarrcity.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>> In recent months I've gotten quite frustrated with the manual entry
>> process, in particular because I do it twice (initial entry on mine
>> and/or wife's phones followed by copying that data manually to
>> gnucash). I tried the GnuCash android app, but that was a real
>> headache because I still had to manually export files and import them
>> to gnucash.
> Have you considered that the record of entry might be the problem? Probably
> not :(
Apologies, perhaps my language skills are not up to par, but what does
'record of entry' mean in this context?

> if so you must understand that it is very different to gnc.
>
> I wouldn't call it accounting software.
>
> It is a great product [1] and I follow the forums and the software, so I am
> not negative about it.  I just want to make sure you know the difference.
Agreed, it isn't accounting software in the same way as gnucash, and
I'm not (I think) expecting it to be. While gnucash is good for my
OCD, my primary goals as a user are to have a record of transactions
for budgeting purposes. There's no easy way in gnucash to show my wife
that, hey, we're this far into our vacation budget this year etc. etc.
I believe MMEX will serve better for this use-case.

> I'm going to be firm now: THIS IS AN MMEX PROBLEM, yeah, I shouted.
I know the fault tends to be with the importing app, but:-
a) I've already asked over there, and figured out the current state of things
b) Without a complete overhaul of their CSV import system (the one I'd
find easier to use because CSV is so easily hackable in python for
example) I don't see things getting better
c) Gnucash is more functional, hence I consider it a better bet I can
modify how gnucash exports the data than how MMEX imports it.

> Fact: if you go from a double entry system to a single leg one you *must*
> lose something.  If you are happy with that, be my guest.

I know, I've tried, hence the question in this email

>> Is there a way to search only for split transactions or in some
>> way isolate them? Doesn't look like the main UI can do it, so perhaps
>> another app which accesses the same data?
>
> It won't help, MMEX (because it doesn't do double entry) duplicates and
> you'll end up doing it by hand unless it is really simple.

I'm afraid of that, based on my testing so far. Hence I'm looking for
ways to automate that process.

> Heh, y'know double entry isn't only the correct but also the honest to
> yourself way? :)
>
> I suggest you try MMEX standalone for a month or so and put the tx back into
> gnc.  It as lots of pretty stuff but balancing end of month is not its
> forte.
>
> So your question to yourself should be, "am I saving time long term by using
> this other app?"

A fair question, but its a bit chicken-and-egg.

If I can't get my current transactions (at least for the last few
months) into it I wouldn't use it even for testing, I have too much
that I might miss and it would not be a fair test. Things like
outstanding money I owe, future payments I need to remember, etc.

And if I need to hand-modify anything, then no it doesn't save time at
all. I can't even test whether it would long-term, I know it would
waste me lots of time RIGHT NOW.

Actually, ideally, it would be great to have a functional Android app
which could work on gnucash's data. The current Gnucash Android app is
merely okay, and the fact it does not work on the same XML file makes
it no better than any other record entry app in my opinion.


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