New User to GnuCash

[D]

Jack,

You've heard it twice, and I'll repeat myself: go read at least the Basics section of the Tutorial. 

It covers LITERALLY every issue you've raised thus far.

Once you've read those chapters, I think you'll be clearer about Gnucash and its use.

David

On December 15, 2017, at 12:11 AM, Jack Slater <theilliniguy at gmail.com> wrote:

I think I get what your saying and at this point (a) I have no clue how to manage/edit/adjust what I have to that type of structure nor (b) do I know enough yet to feel confident in making any changes! LOL.. 


I'm reconciling my November statement as we "speak" and had to add a few account transfer entries - that in Quicken would credit 1 account and automatically debit the transfer account. I have non idea how/if I can do that in GC!?


Any pointers/help is gladly and thankfully accepted!


On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 12:53 PM, Fross, Michael <michael at fross.org> wrote:

Hi Jack,


I'm also a convert about a year ago to GNUCash.  They are *all* real accounts.  But if you are like me, your institutional accounts are not really in expenses where most of the category accounts lie.  I have my traditional bank accounts in Assets (as well as brokerage accounts, home equity, etc)  Credit cards are in Liabilities.   The expenses and income accounts are mostly the old categories from Quicken.  For me, the only account in Equity is the "Opening Balance" account.


Hope that makes sense.


Michael


On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 12:25 PM, Jack Slater <theilliniguy at gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for the feedback!

I'll get to that and read thru. Then if I am a typical Quicken fool I'll be
back for more direction!

I'm wondering then if there is a way to designate the "real" accounts in
the massive Account Listing so i can see/sort or make those stand out from
the "non-real" accounts.


On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 12:03 PM, D <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Jack,
>
> Welcome to Gnucash, and welcome to this list.
>
> Before you tinker with the account structure in Gnucash, I strongly
> recommend that you read the Basics section in the Tutorial & Concepts Guide
> (available on the Gnucash website). The 4 chapters there will give you a
> better understanding of some of the fundamental ways that Gnucash differs
> from Quicken.
>
>
> Specifically, you will want to look at how Gnucash's double entry aspects
> affect file structure. Gnucash doesn't have categories; rather, it uses
> accounts for this purpose. Many refugees from Quicken find this a difficult
> adjustment to make.
>
> After you have read these chapters, you will understand that you probably
> will want to keep all those accounts--after all, you had the categories for
> a reason! You'll also understand how Gnucash reflects a more formal
> accounting system than Quicken.
>
> A quick way to determine whether to keep all those accounts: open each of
> them up, and if there are transactions listed in the register, then you
> won't want to delete that account.
>
> Rest assured, however, that if you did try to delete one of these
> accounts, Gnucash would prompt you to designate where these transactions
> should be moved.
>
> Hope this helps,
> David
>
>
> On December 14, 2017, at 10:07 PM, Jack Slater <theilliniguy at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> I dropped Quicken finally and have been trying GC for a few days. So far it
> seems like a great replacement but I'm a total noob.
>
> My first question:
> I did an import from Quicken and I guess I misunderstood the terminology
> differences.  When I look at the GC Accounts window - it is a complete
> listing of both (what were names in Quicken) Accounts and Categories, now
> just all listed as Accounts.
>
> I'd like to get rid of the Categories listings yet retain the "true"
> Accounts but want to make sure that if I just delete them, I'm not harming
> data "under the hood" so to speak.
>
> I hope I'm approaching the mailing list help process correctly and also
> hope to get good enough that I could eventually help others.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jack in Illinois
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