[GNC] Having trouble trying to use Gnucash instead of Aplos

[David Carlson]

GnuCash will not easily handle church related data such as tracking
individual donations, but some users have been very creative and may have
suggestions for you.  You may prefer to stay with church-centric accounting
packages.  In my very cursory search, I think I found some that cost much
less than Aplos, but they would also have different features.

To get the best results when importing data from other sources check <
https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_How_do_I_get_the_most_benefit_from_the_Bayesian_learning_algorithm_while_importing.3F>
for a start, then search the mail-list for more suggestions.

David Carlson

On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 11:35 AM Mike or Penny Novack <
stepbystepfarm at comcast.net> wrote:

> On 9/15/2019 9:15 AM, Daniel Wieberdink wrote:
> > I was hoping to transition to Gnucash to track finances for the small
> > church we belong to. I started by optimistically trying to import about 3
> > years worth of transactions from Aplos into GC via a CSV file. That
> didn't
> > go as smoothly as I hoped.
> Let me start by asking an important question. This "Aplos" application
> where you have the last three years data.Is something wrong with it? You
> will no longer have it available? << to view, to produce reports from,
> the existing data >>
>
> Because if THAT is the case, why are you trying to migrate this data to
> your new gnucash books?
>
> In the old days, pen and ink on paper in bound volumes, they used to go
> to "new" books all the time. Close the old books and open new books in
> fresh volumes on a regular basis << what else to do as physical books
> became full >>
>
> You can do the same sort of thing migrating to gnucash. You use your old
> application to produce a Balance Sheet as of the date of migration and
> use this to establish the opening balance of each of the "standing
> accounts". Then when and if you need to refer to old data (stuff before
> this date) you use the old application.  In my experience, such need to
> reference the old data is rare.
>
> That's what I have done every time I migrated an organization  to
> gnucash. I never tried migrating the old data. Perhaps if I had had to
> deal with some fixed assets, I might have handled those differently <<
> not just the balance remaining as of of the date of starting the gnucash
> books but the basis and depreciation history --- if you have to deal
> with those I will show you >>
>
> Michael D Novack
>
> PS: I do not ever use "opening balance" instead entering explicit
> opening the books transactions, one for debits and one for credits.
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-- 
David Carlson