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

[David Cousens]

Daniel,

Have you read the first few chapters of the guide which will help with
understanding how GnuCash works. The section headed "The Basics"
(https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-guide/index.html)> is an
introduction to the conceptual basis. Unllike many programs GnuCash's
operation is upfront double entry accounting and actions are generally
initiated from the account registers.

There is also the Help Manual which is more gui oriented rather than process
oriented (https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-help/help.html).

Importing can be interesting. AT present the documentation on the importer
is being upgraded but this is not yet complete  in the current
documentation. It is likely you end up with Imbalance entries on input
because the records you are inputting do not specify the second account for
a transaction. There are at least two accounts associated with each
transaction (and sometimes more  - see the basis section above if you are
not familiar with this). If you have exported the transactions from Aplos
from a single account at a time then the source account will generally be
the account you have exported from and this may or may not be a field in the
exported data. 

I don't know how Aplos functions and whether it uses categories like Quicken
but if it does then the category for an expense or income item will usually
become the account name of an expense, income, asset(for transfers) or
liability (loans and credit cards) account in Gnucash. This should be
specified in another field of the output data and it is this field which is
not being imported correctly. Your export format will either have an amount
column or separate columns for Debits and Credits. On importing these have
to be matched with the Deposit or Withdrawal column headers if multicolumn.
If importing an Asset account and you have a single amount column if +ve
numbers are debits to the account and negative numbers credit  you would
normally match the GnuCash  Deposits header to that column.

It is usually better to experiment with a small file of 10-20 lines first
and sort out the settings that work before trying to import all your back
data. GnuCash can stroe those settings in the import setup dialog so you can
resue them. One reason for this is that GnuCash has an automatic process for
matching the second or transfer account in imported data. This is a window
called the Import Matcher which comes up immediately after you hit the
button to import.

 If the imported data does not contain the second/transfer account in a
field or if it is the first lot of data you import GnuCash does not have an
association between the account names/categories in the imported data and
the internal GnuCash account names which you may or may not have created at
this stage.  Unmatched rows will have a gold background and will have the
Imbalance account specified in the Info column if this is the case. Double
click on the row to open a dialog to assign an appropriate transfer account.
If you do not have a suitable transfer account created there is a new
account button which will allow you to create one. It is probably better to
think out at least a basic set of expense and income accounts before
starting if you can.

If the background to a row is green and the A checkbox is checked GnuCash
will have matched the imported information to an existing account. You will
need to check that this match is correct.  If the U+R checkbox is checked
and the background is green then an existing record in GnuCash has been
matched double clicking on the row in this case opens a dialog to examine
that match and allow you to accept or reject it. If the R box is check and
the background is green it has been matched to an existing transaction and
will not be imported. Anything with a red background will need action  as it
neither matches an existing transaction or is valid to be imported.  You can
alter GnuCash's decision by changing the checkedcheckbox to A if you want to
import the data. 

The other problem you will encounter is that if you import your checking
account and then later a credit card account payments from your checking
account to the credit card account are generally imported in both data sets
and you can end up with duplicates. GnuCash handles this by searching for
existing transactions matching the imported data  as above. In this case you
don't change the decision be GnuCash to not import the data.

The easiest way to get rid of the transactions you have already imported
incorrectly is to open a new file and save it over the same filename. If you
have setup a Chart of Accounts already this will also clear that.  In that
case use  File->Export->Account Tree to CSV to export the account tree
before overwriting the file and then reimport it using  File->Import->Import
Accounts from CSV (not necessary if you are using an account setup created
during the new file setup process and have not added to it).

If you still have access to the previous program consider whether you are
not better off just starting from the current date using GnuCash. It is also
possible to import back data later when you are more familiar with GnuCash's
operations if absolutely necessary. When I did this, I did it six months at
a time and adjusted the opening Balances and dates on them as I worked
backwards and reconciled the major asset accounts against statements once I
had the data in.

David Cousens



-----
David Cousens
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