[GNC] Keeping Imported Transactions from Overwriting Data?

[D.]

Christopher, 

Unfortunately, my use model no longer includes any imports, whether QIF, OFX, or csv-- in part because the work of importing was greater than simply entering in the transactions myself, and in part because my institutions blocked or obscured these features. So, I won't be able to try out this new feature. 

The bug doesn't really explain what changes are being implemented. Are you saying that the importer can be told not to replace user data by default? That would be a good thing. 

Perhaps you could outline the new features a little bit more here? 

David T.


-------- Original Message --------
From: Christopher Lam <christopher.lck at gmail.com>
Sent: Sun Apr 12 20:00:28 GMT+05:30 2020
To: "D." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com>
Cc: GnuCash users group <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: Re: [GNC] Keeping Imported Transactions from Overwriting Data?

David please check out https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=797678. The
importer *can* be taught to not overwrite existing data.

There are win32 builds; do try a master release. More features are
upcoming, and all need beta testing.

On Sun, 12 Apr 2020, 10:21 pm D. via gnucash-user, <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
wrote:

> Frank,
>
> On the first point, I'd note that the books in question are mine; changing
> the transaction date from MY date to the bank's date would seem to
> contradict that.
>
> I was unaware that the matcher would match transactions that have
> different amounts. That seems worrying.
>
> Generally speaking, if I've entered my own description (whether by
> manually entering it, by a scheduled transaction, or use autofill), I
> prefer to use MY description. Why else would I have done that work in the
> first place?
>
> I don't know about common practice in the EU (which I believe is your
> location), but my experience in the US is that the bank's descriptions are
> meaningless machine mumbo jumbo that begin with a transaction code that
> precludes any meaningful grouping of transactions by description. Accepting
> the bank's descriptions over my own never made any sense to me.
>
> David T.
>
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> From: "Frank H. Ellenberger" <frank.h.ellenberger at gmail.com>
> Sent: Sun Apr 12 18:05:59 GMT+05:30 2020
> To: David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>, "D." <sunfish62 at yahoo.com
> >
> Cc: Gnucash Users <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>, "Eric H. Bowen" <
> eric at ehbowen.net>
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Keeping Imported Transactions from Overwriting Data?
>
> Hi,
>
> Am 11.04.20 um 19:49 schrieb David Carlson:
> > David T,
> >
> > You are right.  I too am not sure why the (U)pdate option overwrites the
> > text of the existing transaction, but I think that it usually is offered
> as
> > the default when the date of the matched transaction is not the same as
> the
> > imported transaction, and possibly when the importer tries to match to a
> > transaction with a slightly different value.  Like you I usually prefer
> to
> > keep the existing text.
>
> There have been reasons why the update option is preferred:
> Date: You give the order on Friday, but the bank executes it on Monday.
> Amount: You use the teller machine of a third party, which charges
> higher fees than expected.
> Description: You enter a short description, but the bank completes it by
> e.g. additional SEPA details, ....
> or you have a scheduled transaction bank->expense:rent with a
> description "Monthly rent", but the real transaction has "Rent for
> <month> <year>"
>
> Question: what are the use cases, where it is the other way?
>
> > I get lazy with trying to match everything during the import when the
> clock
> > is running and Gnucash will soon be wanting to interrupt me with an
> > automatic save, so I often just let everything come in and sort it out
> > later.
>
> I have set autosave to once per day and save manually after finishing
> logical units.
>
> Regards
> Frank
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