[GNC] Does date order matter for Importing Checking Transactions?

[Fran_3]

 Thank you David. Good info.
FYI, I'm importing checking transactions which I downloaded a csv file from the bank, imported into Google Sheets
I re-formatted the columns to have the following...

Date, Num, Description, Deposit, Withdrawal
I then exported this from Google Sheets to a csv file.
(I also set up tabs on the Google Sheet to have the original bank data on tab 1 and a template on tab 2... this way I can automate the reformatting process somewhat.)
Next I imported the csv file for entity one into GC 3.8.
I have a number of entities... each with their own GC file... Business 1, Business 2, Personal Banking, etc
I completed the import into Business 1 yesterday in two parts... 
Import 1... where I had to double click every transaction and assign it to AP or Sales, etc... and
Import 2 which "guessed" the proper account most of the time.
Today I'm importing to another entities GC file with many more transactions... and yes, I'm going to do it in manageable chunks... so the GC importer can train itself to get better and better each time.And yes, I "Rev" the GC file myself as needed and stash the old revisions into their own folder so I can go get 'em if necessary.
One of the Personal Bank Account issues is... since the advent of the bank debit card... nobody carries cash any more so you end up with a zillion little debit card transactions... and no matter weather you import or key them in... it's a pain to assign them to the proper account(s). 

That brings up another question... is there anyway in GC to assign multiple checking transactions at once to a single expense account?
Thanks again for the help.








    On Friday, February 7, 2020, 3:53:17 PM EST, David Cousens <davidcousens at bigpond.com> wrote:  
 
 Fran,

The date shouldn't matter but having them date ordered can help when sorting
out any problems (easier to locate in the data file). David Carlson's reason
for suggesting importing in small batches initially are twofold. 

1. The importer has a Bayesian matcher which will automatically match
existing transactions in your record ( perhaps not too much of a problem) to
avoid duplicates (matches on information mainly in the description field).
It also automatically matches the transfer accounts on the second split of
the transaction if it can. The training information for this is the import
process itself and the account assignements you make in the importer.
Corrections you make after import in the account register will not be
included in the training data.  With QIF these,may be specified. If GnuCash
has to assign the transfer account (I can't remember if the accounts for
both splits are specified in QIF files) this will eventually speed up the
importing. If  the accounts are specified in the QIF there is a matching
step in which the accounts specified in the import data are matched to the
imported accounts and that mapping is stored for use on subsequent imports.

2. If a relatively small import doesn't work out, you can manually delete
the transactions and start again much more easily. A strategy which can help
with this is to exit and restart GnuCash between each import batch. This
will force the creation of a backup file and log file in the directory your
GnuCash data file is located (it is also agood practice to locate each data
file you may have in its own directory/folder). In this case if your data
was OK up to the last import, you can go back to the last backup data file,
rename the current data file as old, rename the backup file as your data
file and then repeat the import (after identifying any problems and fixing
them) without having to delete all the transactions. Deleting transactions
can only be done one by one and can get very tedious. If your import affects
several registers , which I think it can with QIF imports it can be fun
locating them all to delete.

If a transfer account is not specified during input Gnucash will normally
assign an account named Imbalance as the transfer account. This serves the
same purpose as the  "Un-allocated Expenditures" or "Sort Later" or "No Tax
Impact Purchases" although you can still do the latter if it makes your task
easier.  Check the Imbalance account after importing though. It should have
a 0 balance and no transactions to it and any transactions which end up in
it will need correcting.

Good luck

David Cousens



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David Cousens
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