[GNC] Best way to upgrade from an old version (2.6.14) to current

[Adrien Monteleone]

Read over John's reply again.

If you want to 'start fresh' then just install 4.4 and then start importing.

I'm not sure if Quicken allows you to export a date range of data. If 
so, then following John's advice, export the very first month of data, 
then import it into GnuCash. Then export the second month, and import.

If Quicken doesn't let you create small exports by date range, and 
instead just get one giant file, then you'll need to open that file 
(probably in a spreadsheet app) and break it up there. Others who have 
followed this path can lend more advice as to which route you need to take.

As you do each import, there is the opportunity to train the import 
matcher. The more imports you do, the more training the matcher learns 
from you. Subsequent imports will thus go faster with less manual 
adjustments on your part. (always adjust *in* the import matcher, don't 
wait till after the import or GnuCash will never learn that adjustment 
for next time)

After a few of these, you can start increasing the date range as GnuCash 
will get more matches right on its own, and leave you less adjustments 
to make for further training. Eventually, you'll likely be able to 
comfortably import a year at a time. (otherwise, you face a daunting 
240+ monthly imports!)

For accounts that benefit from reconciliation against institutional 
statements (bank accounts, credit cards, etc.) you should perform a 
reconciliation procedure *for each such statement period*. You may have 
done this in Quicken already, and I think the importer allows you to 
import transactions as 'reconciled' already. There is some issue with 
this however, and you should probably do fresh reconciliations in 
GnuCash. (also why it might be easier to import one month at a time, 
reconciling after each import, the larger the time spans for import, the 
greater chance of having an error that is proportionally harder to find 
in the larger sea of transactions.)

Above all, take it slow, and don't try to import the entire history from 
Quicken in one go.


Regards,
Adrien

On 1/8/21 12:57 PM, Tfastle via gnucash-user wrote:
> Well, I would first like to say thanks for the very thoughtful and
> informative replies!
> 
> I should have mentioned in my first post that I am not an overly "inner
> works of a computer" savvy person and even less so with the inner workings
> of software some of that was a bit over my head.
> 
> When I first set up GC a few years ago I don't really recall any major
> issues when I imported my quicken file.  I thought I downloaded what was the
> current version of GC and then imported my quicken file.   If that were the
> case I think I would do that now and not bother with updating.  I am
> gathering that was not likely the case.   So, I don’t just import my one
> Quicken file but have to import multiple files or files individually?
> 
> It was mentioned a couple of times that there would be a lot of updating
> taking place.  Is that also the case if I just uninstall and start over?   I
> assume not but gather going that route that the importing of my quicken file
> will be difficult and take a loooong time.  Am I reading that correctly?  I
> should probably make sure it’s clear that all I would be importing is one
> quicken file.  That file does have multiple accounts but really only one
> with much data and that is my main checkbook going back  20+ years.  I
> really only use it as a ledger to track my main ck’ing account and balance
> it.
> 
> My quicken file is one file.  I don’t know how I would import it in
> increments like 3 months at a time.  When I import is there an option to do
> that? Also it was mentioned that the version I have has a bunch of imports.
> In my thinking, it just has the one import but I am sure I am wrong on that.
> Why is my one file import "a bunch of imports?"  I am not clear on
> “performing reconciliations.” After the import will I get a message or
> messages saying, “these transactions need some sort of attention?”   I do
> vaguely remember some of that but it didn’t seem like a lot.
> 
> I am running on Windows 10.  If it’s a matter of just having to install the
> new version and import my quicken file and I can expect few issues I am
> inclined to go that way.  If instead, importing my quicken file will require
> many items to be addressed (reconciled) then it’s probably most wise to
> update.
> 
> I probably was not as clear as I should have been in my first post.