[GNC] First time with Quickbooks difficulty

[list+gnucash at jdlh.com]

Stephen:

Welcome to GnuCash!

On 2025-08-03 17:02, Ken Marshall wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 03, 2025 at 09:26:39PM +0000, Stephen via gnucash-user wrote:
>> Hello,
>> This is my first email and I'm not sure whether to send this, I've only started using Linux last month.
>>
>> Being a small business, I've always used Quickbooks accounts software. But with the change to Linux, Gnu Cash does not allow QBB files being imported. One option was to install Quickbooks using Wine but no luck, I even asked a guy who is an expert on computers but he's unable to resolve this.
>>
>> I am stuck as to how can this be done with 20 years of records in Quickbooks and whether Gnu Cash can be used or not. For now, I am still using Quickbooks on one laptop with Windows, and I need to complete the transition to the second laptop with Linux so that I can stop using Windows from October.
>>
>> Hope someone can guide me.
>>
>> Regards
>> Stephen Gilligan
> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Quickbooks.C2.AE.3F

I was going to point out this FAQ also. Summary: GnuCash can't import 
directly from a QuickBooks file, because that format is secret.

You can search for "transition from Quickbooks to GnuCash", and you will 
likely find several articles by various people who have made this 
transition. (I don't have direct experience to offer, sorry.) Several 
suggest exporting data from QuickBooks to CSV files, then importing 
those CSV files into GnuCash. Expect it to be a finicky and lossy process.

Also, what I recall from previous discussions on this list is to take 
this opportunity to make a clean break.  Pick a cutover date — maybe at 
the start of this fiscal year — and start new books using GnuCash. Keep 
books in parallel for a while, while you learn how to get things done in 
GnuCash. Use your remaining months on QuickBooks to export, export, 
export, and report, report, report. After you stop using QuickBooks, you 
can perhaps answer questions about post finances by looking up details 
in saved reports or data files.

Also, with GnuCash it costs you nothing to create a separate book file 
just for experiments. Try blundering your way through setting up GnuCash 
and importing your QuickBooks data from CSV files. Take notes. Make 
mistakes.  Then throw the test file away, repeat the process with the 
benefit of experience, and do it better.

Good luck! Best regards,
      —Jim DeLaHunt