[GNC] First time with Quickbooks difficulty

[Robert Heller]

One other point: *DON'T* even make any attempt to export / import 20 years
worth of data all at once. I have never used Quickbooks, but over the years
have done many data migrations of various sorts. It is often best to start
with a *small* subset of the dataset and sometimes best to do any data
migration, even one that you have worked out ALL of the kinks, in small
managable pieces. It might seem to take longer, but if you hit a snag, you
might have to start over from scratch, which will make the whole process take
even longer. Make a backup once each segment completes successfully.

At Sun, 3 Aug 2025 17:28:03 -0700 list+gnucash at jdlh.com wrote:

> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
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