[GNC] import .OFX fiasco

[Kalpesh Patel]

Be mindful that when you delete a transaction, all sub-components in that transaction are gone regardless of which accounts they are in, along with any amends made after importing it. Each transaction have at least two sub-components but could be more. Reimporting it back in should bring back the transaction but the amends made are not going to survive. Also if you had reconciled accounts where sub-components are then you may possibly would be reconciling them again.

Suggestion is to back up the file (that is if you save it as XML format) before you leap to deleting in bulk or an entire account just in case you have cold feet after seeing the results once the delete is done. 


-----Original Message-----
From: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us> 
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2026 2:25 PM
To: Jeff Albrecht <jeffa at rodaw.com>
Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] import .OFX fiasco

Sure. When you delete the account you’ll be offered a choice about what to do with the transactions, one of which is to delete them. That’s the one you want.

Regards,
John Ralls

> On Jan 12, 2026, at 9:30 AM, Jeff Albrecht <jeffa at rodaw.com> wrote:
> 
> I suspected as much. However in my attempt to keep the original posting short and concise I omitted the fact that there appears to be may duplicate transactions perhaps from incomplete pattern matching during the import of the checking account and the newly created money market account.
> 
> Can I delete the entire Money market account, re create and re import the .OFX file? What effect will that have on matching transactions in other existing accounts.
> 
>  - Jeff
> 
> 
> On 1/12/26 9:15 AM, John Ralls wrote:
>> Jeff,
>> 
>> Deposits to asset accounts *do* go in the debit column and expenditures go to the credit column.. You’re confused by your statements which report your account from the credit union’s point of view where your account is a liability—they owe you the money.
>> 
>> Please study the first chapter of the Tutorial and Concept Guide to get a basic understanding of the principles underlying GnuCash. We always recommend supplementing that with a basic accounting text for better depth.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> John Ralls
>> 
>> 
>>> On Jan 12, 2026, at 08:55, Jeff Albrecht <jeffa at rodaw.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi GNUCash users,
>>> 
>>> (some list members may remember a recent question I had about merging .OFX before import. All the .OFX files were created by the cu. The merge experiment, tabled, never touched my books)
>>> 
>>> I opened a money market account at my Credit Union (cu) in 2025. While importing the entire year of transactions for the new account and others at that same cu via a .OFX import I have mangled my books.
>>> 
>>> My cu accounts are Assets:CurrentAssets. I believe when asked during the import I attached the transactions to a single existing 0 transactions empty Assets:CurrentAssets emtpy Money Market account created from my original import from Quicken or from GNUCash..
>>> 
>>> A transaction report shows what appears to be many (?all?) deposits in the Debit column while many expenditures appear in the Credit column. Possibly wrong account type specified during account creation? Unlikely but possible. I'm no GNUCash power user but I have been using it for seven or more years. Can the account type be changed one created and entries added?
>>> 
>>> Can I delete the entire Money market account, re create and re import the .OFX file? What effect will that have on matching transactions in other existing accounts.
>>> 
>>> Restoring a backup from prior to the input is possible but I would loose hundreds of transactions memo details that are not included in the .OFX entered painstakingly over the course of a day of data entry (ebay amazon etc. item details)
>>> 
>>> Hoping for some insight and possible fix,,,
>>> 
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