[GNC] Any resolution to the 'red flagged' transactions on batch import problem?

[David Carlson]

The transaction matcher is only making an educated guess.  It will never be
perfect.  If it were perfect, there wouldn't be a need for that step in the
import procedure.  The documentation does make some suggestions that may
improve results with some users and some financial institutions giving
better or worse results.  It can't possibly be better for everyone.

On Fri, Sep 4, 2026 at 7:28 PM Paul Kroitor <paul at kroitor.ca> wrote:

> I have gone back and pulled out the various versions of the implicated
> gnucash, log, and QFX files and put copies in a folder for repeat testing
>
> Repetition of the events show that what's happening is:
>
> Early Sep 1st: 9 scheduled transactions in the account, originating from
> scheduled transactions. ALL ARE DATED SEP 1 and have status "n"
>
> After bank gyrations, download and import QFX: six transactions come in
> from bank, five match date and amount and show in green with action "c".
> One is a wildly different amount than prediction, and shows yellow.
>
> (so far operating as expected)
>
> Early Sep 2nd: 3 scheduled transactions remain status "n" (still dated
> Sep 1). Six more transactions (dated Sep 2) arrive in QFX, three should
> match the three 'n' ones that didn't arrive on Sep 1 -- BUT they show RED*.
>
> ===========
>
> The only difference I can detect between the six that got handled
> "properly" on the 1st and the three that didn't on the 2nd is that the
> download and transaction dates in the second group were the 2nd (1 day
> off the transaction created by the scheduler), whereas in the first
> batch the Gnucash transaction date, the QFX transaction date, and the
> download date all matched as Sep 1.
>
> In fact, if I change the date of the predicted transactions to the 2nd,
> they get imported as green with action "C".
>
> However, my "Import > Likely match day threshold" is set to the default
> (4), and other settings (2 or 6) don't change the behaviour.
>
> So the question stands: why is the importer marking almost identical
> situations in two different ways (red vs green)? The one day difference
> is supposed to be easily tolerated by the matcher, no?
>
> Thanks as always, Paul
>
> PS: I have my test environment intact here in case anyone wants to
> suggests various setting permutations for me to try.
>
> * There are also three new unrelated which (correctly) show as green
> with action "A" checked. I mention this only for completeness.
>
>
> On 2026-09-03 1:02 p.m., Paul Kroitor wrote:
> > Until now, I've been entirely in agreement with this sentiment, but as
> > a result of this discussion I've been keeping an eye on the issue, and
> > now concur with OP that something is fishy.
> >
> > I've changed my process a little here and now have more (about 10)
> > scheduled transactions auto-created at the start of each month.
> > They're set to auto-create 7 days beforehand, so around the 23rd, with
> > all the transaction dates normally expected to occur on the 1st.
> >
> > This month, four or five of them went through the bank and got
> > downloaded on the first, and those (correctly) showed green in the
> > importer. But two went through the next day, and those (unexpectedly)
> > appeared red. As always, when I checked "C", they became green and
> > imported correctly like the prior ones. Very strange.
> >
> >  I can't recall the exact details: for example, did the red ones
> > actually go through the bank on the 1st but get downloaded on the
> > second? There are numerous other minor details that could be different
> > between the two groups of transactions.
> >
> > But something is very definitely resulting in very similar close match
> > situations getting imported differently: some are turning green, and
> > others red, in cases that at first blush are nearly identical. I will
> > pay closer attention next month and try to identify what the actual
> > differences are.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > On 2026-08-21 7:26 p.m., Stephen M. Butler wrote:
> >> On 8/21/26 12:04, Kalpesh Patel wrote:
> >>> Hmm, I have not encountered red colored transaction that is very
> >>> good match (case 2) in six plus years of importing both CSV and
> >>> OFX/QFX files. I would have thought that it would set "C" and show
> >>> green but I guess possibility is there for CSV import. Have you
> >>> encountered as such in imports?
> >>
> >> Yes.
> >>
> >> I saw the match about 10 lines up in the import list.  I clicked the
> >> option to go ahead and import it.
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> gnucash-user mailing list
> >> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> >> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> >> -----
> >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> > _______________________________________________
> > gnucash-user mailing list
> > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> > -----
> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>


-- 
David Carlson