Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 1/9/2024 2:15 PM, Glenn Serre wrote:

Good morning Barry,

Regarding entering transactions into gnucash: I import QFX files that
I download monthly.

I migrated from Quickbooks and Quicken more than a decade ago (I last
ordered Quicken in 2008),


Both are Intuit products, but QuickBooks and Quicken not the same thing.


Moving from Quicken to Gnucash has a learning curve, because Gnucash is 
standard double entry bookkeeping while Quicken is sort of faking it. 
Have to learn the basics of double entry bookkeeping.


Moving from QuickBooks to Gnucash has a minimal learning curve because 
like Gnucash, QuickBooks is standard double entry bookkeeping.


I consider it good advice that absolute beginners to double entry start 
out using formal labels (debit and credit) and enter in "journal mode". 
That way you get to see what you are (actually) doing, and the closeness 
to pen and ink on paper (except automatic posting; none of those pesky 
transcription errors during manual posting) will let you use almost any 
book to learn from. Switch to using the shortcuts later.



Michael D Novack


___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Glenn Serre]

Good morning Barry,

Regarding entering transactions into gnucash: I import QFX files that
I download monthly.

I migrated from Quickbooks and Quicken more than a decade ago (I last
ordered Quicken in 2008), and manage 7 small businesses with a total
of at least 12 checking accounts and a similar number of credit cards
(the business ones rarely get used, though).  Every month I download
monthly statements and the corresponding monthly QFX transaction
records and other information from the bank websites and save them in
a directory tree. Every month, I import the QFX transactions from the
downloaded files and so don't manually enter transactions.  I run
gnucash on debian linux.

I used to import transactions via the Online Actions (OFX direct
connect), but banks have been dropping support for OFX direct connect.
I find the download then import scheme to be no more annoying than I
found direct connect to be.  For BMO, transaction downloads can be
initiated via an appropriately-formatted URL that I generate via a
short python program that I'd be happy to share.  My main annoyance
with BMO is that the transaction records (in both statement and QFX
file) include very little detail.  I address this with other python
programs, one to parse the zelle transaction emails that I receive and
another to parse json-formatted electronic transfer activity.

I have not even considered going back to Quicken.

-- Glenn S.

On Tue, Jan 9, 2024 at 12:49 AM barry milliken
 wrote:
>
> Thanks for your answer.
> When I said personal accounting I oversimplified.
> My wife and I both have independent consulting businesses.
> That means we have 3 bank accounts and six credit cards for a total of 9 
> "accounts" (transaction sources)
> Managing downloads manually would be too cumbersome.
> How does Gnucash allow me display my source accounts separately?
> Thanks
>
>
> Barry Milliken
> 
> From: R Losey 
> Sent: Monday, January 8, 2024 11:17:58 AM
> To: barry milliken 
> Cc: gnucash-user@gnucash.org 
> Subject: Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken
>
> I, too, left Quicken about 8 years ago and changed to GnuCash. I had a slight 
> familiarity with double-entry accounting, and I've seldom had any issues with 
> GnuCash.
>
> I thought about importing Quicken data, but then decided against it... I 
> reasoned that if I really did need to reference something I had in Quicken, I 
> could open those files.  In fact, I think I opened Quicken two or three times 
> in the first couple of years, and haven't touched it since. It's just 
> something to think about.
>
> I had trouble getting the downloads from financial institutions to work, so I 
> do them manually and regularly reconcile. I don't really miss this function, 
> but it is possible.
>
> As you will have heard, GnuCash doesn't have "categories"; it has "accounts". 
> At the risk of offending a great multitude of GnuCash users, from the 
> practical point of view, GnuCash accounts are very much like categories in 
> Quicken. I know that they are not really the same thing, but as a former 
> Quicken user, they are.
>
> In my experience, the one thing I had trouble with in GnuCash were the 
> reports - most of them seem to need some kind of tweaking to get them to do 
> what is wanted. Here's another thing to think about: instead of assigning 
> accounts as "tax deductible", if you have an account whose transactions are 
> deductible (such as charitable giving, you can create a report for just these 
> accounts. You just need the discipline to only enter deductible items in such 
> accounts. I do know that there is a US tax setup feature, but I haven't made  
> full use of that -- and the report using the accounts I want to know about 
> for tax reasons works well enough for my needs.
>
> RL
>
> On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 9:50 PM barry milliken 
> mailto:barry.milli...@outlook.com>> wrote:
> I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do what I 
> want.
>
> My list of functions is small:
> I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize transactions for 
> tax reporting.
> Can GNUcash do these things:
> - import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
> - allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
> - allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
> - create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax 
> deductible or not.
> - report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.
>
> That's all I care about.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Barry Milliken
>
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@gnucash.org<mailto:gnucash-user@gnucash.org>
> To 

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Adrien Monteleone]

That is a question best answered to your satisfaction and understanding 
by using the software.


Download the Manual and the Tutorial & Concepts guide, launch GnuCash 
and start playing around a bit. (enter manually at first and hold off on 
downloads and imports until you get familiar with the basics)


You'll have more than just your source accounts, you'll also have 
accounts for expenses, other assets (house, car, investments), income, 
and other liabilities (loans).


I highly recommend the following as you are just starting out:

1. Turn on Transaction Journal View. (per register in the View menu, or 
as a global default preference) This will help you visually learn 
double-entry accounting.


2. Turn on Double-Line mode. (same) This will give you a 
transaction-level notes field.


3. Do not combine *anything* from bills or receipts. Enter each line 
item separately assigned to their respective accounts, even if each line 
in the transaction goes to the same account.


4. #3 includes tax. Unless you are in a tax inclusive jurisdiction and 
*do not* need to track it, it is much easier to enter tax as its own 
line item assigned to a tax expense account than to try to distribute 
that tax amongst the various other line items.


5. Enter as much descriptive info for each line item as you can stand in 
the Memo for each 'split'.


While #3–5 sound like a lot of effort, you'll find the auto-complete 
feature will start to do most of the work for you. And invariably, at 
some point in the future, you will want to 're-categorize' spending to 
different accounts at some point as you get more familiar with the 
software. If line items are combined, you won't be able to do so unless 
you retained the original receipt/bill or a copy of it with that level 
of detail.


No.4 will save you lots of time and needless math. This will be readily 
apparent for receipts that cover multiple expense accounts. (BigBox 
retailers especially)


No.5 will come in handy in the future when analyzing spending, but also 
for when you invariably decide you want to re-categorize it. That level 
of detail will assist you greatly.


-

Most folks here are happy to assist and answer any questions you have, 
but at some point, you're just going to have to make the effort to use 
the software and see for yourself. Your understanding of the answer will 
also be much better than just reading it.


Regards,
Adrien

On 1/8/24 11:33 AM, barry milliken wrote:

How does Gnucash allow me display my source accounts separately?


___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Michael or Penny Novack]

On 1/8/2024 12:33 PM, barry milliken wrote:

Thanks for your answer.
When I said personal accounting I oversimplified.
My wife and I both have independent consulting businesses.
That means we have 3 bank accounts and six credit cards for a total of 9 
"accounts" (transaction sources)
Managing downloads manually would be too cumbersome.



How does Gnucash allow me display my source accounts separately?
Thanks


This question means you have to learn the basics of double entry 
bookkeeping. Start with the tutorial and  then perhaps work your way 
through a typical bookkeeping/accounting 101 text (paper or on-line)


EVERY transaction (in double entry bookkeeping) has at least one account 
being debited and one account being credited. And best to forget about 
ideas like "source" (of money), especially as you might have a few 
transactions where no money is actually being moved << note: not only is 
Quicken not proper double entry bookkeeping but it is mimicking just the 
"cashbook" subset of double entry << when the "cashbook" shortcut in use 
for the majority of transactions, the simplest ones -- I did this in the 
old pen and ink on paper days >>


Michael D Novack

___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[barry milliken]

Thanks for your answer.
When I said personal accounting I oversimplified.
My wife and I both have independent consulting businesses.
That means we have 3 bank accounts and six credit cards for a total of 9 
"accounts" (transaction sources)
Managing downloads manually would be too cumbersome.
How does Gnucash allow me display my source accounts separately?
Thanks


Barry Milliken

From: R Losey 
Sent: Monday, January 8, 2024 11:17:58 AM
To: barry milliken 
Cc: gnucash-user@gnucash.org 
Subject: Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

I, too, left Quicken about 8 years ago and changed to GnuCash. I had a slight 
familiarity with double-entry accounting, and I've seldom had any issues with 
GnuCash.

I thought about importing Quicken data, but then decided against it... I 
reasoned that if I really did need to reference something I had in Quicken, I 
could open those files.  In fact, I think I opened Quicken two or three times 
in the first couple of years, and haven't touched it since. It's just something 
to think about.

I had trouble getting the downloads from financial institutions to work, so I 
do them manually and regularly reconcile. I don't really miss this function, 
but it is possible.

As you will have heard, GnuCash doesn't have "categories"; it has "accounts". 
At the risk of offending a great multitude of GnuCash users, from the practical 
point of view, GnuCash accounts are very much like categories in Quicken. I 
know that they are not really the same thing, but as a former Quicken user, 
they are.

In my experience, the one thing I had trouble with in GnuCash were the reports 
- most of them seem to need some kind of tweaking to get them to do what is 
wanted. Here's another thing to think about: instead of assigning accounts as 
"tax deductible", if you have an account whose transactions are deductible 
(such as charitable giving, you can create a report for just these accounts. 
You just need the discipline to only enter deductible items in such accounts. I 
do know that there is a US tax setup feature, but I haven't made  full use of 
that -- and the report using the accounts I want to know about for tax reasons 
works well enough for my needs.

RL

On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 9:50 PM barry milliken 
mailto:barry.milli...@outlook.com>> wrote:
I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do what I 
want.

My list of functions is small:
I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize transactions for 
tax reporting.
Can GNUcash do these things:
- import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
- allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
- allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
- create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax 
deductible or not.
- report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.

That's all I care about.

Thanks


Barry Milliken

___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@gnucash.org<mailto:gnucash-user@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.


--
_
Richard Losey
rlo...@gmail.com<mailto:rlo...@gmail.com>
Micah 6:8
___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[David T. via gnucash-user]

I will echo R Losey's comments but also add that over the years, I've used (and 
abandoned) the various download transactional data features in favor of manual 
entry. 

First, many institutions have become restrictive in their download offerings 
and refuse to consider anything outside the commercial banking software 
ecosystem. In the US, that means Intuit. 

Second, Gnucash allows rapid transaction input (by memorizing previous 
transactions and copying them in for you) that can speed data entry immensely. 
(Aside, I understand that recent updates of this feature have been a little 
controversial)

Third, downloaded data needs to be validated and confirmed by me, which takes 
time. 

As a consequence of all this, I have found that importing took more work than 
just biting the bullet and doing it by hand. 

For what it's worth, I'm tracking at least three checking accounts, three 
taxable investment accounts, six retirement accounts, four pension accounts, 
and two credit card accounts. 

And using Gnucash 4.12, because I'm slow to innovate. 

⁣David T.​

On Jan 9, 2024, 3:06 AM, at 3:06 AM, R Losey  wrote:
>We've just trained ourselves to enter the data manually. It IS possible
>to
>download into GC; I just haven't used it.
>
>You can create separate asset accounts -- we also have more than one
>checking account, and we just have them as separate accounts and enter
>the
>data separately.  You can name them whatever makes sense to you:
>"Barry's
>Business Checking", "Joint Checking", "Susan's Business Checking" --
>for
>example.
>
>If you mean in reports, all reports are configurable; most (if not all)
>of
>them allow you to choose the accounts on which to report.
>
>On Mon, Jan 8, 2024 at 11:33 AM barry milliken
>
>wrote:
>
>> Thanks for your answer.
>> When I said personal accounting I oversimplified.
>> My wife and I both have independent consulting businesses.
>> That means we have 3 bank accounts and six credit cards for a total
>of 9
>> "accounts" (transaction sources)
>> Managing downloads manually would be too cumbersome.
>> How does Gnucash allow me display my source accounts separately?
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>> Barry Milliken
>> --------------
>> *From:* R Losey 
>> *Sent:* Monday, January 8, 2024 11:17:58 AM
>> *To:* barry milliken 
>> *Cc:* gnucash-user@gnucash.org 
>> *Subject:* Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken
>>
>> I, too, left Quicken about 8 years ago and changed to GnuCash. I had
>a
>> slight familiarity with double-entry accounting, and I've seldom had
>any
>> issues with GnuCash.
>>
>> I thought about importing Quicken data, but then decided against
>it... I
>> reasoned that if I really did need to reference something I had in
>Quicken,
>> I could open those files.  In fact, I think I opened Quicken two or
>three
>> times in the first couple of years, and haven't touched it since.
>It's just
>> something to think about.
>>
>> I had trouble getting the downloads from financial institutions to
>work,
>> so I do them manually and regularly reconcile. I don't really miss
>this
>> function, but it is possible.
>>
>> As you will have heard, GnuCash doesn't have "categories"; it has
>> "accounts". At the risk of offending a great multitude of GnuCash
>users,
>> from the practical point of view, GnuCash accounts are very much like
>> categories in Quicken. I know that they are not really the same
>thing, but
>> as a former Quicken user, they are.
>>
>> In my experience, the one thing I had trouble with in GnuCash were
>the
>> reports - most of them seem to need some kind of tweaking to get them
>to do
>> what is wanted. Here's another thing to think about: instead of
>assigning
>> accounts as "tax deductible", if you have an account whose
>transactions are
>> deductible (such as charitable giving, you can create a report for
>just
>> these accounts. You just need the discipline to only enter deductible
>items
>> in such accounts. I do know that there is a US tax setup feature, but
>I
>> haven't made  full use of that -- and the report using the accounts I
>want
>> to know about for tax reasons works well enough for my needs.
>>
>> RL
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 9:50 PM barry milliken
>
>> wrote:
>>
>> I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do
>what
>> I want.
>>
>> My list of functions is small:
>> I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize
>transactions
>> for tax reporting.
>> Can GNUcas

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[R Losey]

We've just trained ourselves to enter the data manually. It IS possible to
download into GC; I just haven't used it.

You can create separate asset accounts -- we also have more than one
checking account, and we just have them as separate accounts and enter the
data separately.  You can name them whatever makes sense to you: "Barry's
Business Checking", "Joint Checking", "Susan's Business Checking" -- for
example.

If you mean in reports, all reports are configurable; most (if not all) of
them allow you to choose the accounts on which to report.

On Mon, Jan 8, 2024 at 11:33 AM barry milliken 
wrote:

> Thanks for your answer.
> When I said personal accounting I oversimplified.
> My wife and I both have independent consulting businesses.
> That means we have 3 bank accounts and six credit cards for a total of 9
> "accounts" (transaction sources)
> Managing downloads manually would be too cumbersome.
> How does Gnucash allow me display my source accounts separately?
> Thanks
>
>
> Barry Milliken
> --
> *From:* R Losey 
> *Sent:* Monday, January 8, 2024 11:17:58 AM
> *To:* barry milliken 
> *Cc:* gnucash-user@gnucash.org 
> *Subject:* Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken
>
> I, too, left Quicken about 8 years ago and changed to GnuCash. I had a
> slight familiarity with double-entry accounting, and I've seldom had any
> issues with GnuCash.
>
> I thought about importing Quicken data, but then decided against it... I
> reasoned that if I really did need to reference something I had in Quicken,
> I could open those files.  In fact, I think I opened Quicken two or three
> times in the first couple of years, and haven't touched it since. It's just
> something to think about.
>
> I had trouble getting the downloads from financial institutions to work,
> so I do them manually and regularly reconcile. I don't really miss this
> function, but it is possible.
>
> As you will have heard, GnuCash doesn't have "categories"; it has
> "accounts". At the risk of offending a great multitude of GnuCash users,
> from the practical point of view, GnuCash accounts are very much like
> categories in Quicken. I know that they are not really the same thing, but
> as a former Quicken user, they are.
>
> In my experience, the one thing I had trouble with in GnuCash were the
> reports - most of them seem to need some kind of tweaking to get them to do
> what is wanted. Here's another thing to think about: instead of assigning
> accounts as "tax deductible", if you have an account whose transactions are
> deductible (such as charitable giving, you can create a report for just
> these accounts. You just need the discipline to only enter deductible items
> in such accounts. I do know that there is a US tax setup feature, but I
> haven't made  full use of that -- and the report using the accounts I want
> to know about for tax reasons works well enough for my needs.
>
> RL
>
> On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 9:50 PM barry milliken 
> wrote:
>
> I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do what
> I want.
>
> My list of functions is small:
> I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize transactions
> for tax reporting.
> Can GNUcash do these things:
> - import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
> - allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
> - allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
> - create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax
> deductible or not.
> - report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.
>
> That's all I care about.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Barry Milliken
>
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@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.
>
>
>
> --
> _
> Richard Losey
> rlo...@gmail.com
> Micah 6:8
>


-- 
_
Richard Losey
rlo...@gmail.com
Micah 6:8
___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[sunfish62--- via gnucash-user]

For the record, the US tax features in GnuCash function by assigning accounts 
to specific tax lines, much like your approach. 

It's helpful insofar as it guides your accounting decisions (what types of 
entries I need to track for tax purposes, etc.), but it doesn't make your 
decisions for you. Once setup, it's very easy to use. 

⁣David T.​

On Jan 8, 2024, 7:19 PM, at 7:19 PM, R Losey  wrote:
>I, too, left Quicken about 8 years ago and changed to GnuCash. I had a
>slight familiarity with double-entry accounting, and I've seldom had
>any
>issues with GnuCash.
>
>I thought about importing Quicken data, but then decided against it...
>I
>reasoned that if I really did need to reference something I had in
>Quicken,
>I could open those files.  In fact, I think I opened Quicken two or
>three
>times in the first couple of years, and haven't touched it since. It's
>just
>something to think about.
>
>I had trouble getting the downloads from financial institutions to
>work, so
>I do them manually and regularly reconcile. I don't really miss this
>function, but it is possible.
>
>As you will have heard, GnuCash doesn't have "categories"; it has
>"accounts". At the risk of offending a great multitude of GnuCash
>users,
>from the practical point of view, GnuCash accounts are very much like
>categories in Quicken. I know that they are not really the same thing,
>but
>as a former Quicken user, they are.
>
>In my experience, the one thing I had trouble with in GnuCash were the
>reports - most of them seem to need some kind of tweaking to get them
>to do
>what is wanted. Here's another thing to think about: instead of
>assigning
>accounts as "tax deductible", if you have an account whose transactions
>are
>deductible (such as charitable giving, you can create a report for just
>these accounts. You just need the discipline to only enter deductible
>items
>in such accounts. I do know that there is a US tax setup feature, but I
>haven't made  full use of that -- and the report using the accounts I
>want
>to know about for tax reasons works well enough for my needs.
>
>RL
>
>On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 9:50 PM barry milliken
>
>wrote:
>
>> I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do
>what
>> I want.
>>
>> My list of functions is small:
>> I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize
>transactions
>> for tax reporting.
>> Can GNUcash do these things:
>> - import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
>> - allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit
>cards.
>> - allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
>> - create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as
>tax
>> deductible or not.
>> - report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.
>>
>> That's all I care about.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>> Barry Milliken
>>
>> ___
>> gnucash-user mailing list
>> gnucash-user@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.
>>
>
>
>-- 
>_
>Richard Losey
>rlo...@gmail.com
>Micah 6:8
>___
>gnucash-user mailing list
>gnucash-user@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@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Kalpesh Patel]

Old but still good source of information: 
https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=234157

If the file has many years of data then suggestion is to start the account with 
the most amount of transaction to least and start with Bank/CC/Loans types of 
accounts first before going to Investment type of accounts. I recall providing 
good details on my experience of migrating from Quicken 2017 to GNC back in 
2020s so might be worth searching the archive for it. 

For certain things I still fire up Quicken and I did have to learn double-entry 
method as I was not familiar with. Just one quick thing to keep in mind: 
Quicken categories become GNC accounts as mentioned by R Losey. I initially 
exported the account tree in Quicken and imported into GNC as the first thing 
using QIF format which prevented a lot of annoying pop-up asking if you want to 
do this or that in GNC. It took few iteration to get it right before settling 
on the final time. Experimenting and making backup copies in GNC is key to 
fail-fast and recover quick when things do not go the way you expect. Also be 
prepared to potentially looks and review through QIF file in a text editor as 
there are times when GNC expects precise info while exported QIF file may not 
have it or may have it wrong.

-Original Message-
From: R Losey  
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2024 11:18 AM
To: barry milliken 
Cc: gnucash-user@gnucash.org
Subject: Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

I, too, left Quicken about 8 years ago and changed to GnuCash. I had a slight 
familiarity with double-entry accounting, and I've seldom had any issues with 
GnuCash.

I thought about importing Quicken data, but then decided against it... I 
reasoned that if I really did need to reference something I had in Quicken, I 
could open those files.  In fact, I think I opened Quicken two or three times 
in the first couple of years, and haven't touched it since. It's just something 
to think about.

I had trouble getting the downloads from financial institutions to work, so I 
do them manually and regularly reconcile. I don't really miss this function, 
but it is possible.

As you will have heard, GnuCash doesn't have "categories"; it has "accounts". 
At the risk of offending a great multitude of GnuCash users, from the practical 
point of view, GnuCash accounts are very much like categories in Quicken. I 
know that they are not really the same thing, but as a former Quicken user, 
they are.

In my experience, the one thing I had trouble with in GnuCash were the reports 
- most of them seem to need some kind of tweaking to get them to do what is 
wanted. Here's another thing to think about: instead of assigning accounts as 
"tax deductible", if you have an account whose transactions are deductible 
(such as charitable giving, you can create a report for just these accounts. 
You just need the discipline to only enter deductible items in such accounts. I 
do know that there is a US tax setup feature, but I haven't made  full use of 
that -- and the report using the accounts I want to know about for tax reasons 
works well enough for my needs.

RL

On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 9:50 PM barry milliken 
wrote:

> I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do 
> what I want.
>
> My list of functions is small:
> I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize 
> transactions for tax reporting.
> Can GNUcash do these things:
> - import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
> - allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
> - allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
> - create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as 
> tax deductible or not.
> - report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.
>
> That's all I care about.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Barry Milliken
>
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@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.
>


--
_
Richard Losey
rlo...@gmail.com
Micah 6:8


___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[R Losey]

I, too, left Quicken about 8 years ago and changed to GnuCash. I had a
slight familiarity with double-entry accounting, and I've seldom had any
issues with GnuCash.

I thought about importing Quicken data, but then decided against it... I
reasoned that if I really did need to reference something I had in Quicken,
I could open those files.  In fact, I think I opened Quicken two or three
times in the first couple of years, and haven't touched it since. It's just
something to think about.

I had trouble getting the downloads from financial institutions to work, so
I do them manually and regularly reconcile. I don't really miss this
function, but it is possible.

As you will have heard, GnuCash doesn't have "categories"; it has
"accounts". At the risk of offending a great multitude of GnuCash users,
from the practical point of view, GnuCash accounts are very much like
categories in Quicken. I know that they are not really the same thing, but
as a former Quicken user, they are.

In my experience, the one thing I had trouble with in GnuCash were the
reports - most of them seem to need some kind of tweaking to get them to do
what is wanted. Here's another thing to think about: instead of assigning
accounts as "tax deductible", if you have an account whose transactions are
deductible (such as charitable giving, you can create a report for just
these accounts. You just need the discipline to only enter deductible items
in such accounts. I do know that there is a US tax setup feature, but I
haven't made  full use of that -- and the report using the accounts I want
to know about for tax reasons works well enough for my needs.

RL

On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 9:50 PM barry milliken 
wrote:

> I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do what
> I want.
>
> My list of functions is small:
> I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize transactions
> for tax reporting.
> Can GNUcash do these things:
> - import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
> - allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
> - allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
> - create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax
> deductible or not.
> - report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.
>
> That's all I care about.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Barry Milliken
>
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@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.
>


-- 
_
Richard Losey
rlo...@gmail.com
Micah 6:8
___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

[GNC] Moving from quicken

[Paras Desai]

In order to have tax report GNUCASH offers some options

1. If you are from USA, you can use GNUCASH inbuilt tax report

2. For non usa users, there are few work around, which i have adopted

A. Create income account and in its name add suffix taxable

Or

B. While posting income add "tax" in description.

Then run account or transaction report, in option menu filter "contains tax in 
description"

Or select account including child account which contains tax in its description.

All transactions or balance for the period selected will be there in the report 
generated.


This may need some practice or couple of attempts, but the report will be 
useful for knowing taxable income

Of course while posting you get to know which income is taxable and which is 
not.

Hope this helps

With regards

Paras

Get Outlook for Android
___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Fross, Michael]

I would also add that the ability to download from your bank is VERY
dependent on the bank's support of non-Quicken downloads.  My banks, for
example, no longer allow OFX (I'm in the US) downloads unless it's Quicken.

The good news is you can test all of this out in parallel before you
make your decision.  I left Quicken 9 years ago and have been much happier
in GNUCash, but your needs may differ.

Michael

On Sun, Jan 7, 2024 at 11:11 AM Michael or Penny Novack <
stepbystepf...@comcast.net> wrote:

> But THESE are done differently in standard double entry bookkeeping.
>
> - allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
> - create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax
> deductible or not.
>
> You will be creating ACCOUNTS and these can be in a hierarchy. Thus under
> the account "expenses" you could have two children, "tax deductible" and
> "non-tax deductible". Under these you would create child accounts.
>
> I suggest at a minimum you read the tutorial about the basics of double
> entry bookkeeping. A standard "101" text would be even better. The issue is
> that there can be only ONE hierarchy of accounts (called the chart of
> accounts, aka CoA) so when you want the effect of a transaction being in
> more than one "category" you have to give the CoA a finer structure, and
> for reports on just a "category" you may need to to account selection*
>
> Michael D Novack
>
> * quicker/easier to just run the full report, export that, and edit the
> raw report data to discard what you don't want.
>
> milliken wrote:
> > I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do
> what I want.
> >
> > My list of functions is small:
> > I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize transactions
> for tax reporting.
> > Can GNUcash do these things:
> > - import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
> > - allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
> > - allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
> > - create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as
> tax deductible or not.
> > - report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.
> >
> > That's all I care about.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ___
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@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@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Ken Farley]

Others will likely help you get going on things like downloading bank 
transactions and the other things. As far as bringing Quicken data over 
to Gnucash, I did a big block of that a little over a year ago, because 
I wanted to have all the history available. Here's a regurgitation of a 
long message I wrote to a previous inquiry, detailing my process.



--- [ Past Message about Quicken Data Transfer ] ---

I just did this for about 12 years of old Quicken data. I've had dozens
of different accounts over the years, most of which are gone.

My technique was arrived at after trying a lot of different things,
reading the Wiki, etc.

First, I had to get my hands on an old computer that I could use to
install my Q 2011 (from CD, of all things).

I installed Quicken 2011 and plugged in a USB stick with all my old QDF
files.

After trying a lot of things, getting a massive mess of nonsense, etc. I
arrived at a method that worked really well for me.

I arbitrarily decided I'd tackle the data one year at a time.

I had Quicken spit out a QIF for the first year of interest, 2000, with
a complete set of data from its beginnings (in 1990s) until 2000-12-31.
I don't know about your previous software, but I found I had to
*explicitly* dictate the program to give me all the data. It defaulted to
just what it considered important, skipping stuff like securities and
other important stuff.

I started a new Gnucash file, cancelling out of the account creation it
starts with. I didn't want to set up any accounts, 'cause I learned it
was easier to rename and reorganize the stuff pulled in from the QIF
file than try to remember the admittedly unrefined organization I
implemented 20 years ago.

I imported the 2000 and earlier QIF file, taking everything it had. For
me, all the accounts except a few were brought into Gnucash as top
level. This is good I thought, because I was then able to move things
into the appropriate sub-accounts, like Assets, Expenses, and the like.

Now was the toughest part. Re-organizing. I created a "proper" structure
of top-level accounts and sub-accounts, in line with what I do in my
current Gnucash data files. I found in previous experimentation that it
was best if I moved virtually all the accounts created by the QIF import
into sub-accounts. For example, what came in as

"ABC Checking Account"

was now in

"Assets->Bank->Checking->ABC Checking Account"

Reorganizing let me take all the weird things Quicken does (it handles
stock splits in a goofy way, for example) and implement them in the
Gnucash fashion, which is really much more understandable. Quicken also
seems to have allowed me to make stupid mistakes that I was hopefully
able to correct during my review and reorganization.

Once I had that first years worth of stuff imported and fixed up, the
next steps were easier.

Read the next year's worth of data in. I don't know what you intend to
do, or currently do, but I keep my taxes, income, expenses in
sub-accounts for each year. Bringing in each year's data (from, for
example, 2001-01-01 to 2001-12-31) I could easily re-organize it into
the proper sub-account structure. It's a lot of editing and checking,
but hey, you've gotta have a hobby, right?

The two Gnucash program features that were amazingly helpful for this
task were:

(1) Editing accounts and changing their parent. This makes re-organizing
the structure incredibly easy.

(2) Being able to delete an account and move its transactions to another
account. This was how I got all the transactions for the year's data I
just read in to be included in the previous years' data. For example I
can delete the "ABC Checking Account" from the most recent year's data
and put all the transactions into the "Assets->Bank->Checking->ABC
Checking Account" one.


So, it's a tedious process, but you can work through it pretty quickly
once you get the knack. I'll say this, I'm amazed at how nice Gnucash is
to do this kind of massive data manipulation. Quicken gave me a lot of
"unspecified" stuff, probably my fault for entering it improperly, but
Gnucash let me clean it up pretty easily. And the aforementioned account
editing was a lifesaver.

Hopefully your previous software is available to let you export
sufficient data for import into Gnucash. If you want to have all that
historical data it is really nice. Plus, even with a file with hundreds
and hundreds of accounts and a decade of data, Gnucash is incredibly
fast to read it and let me navigate around. And I have all my old stuff
at hand, instead of buried in data files I honestly couldn't read anymore.
___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[Michael or Penny Novack]

But THESE are done differently in standard double entry bookkeeping.

- allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
- create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax 
deductible or not.

You will be creating ACCOUNTS and these can be in a hierarchy. Thus under the account "expenses" 
you could have two children, "tax deductible" and "non-tax deductible". Under these you 
would create child accounts.

I suggest at a minimum you read the tutorial about the basics of double entry bookkeeping. A standard 
"101" text would be even better. The issue is that there can be only ONE hierarchy of accounts 
(called the chart of accounts, aka CoA) so when you want the effect of a transaction being in more than one 
"category" you have to give the CoA a finer structure, and for reports on just a 
"category" you may need to to account selection*

Michael D Novack

* quicker/easier to just run the full report, export that, and edit the raw 
report data to discard what you don't want.

milliken wrote:

I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do what I 
want.

My list of functions is small:
I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize transactions for 
tax reporting.
Can GNUcash do these things:
- import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
- allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
- allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
- create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax 
deductible or not.
- report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.

That's all I care about.







___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.

Re: [GNC] Moving from Quicken

[sunfish62--- via gnucash-user]

Yes. These topics are all covered in the documentation and the wiki.

⁣David T.​

On Jan 7, 2024, 4:50 AM, at 4:50 AM, barry milliken 
 wrote:
>I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do
>what I want.
>
>My list of functions is small:
>I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize
>transactions for tax reporting.
>Can GNUcash do these things:
>- import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
>- allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit
>cards.
>- allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
>- create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as
>tax deductible or not.
>- report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.
>
>That's all I care about.
>
>Thanks
>
>
>Barry Milliken
>
>___
>gnucash-user mailing list
>gnucash-user@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@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.

[GNC] Moving from Quicken

[barry milliken]

I've been frustrated using Quicken for years.  Maybe GNUcash will do what I 
want.

My list of functions is small:
I use Quicken for personal accounting, mainly to categorize transactions for 
tax reporting.
Can GNUcash do these things:
- import data from a Quicken QDF file as a starting point.
- allow downloads of transactions from my bank accounts and credit cards.
- allow me to assign a category to each transaction.
- create categories (or import quicken categories) and assign each as tax 
deductible or not.
- report and summarize tax deductible transaction at tax time.

That's all I care about.

Thanks


Barry Milliken

___
gnucash-user mailing list
gnucash-user@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.