That makes sense. Thank you for the very helpful response and the example. Regards, Patrick
On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 5:45 AM Geert Janssens <geert.gnuc...@kobaltwit.be> wrote: > Op zondag 17 maart 2019 00:55:38 CET schreef Patrick: > > > I would like to import split transacations from a CSV file. Based on the > > > help balloon for it, the "multi-split" option seems to be the way to do > > > this, but I am not sure how to use this option. Is there an example > > > somewhere of how to use this option? > > > > > > To be specific, what I don't understand is that when the multi-split > option > > > is disabled, I can set one column in the CSV to be the "Account", and > > > another column to be the "Transfer Account". Setting these two columns > > > allows me to specify the "credit" and "debit" accounts involved in the > > > transaction. However, when I enable the multi-split option, the option to > > > set a "Transfer Account" goes away. So, I am not sure how to specify the > > > second of the two accounts involved with the transaction when multi-split > > > is enabled. > > > > First off, strictly speaking each transaction is "multi-split" as even the > simplest transaction (a transfer from one account to another) has two > splits: one in the source account and one in the target account. The split > itself doesn't know about the transfer. It only knows which account it > belongs to. > > > > As a real example is always more helpful, let's assume a transaction that > transfers $100 from Account A to Account B. This would be represented with > two splits: > > > > Transaction date 2019-03-18 > > Transaction description "Transfer" > > Split 1: Account A $100 (Withdrawal) > > Split 2: Account B $100 (Deposit) > > > > Converting this in a multi-split csv file that can be imported would yield > something like this: > > Date,Description,Account,Deposit,Withdrawal > > 2019-03-18,Transfer,Account A,,100 > > 2019-03-18,Transfer,Account B,100, > > > > As you can see there is no need for a "Transfer Account" column in this > case. Each split is associated with one account, you only have to define > that account. GnuCash will use the transaction related fields (in this case > only "Date" and "Description") to detect transaction boundaries. As both > fields are identical on each line, GnuCash will assume both splits to be > part of the same transaction. > > > > The single-line import format is a shorthand that can only be used in case > of transactions with at most two splits. For that situation each line > represents such a full transaction and hence may hold information to define > two splits. For that reason it also provides two Account assignments > options (Account and Transfer Account) as each split in that transaction > can have one. So the above translated into a single line csv file would > look like this: > > > > Date,Description,Account,Transfer Account,Deposit > > 2019-03-18,Transfer,Account B,Account A,100 > > > > You could say the single line import format is a special case to simplify > most imports from bank accounts while the multi-split format is more > generic and the only format that will ever be able to import multi-split > (that is more than two splits) transactions (1). > > > > Regards, > > > > Geert > > > > (1) Note there are currently issues with the csv importer for > multi-currency imports or stock imports. These will eventually be resolved > allowing the multi-split format to import every kind of transaction gnucash > supports internally. > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
