Gyle, Whether you delete the imbalance account or not once it is empty is a user preference. Some dislike seeing the imbalance account in their books, and delete it if it is empty. Others (like myself and you) leave that account in place. I leave it because it just reappears again later anyways when you miss an entry.
Also, I'll note that you made a misleading statement late in the first paragraph when you said that "If he deletes the entry, he will delete it from the other accounts as well." In this instance, I think you meant to say "If he deletes the **transaction,** he will delete it from the other accounts as well." It's a minor, yet significant, difference in terminology. An entry (as I understand) is the single line within a transaction, synonymous with the Gnucash term "split." The Transaction is made up of two or more splits/entries. Best, David T. On June 18, 2022 2:57:01 PM EDT, Gyle McCollam <gmccol...@live.com> wrote: >I agree that the matching step is critical when importing and the proper >account should be assigned during import. I also agree that the OP needs to >understand Double Entry accounting better, However, if he has "empty" >transactions in the imbalance account, my bet is that if he clicks on the >split icon in the toolbar, he will see his debit and credit accounts, plus the >empty imbalance account. When correcting the imbalance entry, he needs to >open the split and click on the imbalance entry and change that to the proper >account. I think he added the proper account, entered the amount, then >removed the amount from the imbalance account. Doing it this way you can't >delete the imbalance account, unless you "jump" to one of the other accounts >and delete it from there. If he deletes the entry, he will delete it from the >other accounts as well, which he doesn't want to do. > You state that "Once all funds are re-allocated there should be no entries > remaining and you can safely delete that account." You don't delete the > account, once there are no entries the account it is irrelevant and if you > have it set to not display unused accounts you won't see it unless in the > future there is another entry in there, > > >Thank You, >Gyle McCollam > >Gyle McCollam > >609.680.2326 Mobile > >gmccol...@live.com<mailto:gmccol...@gyleshomes.com> email > >________________________________ >From: gnucash-user <gnucash-user-bounces+gylemc=gmail....@gnucash.org> on >behalf of David Carlson <david.carlson....@gmail.com> >Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2022 1:59 PM >To: Kevin T <neviki...@yahoo.com> >Cc: gnucash-user@gnucash.org <gnucash-user@gnucash.org> >Subject: Re: [GNC] rookie question Imbalance-USD > >First, Imbalance-USD is not an expense account but a top level account, and >it is intended to be used only when an automated function is unable to form >a fully balanced transaction. You are correct that you can look under that >account name to find unbalanced transactions if and when they exist. > >You might find it useful to re-read about double entry bookkeeping in the >various help resources. The F1 key should work while in GnuCash. > >We never use the term "Category" to refer to anything in GnuCash, not even >"Expense" Accounts. > >The fact that you are finding "empty" transactions there indicates that you >are not always deleting references to that account after re-allocating >funds to the desired account. Once all funds are re-allocated there should >be no entries remaining and you can safely delete that account. It will be >re-created if new transactions appear. > >As you noticed, double-clicking is nearly useless in GnuCash. It does work >to change the sort order of columns in some windows. > >When using an import function, GnuCash is trying to learn what Account >transactions have been applied to in the past so it can try to use the same >account with similar transactions. That is why it is important to use the >"Matching" step to correct account assignments before the import process is >closed. > >Lastly, text files in Windows OS always use CR-LF, but other OS's mostly >use CR. This creates confusion when viewing text files in other OS's. > > >On Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 11:54 AM Kevin T via gnucash-user < >gnucash-user@gnucash.org> wrote: > >> I have been populating my accounts with CSV. During the import, the tool >> doesn't have any existing transactions to match, so most of them get >> assigned the expense category 'Imbalance-USD'. >> I am to the point of making sure that accounts are reconciled and >> transactions don't have left over or bad account assignments. Since >> Imbalance is one of those expense categories I thought that would be a good >> place to make sure things are clean. >> I double click that expense category and the tab populates.Most of these >> entries have no value in either the deposit or withdrawal columns.Some >> do.Some even have a transfer account defined and values. >> Sooo.. the stupid questions.. >> If they have a transfer account and values already specified, why is this >> transaction in this expense category?How do I find out from which account >> these transactions were originally created? double clicking does >> nothing.If they contain no values, is it safe to delete them? >> I did import a number of times, trying figuring out the import behavior, >> into temp or no longer existing accounts. Are these left over after >> deleting these accounts? >> version 4.1 windows. >> I have noticed that my original emails contain a ? for every CRLF that >> occurs, when the mailing list distributes this. I am using yahoo mail to >> send this. Is there a way to stop this ? mark 'feature'?? >> >> Kevin >> _______________________________________________ >> 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. >> > > >-- >David Carlson >_______________________________________________ >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. >_______________________________________________ >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. _______________________________________________ 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. 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