Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
If you need a site up quickly as a local install, check out TurnKeyLinux. They have server appliances you can download and install in a VM or even just open in a VM skipping the installation part. They also have cloud images for the various major cloud providers if that is your preference. I spun up a Wordpress appliance on a new machine the other day in about 10 minutes, and that included installing Virtualbox first, and then migrating an already in-progress site over to it. On that note, a TurnKeyLinux appliance with GnuCash using MySQL would be interesting. Regards, Adrien > On May 7, 2019, at 12:17 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > I used Sqlite and Python for a project a few years ago. SQLite was great, > including a few third-party viewers. The Python binding was a bit much to > comfortably wrap my brain around as fast as I wanted to. I was learning > Python, SQL, and re-learning HTML forms and static-state programming, all at > the same time, and making printable forms. Python has a really nice minimal > server for local websites. > > I tried Apache and PHP for a local installation of WordPress and was not > happy with it. Too many settings that I didn't understand. > ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
I used Sqlite and Python for a project a few years ago. SQLite was great, including a few third-party viewers. The Python binding was a bit much to comfortably wrap my brain around as fast as I wanted to. I was learning Python, SQL, and re-learning HTML forms and static-state programming, all at the same time, and making printable forms. Python has a really nice minimal server for local websites. I tried Apache and PHP for a local installation of WordPress and was not happy with it. Too many settings that I didn't understand. On Sat, 27 Apr 2019 at 12:29, Adrien Monteleone < adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > > > > On Apr 26, 2019, at 9:49 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > > > On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 at 22:14, Tommy Trussell > > wrote: > > > >> > >> On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:49 PM Cricket Onebit < > cricketbeauti...@gmail.com> > >> wrote: > >> > >>> The speed thing is disappointing. I thought 3.5 fixed that, but maybe > not > >>> enough. I planned to save as XML to get going, since the docs say it's > more > >>> stable, then try SQLite. > >>> > >> > >> The "standard" XML files are quick enough for me, though as time goes on > >> it does take longer to load. I have never tried the database formats; > the > >> only upside (at the moment) is they give you some additional nerdy > >> reporting options. > >> > > > > Don't tempt me. I've spent enough hours learning "just enough" of > > half-a-dozen languages for various projects that never quite did what I > > wanted. > > Using the Sqlite backend I get one file that I can either use an sqlite > viewer/query editor on, or using piecash, query directly for any custom > report I want that isn’t offered by GnuCash. And I don’t have to mess with > a MySQL db server. (which is fine, but if you don’t really *need* to...) > > I also get instant saves as I enter each transaction so no waiting around > while it writes that massive file back to disk every 10 minutes or so. > > Let that temptation sink in. > > Regards, > Adrien > ___ > 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. > -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
I wish I'd thought of a separate account for what we owe her / she owes us earlier, sigh, and one for our son to keep things even. I didn't record things consistently because no method felt "right", and some is on a separate spreadsheet. The current plan is print out anything that affects her and do a spreadsheet. It's fast and reliable, and time is short. (If she turns 18 before I finish, we have to formally get her permission to take money from her savings account. Not a big deal, but one more step. Although, maybe it would be best if we waited. A last-minute money grab looks bad.) On Sat, 27 Apr 2019 at 12:21, Adrien Monteleone < adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > > > > On Apr 26, 2019, at 8:49 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > > > > > > > (Aside: https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#SQL_Database recommends not > using > > the SQL just yet. Several posts on this list say otherwise. Out of date > > manual, or optimistic / lucky users?) > > There was some display issue with business info when I first moved from > 2.6.19 to 3.0, but that was fixed quickly and no data was lost. That is the > only issue I’ve encountered personally, but you can check out Bugzilla and > read over the SQL bugs to see if they scare you away from it, or you find > you can live with them. (I’m using Sqlite3 backend for a few years now) > > > > > I do need to calculate how much the kids owe us for things they said > they'd > > pay us back for. The cheques we wrote are in Quicken, but I didn't split > > the transactions into "we pay / kid owes" at the time. That mess goes > back > > to 2010. I handled each big expense differently. I'll use a spreadsheet > for > > the final report rather than trying to get one from Quicken. > > I created a tree of accounts under `Assets:Current Assets` like so: > > Reimbursements:Family > Reimbursements:Friends > > and then an account for each person under those. I have 5 siblings and we > often consolidate large gift buys for our parents among other expenses, so > I use these to track who owes me or who I owe. I have an account for each > of my parents as well. Sometimes they give me money to buy something for > them. I’ll first debit it to cash and credit their reimbursement account, > and then debit their account and credit cash when I make the purchase. I > don’t involve my expense accounts in this case because it was just a > pass-through. Those aren’t *my* expenses. I suppose it could get a little > messier involving cards or bank transfers/deposits but the idea is the > same. For shared expenses like a large gift, I’ll only expense my portion > and the rest goes through the reimbursement accounts. > > I suppose you could place these under Liabilities instead, but since the > case is usually that my family owes me, I put them under assets. The sign > of the balance will tell me which it really is. > > Regards, > Adrien > ___ > 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. > -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
Very happy about the reports and tags. Yes, I always take backups (and backups of backups). Dad used to design hardware for telephone switching systems that absolutely had to work, and Mom was an inaugural member of the 8-hours-lost club with 5-1/4 floppies. The first computer I bought for myself (early Mac) was really stupid when you saved a file. It started by deleting the current copy! Also, my husband programs financial software. So, yes, I keep multiple, labeled backups, and assume any equipment will start smoking at any time. On Sat, 27 Apr 2019 at 12:07, Adrien Monteleone < adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > > > > On Apr 26, 2019, at 4:28 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > > > > > > > Also, for this particular example, I’d opt for tags for each kid instead > of accounts, see below about Cars. > > > > I didn't think GNUCash supported tags. I plan to use #tagone in a text > field. That's one of the things I need to do in Quicken. Search for each > transaction using a label, and put it in a text field. Problem: The text > fields are short. Maybe I'll create accounts/categories for each tag, and > add a $0.01 line. That will at least preserve the info. Then in GC edit > again to put the tags in a text field and undo the $0.01 split. (Not $0 > because I think Quicken ignores $0 lines.) > > > > There’s no official ’tag’ support, but some reports let you filter based > on text in certain fields and you can use regular expressions if you like. > > > > > > > Does it also do that for a Transaction, Group by (sub-)account report? I > use that one a lot. There's probably something close enough. > > The Transaction Report does this by default. I currently have a report > open that is tracking my expenses at a Festival this weekend. I reload the > report each day and it show my transactions with sub-account totals for > amounts spent on Food, Beer, tips, etc. Each transaction has the festival > name in the Notes field and I’m using that as a ’tag’ filter. > > > > ++ > > > > Enough stalling. Today's goal is to replace all the investment accounts > with basic accounts. Apparently migrating investments isn't reliable. I > won't lose any data because I haven't tracked investment details in Quicken > in years. Also create appropriate income/loss accounts for the investment > accounts so the year-end balances work. And, of course, lots of pre/post > change reports to catch problems. > > > > Work on a copy of the export and if something blows up, you won’t lose > anything. > > Regards, > Adrien > > > ___ > 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. > -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
Yep, that's my plan. Quicken has a bulk-edit feature that I'll make good use of. When I get around to it. Too many emergency late nights last week to tackle something I need to be awake for. For now, I've decided to do the urgent report in Quicken, then worry about the conversion. I'd hoped to do the conversion before then, but then I'd miss the deadline for the report. Thanks! On Sat, 27 Apr 2019 at 10:33, Greg Feneis wrote: > Alternatively, Cricket, instead of exporting from Quicken, then arranging > things as you like, then importing to GnuCash, or some variation of that, > you could make a copy of your Quicken working file and from within Quicken, > arrange things as you like with a mind toward exporting to GnuCash, then > export from Quicken and import to GnuCash. At one point, I recall trying > to decipher OFX or QIF files. I found that exporting the same data as CSV > and opening in Excel gave me good hints about what I was looking at in the > OFX or QIF > > > > > Kind regards, > > Greg Feneis > > > > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:06 PM Cricket Onebit > > wrote: > > > > > > > You WILL almost certainly see some strangeness in the imported data > > > because Quicken doesn't strictly enforce balanced transactions as > GnuCash > > > does. When you're just dealing with a few years, you may find it easy > to > > go > > > back and fix the odd strange transactions in Quicken, and start the > > import > > > over from scratch. > > > > > > > That's my first choice. I already checked for uncategorized transactions, > > and will remove the few stock purchases. Any other risky types? > > > > It seems like I started with the default GnuCash accounts, and worked > from > > > a printout of my Quicken accounts and categories, and created them in > > > GnuCash beforehand. That made the transfer happen much faster because I > > > wasn't creating new accounts as I went along. > > > > > > > I remember letting GnuCash get the accounts from the QIF worked 2 years > > ago. It was other things that didn't work. That method might affect its > > ability to catch transfers. (Another reason I prefer double-entry > > accounting. One transaction with many accounts, rather than two > > transactions.) > > > > > > > You might also try exporting just however many years of data from a > > single > > > bank account at a time until you have them all. Unless I'm > > mis-remembering, > > > I think the only places you'll have duplicate transactions will be > those > > > places where you transferred money BETWEEN the bank accounts. > > > > > > > There are a lot of transfers, about 10 a month, with credit cards, > mortgage > > and car loan, and cash withdrawals. > > > > I think I'm ready for the next set of tests, hopefully in a few days. > > > > Good luck! > > > > > > > Thanks! If the program is as good as the community, I'll be very happy. > > > > +++ > > > > Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, > > But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. > > -- Rudyard Kipling > > ___ > > 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. > -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
Good points, Greg. I believe that echoes what the wiki says on the subject. David On April 27, 2019, at 8:01 PM, Greg Feneis wrote: Alternatively, Cricket, instead of exporting from Quicken, then arranging things as you like, then importing to GnuCash, or some variation of that, you could make a copy of your Quicken working file and from within Quicken, arrange things as you like with a mind toward exporting to GnuCash, then export from Quicken and import to GnuCash. At one point, I recall trying to decipher OFX or QIF files. I found that exporting the same data as CSV and opening in Excel gave me good hints about what I was looking at in the OFX or QIF Kind regards, Greg Feneis On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:06 PM Cricket Onebit wrote: > > > > You WILL almost certainly see some strangeness in the imported data > > because Quicken doesn't strictly enforce balanced transactions as GnuCash > > does. When you're just dealing with a few years, you may find it easy to > go > > back and fix the odd strange transactions in Quicken, and start the > import > > over from scratch. > > > > That's my first choice. I already checked for uncategorized transactions, > and will remove the few stock purchases. Any other risky types? > > It seems like I started with the default GnuCash accounts, and worked from > > a printout of my Quicken accounts and categories, and created them in > > GnuCash beforehand. That made the transfer happen much faster because I > > wasn't creating new accounts as I went along. > > > > I remember letting GnuCash get the accounts from the QIF worked 2 years > ago. It was other things that didn't work. That method might affect its > ability to catch transfers. (Another reason I prefer double-entry > accounting. One transaction with many accounts, rather than two > transactions.) > > > > You might also try exporting just however many years of data from a > single > > bank account at a time until you have them all. Unless I'm > mis-remembering, > > I think the only places you'll have duplicate transactions will be those > > places where you transferred money BETWEEN the bank accounts. > > > > There are a lot of transfers, about 10 a month, with credit cards, mortgage > and car loan, and cash withdrawals. > > I think I'm ready for the next set of tests, hopefully in a few days. > > Good luck! > > > > Thanks! If the program is as good as the community, I'll be very happy. > > +++ > > Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, > But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. > -- Rudyard Kipling > ___ > 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. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
> On Apr 26, 2019, at 9:49 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 at 22:14, Tommy Trussell > wrote: > >> >> On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:49 PM Cricket Onebit >> wrote: >> >>> The speed thing is disappointing. I thought 3.5 fixed that, but maybe not >>> enough. I planned to save as XML to get going, since the docs say it's more >>> stable, then try SQLite. >>> >> >> The "standard" XML files are quick enough for me, though as time goes on >> it does take longer to load. I have never tried the database formats; the >> only upside (at the moment) is they give you some additional nerdy >> reporting options. >> > > Don't tempt me. I've spent enough hours learning "just enough" of > half-a-dozen languages for various projects that never quite did what I > wanted. Using the Sqlite backend I get one file that I can either use an sqlite viewer/query editor on, or using piecash, query directly for any custom report I want that isn’t offered by GnuCash. And I don’t have to mess with a MySQL db server. (which is fine, but if you don’t really *need* to...) I also get instant saves as I enter each transaction so no waiting around while it writes that massive file back to disk every 10 minutes or so. Let that temptation sink in. Regards, Adrien ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
> On Apr 26, 2019, at 8:49 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > > > (Aside: https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#SQL_Database recommends not using > the SQL just yet. Several posts on this list say otherwise. Out of date > manual, or optimistic / lucky users?) There was some display issue with business info when I first moved from 2.6.19 to 3.0, but that was fixed quickly and no data was lost. That is the only issue I’ve encountered personally, but you can check out Bugzilla and read over the SQL bugs to see if they scare you away from it, or you find you can live with them. (I’m using Sqlite3 backend for a few years now) > > I do need to calculate how much the kids owe us for things they said they'd > pay us back for. The cheques we wrote are in Quicken, but I didn't split > the transactions into "we pay / kid owes" at the time. That mess goes back > to 2010. I handled each big expense differently. I'll use a spreadsheet for > the final report rather than trying to get one from Quicken. I created a tree of accounts under `Assets:Current Assets` like so: Reimbursements:Family Reimbursements:Friends and then an account for each person under those. I have 5 siblings and we often consolidate large gift buys for our parents among other expenses, so I use these to track who owes me or who I owe. I have an account for each of my parents as well. Sometimes they give me money to buy something for them. I’ll first debit it to cash and credit their reimbursement account, and then debit their account and credit cash when I make the purchase. I don’t involve my expense accounts in this case because it was just a pass-through. Those aren’t *my* expenses. I suppose it could get a little messier involving cards or bank transfers/deposits but the idea is the same. For shared expenses like a large gift, I’ll only expense my portion and the rest goes through the reimbursement accounts. I suppose you could place these under Liabilities instead, but since the case is usually that my family owes me, I put them under assets. The sign of the balance will tell me which it really is. Regards, Adrien ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
> On Apr 26, 2019, at 4:28 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > > > Also, for this particular example, I’d opt for tags for each kid instead of > accounts, see below about Cars. > > I didn't think GNUCash supported tags. I plan to use #tagone in a text field. > That's one of the things I need to do in Quicken. Search for each transaction > using a label, and put it in a text field. Problem: The text fields are > short. Maybe I'll create accounts/categories for each tag, and add a $0.01 > line. That will at least preserve the info. Then in GC edit again to put the > tags in a text field and undo the $0.01 split. (Not $0 because I think > Quicken ignores $0 lines.) > There’s no official ’tag’ support, but some reports let you filter based on text in certain fields and you can use regular expressions if you like. > > > Does it also do that for a Transaction, Group by (sub-)account report? I use > that one a lot. There's probably something close enough. The Transaction Report does this by default. I currently have a report open that is tracking my expenses at a Festival this weekend. I reload the report each day and it show my transactions with sub-account totals for amounts spent on Food, Beer, tips, etc. Each transaction has the festival name in the Notes field and I’m using that as a ’tag’ filter. > ++ > > Enough stalling. Today's goal is to replace all the investment accounts with > basic accounts. Apparently migrating investments isn't reliable. I won't lose > any data because I haven't tracked investment details in Quicken in years. > Also create appropriate income/loss accounts for the investment accounts so > the year-end balances work. And, of course, lots of pre/post change reports > to catch problems. > Work on a copy of the export and if something blows up, you won’t lose anything. Regards, Adrien ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
Alternatively, Cricket, instead of exporting from Quicken, then arranging things as you like, then importing to GnuCash, or some variation of that, you could make a copy of your Quicken working file and from within Quicken, arrange things as you like with a mind toward exporting to GnuCash, then export from Quicken and import to GnuCash. At one point, I recall trying to decipher OFX or QIF files. I found that exporting the same data as CSV and opening in Excel gave me good hints about what I was looking at in the OFX or QIF Kind regards, Greg Feneis On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:06 PM Cricket Onebit wrote: > > > > You WILL almost certainly see some strangeness in the imported data > > because Quicken doesn't strictly enforce balanced transactions as GnuCash > > does. When you're just dealing with a few years, you may find it easy to > go > > back and fix the odd strange transactions in Quicken, and start the > import > > over from scratch. > > > > That's my first choice. I already checked for uncategorized transactions, > and will remove the few stock purchases. Any other risky types? > > It seems like I started with the default GnuCash accounts, and worked from > > a printout of my Quicken accounts and categories, and created them in > > GnuCash beforehand. That made the transfer happen much faster because I > > wasn't creating new accounts as I went along. > > > > I remember letting GnuCash get the accounts from the QIF worked 2 years > ago. It was other things that didn't work. That method might affect its > ability to catch transfers. (Another reason I prefer double-entry > accounting. One transaction with many accounts, rather than two > transactions.) > > > > You might also try exporting just however many years of data from a > single > > bank account at a time until you have them all. Unless I'm > mis-remembering, > > I think the only places you'll have duplicate transactions will be those > > places where you transferred money BETWEEN the bank accounts. > > > > There are a lot of transfers, about 10 a month, with credit cards, mortgage > and car loan, and cash withdrawals. > > I think I'm ready for the next set of tests, hopefully in a few days. > > Good luck! > > > > Thanks! If the program is as good as the community, I'll be very happy. > > +++ > > Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, > But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. > -- Rudyard Kipling > ___ > 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
David T and Cricket, I am still using release 2.6.19 in either Windows 7 or Ubuntu 18.04 but I like to keep several reports and 30 0r so accounts open when I close the program a few times a week. When I heard that 3.x was much slower and even now still has other bugs that would frustrate me I decided to wait longer to take the plunge. i mostly run it in a direct session on a Ubuntu virtual machine which is faster than Windows but I do see a few seconds lags with the enter key and I play a lot of solitaire during those pesky automagical file backups every half hour. I think that GnuCash has to do a huge number of background computations, mostly single threaded, which are likely caused by the compiler and not really needed every time the enter key is pressed, even in Linux. Oh, my data file is stored on a separate NAS elsewhere on my LAN and I don't do anything special to try using a local copy with manual backups to the NAS. My Ethernet is mostly Gigahertz but I recently found that it has some 10 MHz bottlenecks which I have not yet pinpointed and fixed. Some parts are now well over 15 years old and there may still be some short Cat 5 segments in the system. So there is some room for improvement there. My data file starts in September 2007 with bank accounts and gradually gets more complete until it has almost everything after 2010. My data file is 7.2 Meg in compressed XML. It ties up 1.7 GiB out of 5.5 GiB RAM in the Ubuntu Virtual Box guest. I forgot where to look for the number of transactions. All this in a Dell Precision 7510 Laptop with an Intel Core I7-6820HQ processor @ 2.7 GHz CPU with 24 GiB RAM running Windows 7. That is where I am at right now. David Carlson On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 11:45 PM David T. wrote: > David, > > I think a couple of additional points of reference from you would be > helpful. > > What operating system are you experiencing this slow performance? I > believe it’s WIndows, but I could be mistaken. The relative performance > benchmarks seem to be OS-dependent. I am using MacOS, and while some > reports do load slowly (the Asset Barchart comes to mind), most of my > experience has been positive on this regard. I do not see delays on > entry—certainly not on order of seconds. > > Similarly, what size is your data file? Mine goes back 13 years, and a > quick survey of the file in SQL format shows 900 entries in accounts, a > little over 27,000 transactions with 63,000 splits overall. As compressed > XML, it’s just over 4MB. My data file is larger than Cricket’s proposed > import, and I am not seeing problems on my setup. Of course, that all could > change when I migrate to different machine and OS later this year... > > My point is that your experience, while real and a valid data point, is > nonetheless your experience, and not necessarily the norm. My own > (similarly singular) experience is starkly different from yours. I think > the overall user experience is somewhere along the line between these two. > > FWIW, my import process from Quicken (way back when) took a while to work > out, but I eventually was able to import the entire QIF file (account > structure and all) directly into GnuCash. My method was to export the QIF, > import into GnuCash, see the gaps and failures, go back to Quicken (where > my familiarity allowed me to fix things quickly), change the Quicken data > to address the gaps, and repeat until such point as the incoming data was > clean enough to move forward. > > David T. > > > On Apr 27, 2019, at 3:20 AM, David Carlson > wrote: > > > > Cricket, > > > > One more point... > > > > Strongly consider only moving one or two years data to GnuCash. When > your > > file gets large you may prefer to have a new file for each year or > whatever > > to keep GnuCash from bogging down and running too slow. It gets worse > > quickly if you leave a lot of reports and register windows open, or if > you > > have a Hi-Res monitor, and having a powerful computer is not enough to > > prevent that. > > > > In my case it takes over a minute to open my file and about 10 seconds > > every time I press the Enter key. the periodic saves take so long that I > > can squeeze in about 1/2 a game of Solitaire. > > > > David Carlson > > > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 4:31 PM Cricket Onebit < > cricketbeauti...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > >> On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 at 17:29, Adrien Monteleone < > >> adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > >> > I'm preparing to convert 14,000 transactions from Quicken. It's a bit > overwhelming, and I've put it off for years. > >>> > >>> Sounds like a daunting task. I don’t do such imports, but reading the > >>> various threads over the years, this will be a doozy. > >>> > >> > >> Yes, it's a daunting task, but I do't want to lose 10+ years of data. > I'm > >> using an old version of Quicken, and don't trust the new version to be > able > >> to read it. The old version might not work on newer Windows. I need to > move > >> it. > >
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 21:49:12 -0400 Cricket Onebit wrote: > The speed thing is disappointing. I thought 3.5 fixed that, but maybe > not enough. I planned to save as XML to get going, since the docs say > it's more stable, then try SQLite. I found that 3.4 has greatly improved load and save speeds. Then my motherboard failed, and the new hardware is of course far better than the last, so I can't compare new and old now. Currently my 1.8Mb database loads in 11sec. I'm not on 3.5 yet. Liz ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
David, I think a couple of additional points of reference from you would be helpful. What operating system are you experiencing this slow performance? I believe it’s WIndows, but I could be mistaken. The relative performance benchmarks seem to be OS-dependent. I am using MacOS, and while some reports do load slowly (the Asset Barchart comes to mind), most of my experience has been positive on this regard. I do not see delays on entry—certainly not on order of seconds. Similarly, what size is your data file? Mine goes back 13 years, and a quick survey of the file in SQL format shows 900 entries in accounts, a little over 27,000 transactions with 63,000 splits overall. As compressed XML, it’s just over 4MB. My data file is larger than Cricket’s proposed import, and I am not seeing problems on my setup. Of course, that all could change when I migrate to different machine and OS later this year... My point is that your experience, while real and a valid data point, is nonetheless your experience, and not necessarily the norm. My own (similarly singular) experience is starkly different from yours. I think the overall user experience is somewhere along the line between these two. FWIW, my import process from Quicken (way back when) took a while to work out, but I eventually was able to import the entire QIF file (account structure and all) directly into GnuCash. My method was to export the QIF, import into GnuCash, see the gaps and failures, go back to Quicken (where my familiarity allowed me to fix things quickly), change the Quicken data to address the gaps, and repeat until such point as the incoming data was clean enough to move forward. David T. > On Apr 27, 2019, at 3:20 AM, David Carlson > wrote: > > Cricket, > > One more point... > > Strongly consider only moving one or two years data to GnuCash. When your > file gets large you may prefer to have a new file for each year or whatever > to keep GnuCash from bogging down and running too slow. It gets worse > quickly if you leave a lot of reports and register windows open, or if you > have a Hi-Res monitor, and having a powerful computer is not enough to > prevent that. > > In my case it takes over a minute to open my file and about 10 seconds > every time I press the Enter key. the periodic saves take so long that I > can squeeze in about 1/2 a game of Solitaire. > > David Carlson > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 4:31 PM Cricket Onebit > wrote: > >> On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 at 17:29, Adrien Monteleone < >> adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: >> I'm preparing to convert 14,000 transactions from Quicken. It's a bit overwhelming, and I've put it off for years. >>> >>> Sounds like a daunting task. I don’t do such imports, but reading the >>> various threads over the years, this will be a doozy. >>> >> >> Yes, it's a daunting task, but I do't want to lose 10+ years of data. I'm >> using an old version of Quicken, and don't trust the new version to be able >> to read it. The old version might not work on newer Windows. I need to move >> it. >> >> I’d try finding some of those threads or asking about a general ‘best >>> practices’ or ‘workflow’ to accomplish this with the least amount of >>> headache. >>> >> >> There doesn't seem to be an easy way to find those threads. I might not be >> searching right. "site:lists.gnucash.org quicken" has posts from many >> years >> ago on the first page, but not any from 2019. I know there are some from >> 2019. >> >> Two gnucash.org pages need to be updated. They have broken links. >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >> https://lists.gnucash.org/search/?idxinfo=gnucash-user >> >> Yes, you can do this at will, over and over till you have your tree the way >>> you like it. (and then re-factor it again months later when you change >> your >>> mind) >>> >> >> Yay! for easy moving / promoting / demoting / etc child / parent / sibling >> / cousin accounts. Both your suggested methods make sense. >> >> One less reason to put off the migration. >> >> Also, for this particular example, I’d opt for tags for each kid instead of >>> accounts, see below about Cars. >>> >> >> I didn't think GNUCash supported tags. I plan to use #tagone in a text >> field. That's one of the things I need to do in Quicken. Search for each >> transaction using a label, and put it in a text field. Problem: The text >> fields are short. Maybe I'll create accounts/categories for each tag, and >> add a $0.01 line. That will at least preserve the info. Then in GC edit >> again to put the tags in a text field and undo the $0.01 split. (Not $0 >> because I think Quicken ignores $0 lines.) >> >> I’ve not found one yet, though that may be in the documentation. Look into >>> Double-Line mode to give you an extra note field. Once discovered, I now >>> use it extensively. >>> >> >> I like that GNUCash makes it easy to switch between journal, register, and >> split views. >> >> The #1 piec
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
> > You WILL almost certainly see some strangeness in the imported data > because Quicken doesn't strictly enforce balanced transactions as GnuCash > does. When you're just dealing with a few years, you may find it easy to go > back and fix the odd strange transactions in Quicken, and start the import > over from scratch. > That's my first choice. I already checked for uncategorized transactions, and will remove the few stock purchases. Any other risky types? It seems like I started with the default GnuCash accounts, and worked from > a printout of my Quicken accounts and categories, and created them in > GnuCash beforehand. That made the transfer happen much faster because I > wasn't creating new accounts as I went along. > I remember letting GnuCash get the accounts from the QIF worked 2 years ago. It was other things that didn't work. That method might affect its ability to catch transfers. (Another reason I prefer double-entry accounting. One transaction with many accounts, rather than two transactions.) > You might also try exporting just however many years of data from a single > bank account at a time until you have them all. Unless I'm mis-remembering, > I think the only places you'll have duplicate transactions will be those > places where you transferred money BETWEEN the bank accounts. > There are a lot of transfers, about 10 a month, with credit cards, mortgage and car loan, and cash withdrawals. I think I'm ready for the next set of tests, hopefully in a few days. Good luck! > Thanks! If the program is as good as the community, I'll be very happy. +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 at 22:14, Tommy Trussell wrote: > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:49 PM Cricket Onebit > wrote: > >> The speed thing is disappointing. I thought 3.5 fixed that, but maybe not >> enough. I planned to save as XML to get going, since the docs say it's more >> stable, then try SQLite. >> > > The "standard" XML files are quick enough for me, though as time goes on > it does take longer to load. I have never tried the database formats; the > only upside (at the moment) is they give you some additional nerdy > reporting options. > Don't tempt me. I've spent enough hours learning "just enough" of half-a-dozen languages for various projects that never quite did what I wanted. > QIF files are just text files, right, and human-readable? So I can use a >> text editor and search. >> > > Yes, "human-readable," though not exactly comfortably readable. Export a > small file and have a look. You MAY find that not every text editor can > open the largest (multi-megabyte) files, though nowadays I suspect that's > less a problem than it was back in the 20th century. ;-) > After Pascal variable typing, a few XML files, and FORTRAN formatting statements (both input and output), how hard can QIF be? (Rhetorical question.) Still, my first choice is do everything with a single program, even if I start a new data file every few years. > How easy is it to delete old transactions? (Or export recent ones to a new >> file?) That way I could migrate 10 years worth, so they're all in GC format >> rather than QIF, then use a smaller file going forward. >> > > Unless it's been added in the last couple of releases, GnuCash itself > doesn't have that facility. At best you can easily "prune" entire accounts, > OR start from scratch. At this moment in your GnuCash history your best bet > is to export date ranges from Quicken. > >> That surprises me. It can't be uncommon for a file to get unwieldy. Pruning an entire account would make a lot of ripples. Is there a feature request I can vote on? -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 9:13 PM Cricket Onebit wrote: > Somewhere I saw that most people find QIF works better, and that QIF is > similar to CSV. If my version of Quicken won't export to QIF, I'll try CSV. > There are too many variations of CSV for me to trust it entirely. > The QIF import USED to be the only way to accurately get "both sides" of every transaction. The ability to get every part of a transaction in a CSV is a new feature with the 3.x series. I haven't tried it. You WILL almost certainly see some strangeness in the imported data because Quicken doesn't strictly enforce balanced transactions as GnuCash does. When you're just dealing with a few years, you may find it easy to go back and fix the odd strange transactions in Quicken, and start the import over from scratch. > I might make one huge QIF, import it and save as GC, then make another QIF > just of recent transactions for actual use. That's my recommendation. > That's a lot of work, though. I > asked a few days about chunking it by date. They suggested doing each > account separately. If I understand correctly, transfers between accounts > might show up as two transactions otherwise. I guess Quicken exports the > transaction twice, once in each direction. GC's matcher only checks against > transactions it's already saved. > I might be wrong, but I believe the advantage of the QIF import is that Quicken and GnuCash are pretty good about conveying the matching parts of the transaction. I don't remember it being a problem at all, once you got over the process of creating all the accounts (on the GnuCash side). It seems like I started with the default GnuCash accounts, and worked from a printout of my Quicken accounts and categories, and created them in GnuCash beforehand. That made the transfer happen much faster because I wasn't creating new accounts as I went along. You might also try exporting just however many years of data from a single bank account at a time until you have them all. Unless I'm mis-remembering, I think the only places you'll have duplicate transactions will be those places where you transferred money BETWEEN the bank accounts. Good luck! > - > 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 8:49 PM Cricket Onebit wrote: > The speed thing is disappointing. I thought 3.5 fixed that, but maybe not > enough. I planned to save as XML to get going, since the docs say it's more > stable, then try SQLite. > The "standard" XML files are quick enough for me, though as time goes on it does take longer to load. I have never tried the database formats; the only upside (at the moment) is they give you some additional nerdy reporting options. > QIF files are just text files, right, and human-readable? So I can use a > text editor and search. > Yes, "human-readable," though not exactly comfortably readable. Export a small file and have a look. You MAY find that not every text editor can open the largest (multi-megabyte) files, though nowadays I suspect that's less a problem than it was back in the 20th century. ;-) > How easy is it to delete old transactions? (Or export recent ones to a new > file?) That way I could migrate 10 years worth, so they're all in GC format > rather than QIF, then use a smaller file going forward. > Unless it's been added in the last couple of releases, GnuCash itself doesn't have that facility. At best you can easily "prune" entire accounts, OR start from scratch. At this moment in your GnuCash history your best bet is to export date ranges from Quicken. > ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
Somewhere I saw that most people find QIF works better, and that QIF is similar to CSV. If my version of Quicken won't export to QIF, I'll try CSV. There are too many variations of CSV for me to trust it entirely. I might make one huge QIF, import it and save as GC, then make another QIF just of recent transactions for actual use. That's a lot of work, though. I asked a few days about chunking it by date. They suggested doing each account separately. If I understand correctly, transfers between accounts might show up as two transactions otherwise. I guess Quicken exports the transaction twice, once in each direction. GC's matcher only checks against transactions it's already saved. It might be easier to just let "archive" migration file be huge, even if it takes a few attempts to fix all the problems, then do another, smaller, "active" migration. Cricket / Sandy On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 at 20:39, nvsoar wrote: > On 04/26/19 16:18, Tommy Trussell wrote: > > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 4:53 PM David Carlson < > david.carlson@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > >> Strongly consider only moving one or two years data to GnuCash. > >> > > I agree. I found that I could import a lot more, but I found I was going > > crazy trying to make everything look right, which ultimately seemed > > pointless for things like long-ago closed bank accounts etc. > > > > Since I had been using Quicken since the 1990s I had a number of > > "historical" transactions I MIGHT conceivably want to look up, so I > > exported those and kept the (enormous) QIF files. Any time I want to > find a > > transaction I can just do a few searches through the QIF file and find > the > > transaction date and the amount. If I really really want to, I COULD > create > > a "historical" GnuCash book with the imported data and just ignore the > odd > > balances etc. > > > > (I'm looking through my data and found that I kept a complete QIF I > > exported in 2000, and then another one I exported in 2007. I believe 2007 > > is when I gave up on Quicken for good, so my original GnuCash-only data > was > > based upon 2006 and 2007 transactions only.) > > > snip > > FWIW - if Quicken will export to a .csv file then I think I would > download the entire Quicken file, and then import to GnuCash only those > files that I need to refer to, and leave the rest as an archive in the > .csv file. > nvsoar > > ___ > 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. > -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
The speed thing is disappointing. I thought 3.5 fixed that, but maybe not enough. I planned to save as XML to get going, since the docs say it's more stable, then try SQLite. (Aside: https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#SQL_Database recommends not using the SQL just yet. Several posts on this list say otherwise. Out of date manual, or optimistic / lucky users?) QIF files are just text files, right, and human-readable? So I can use a text editor and search. How easy is it to delete old transactions? (Or export recent ones to a new file?) That way I could migrate 10 years worth, so they're all in GC format rather than QIF, then use a smaller file going forward. [Searching "site: gnucash.org file size" gives many hits, but none answering my question. . https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-help/tool-close-book.html says closing doesn't delete old transactions. "site:gnucash.org delete old transactions " doesn't have anything useful, at least not on the first few pages. You're right, I planned to make everything look right, which isn't necessary, and would take a lot of time (and explains putting it off for 2 years). - Anything older than 5 years is useless for budgeting. The kids are now teenagers. No more playschool. Much more food and clubs and trips. Soon to be tuition and rent. - The lifetime cost of all but the current cars is already inaccurate. Two years ago I tried to delete all transactions older than 10 years. Some are gone, but not all. The final balances stayed the same (or was easy to fix), so I kept going. Also, why does it matter? I have the backup QDF from that time, maybe even a QIF from an attempt to migrate. - We keep original paper receipts anything that affects future tax, and for big items with long warranties. - I stopped tracking stocks and such in Quicken in that I do need to calculate how much the kids owe us for things they said they'd pay us back for. The cheques we wrote are in Quicken, but I didn't split the transactions into "we pay / kid owes" at the time. That mess goes back to 2010. I handled each big expense differently. I'll use a spreadsheet for the final report rather than trying to get one from Quicken. 2015 reduces it to 7400 transactions and avoids all but a few stock purchases. I'll think about it and see what if my husband has a preference. Thanks! You may have saved me from myself! Cricket / Sandy On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 at 19:18, Tommy Trussell wrote: > On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 4:53 PM David Carlson > wrote: > >> Strongly consider only moving one or two years data to GnuCash. >> > > I agree. I found that I could import a lot more, but I found I was going > crazy trying to make everything look right, which ultimately seemed > pointless for things like long-ago closed bank accounts etc. > > Since I had been using Quicken since the 1990s I had a number of > "historical" transactions I MIGHT conceivably want to look up, so I > exported those and kept the (enormous) QIF files. Any time I want to find a > transaction I can just do a few searches through the QIF file and find the > transaction date and the amount. If I really really want to, I COULD create > a "historical" GnuCash book with the imported data and just ignore the odd > balances etc. > > (I'm looking through my data and found that I kept a complete QIF I > exported in 2000, and then another one I exported in 2007. I believe 2007 > is when I gave up on Quicken for good, so my original GnuCash-only data was > based upon 2006 and 2007 transactions only.) > > >> - >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. >> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >> > -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
On 04/26/19 16:18, Tommy Trussell wrote: On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 4:53 PM David Carlson wrote: Strongly consider only moving one or two years data to GnuCash. I agree. I found that I could import a lot more, but I found I was going crazy trying to make everything look right, which ultimately seemed pointless for things like long-ago closed bank accounts etc. Since I had been using Quicken since the 1990s I had a number of "historical" transactions I MIGHT conceivably want to look up, so I exported those and kept the (enormous) QIF files. Any time I want to find a transaction I can just do a few searches through the QIF file and find the transaction date and the amount. If I really really want to, I COULD create a "historical" GnuCash book with the imported data and just ignore the odd balances etc. (I'm looking through my data and found that I kept a complete QIF I exported in 2000, and then another one I exported in 2007. I believe 2007 is when I gave up on Quicken for good, so my original GnuCash-only data was based upon 2006 and 2007 transactions only.) snip FWIW - if Quicken will export to a .csv file then I think I would download the entire Quicken file, and then import to GnuCash only those files that I need to refer to, and leave the rest as an archive in the .csv file. nvsoar ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 4:53 PM David Carlson wrote: > Strongly consider only moving one or two years data to GnuCash. > I agree. I found that I could import a lot more, but I found I was going crazy trying to make everything look right, which ultimately seemed pointless for things like long-ago closed bank accounts etc. Since I had been using Quicken since the 1990s I had a number of "historical" transactions I MIGHT conceivably want to look up, so I exported those and kept the (enormous) QIF files. Any time I want to find a transaction I can just do a few searches through the QIF file and find the transaction date and the amount. If I really really want to, I COULD create a "historical" GnuCash book with the imported data and just ignore the odd balances etc. (I'm looking through my data and found that I kept a complete QIF I exported in 2000, and then another one I exported in 2007. I believe 2007 is when I gave up on Quicken for good, so my original GnuCash-only data was based upon 2006 and 2007 transactions only.) > - > 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
Cricket, One more point... Strongly consider only moving one or two years data to GnuCash. When your file gets large you may prefer to have a new file for each year or whatever to keep GnuCash from bogging down and running too slow. It gets worse quickly if you leave a lot of reports and register windows open, or if you have a Hi-Res monitor, and having a powerful computer is not enough to prevent that. In my case it takes over a minute to open my file and about 10 seconds every time I press the Enter key. the periodic saves take so long that I can squeeze in about 1/2 a game of Solitaire. David Carlson On Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 4:31 PM Cricket Onebit wrote: > On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 at 17:29, Adrien Monteleone < > adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > > > > I'm preparing to convert 14,000 transactions from Quicken. It's a bit > > > overwhelming, and I've put it off for years. > > > > Sounds like a daunting task. I don’t do such imports, but reading the > > various threads over the years, this will be a doozy. > > > > Yes, it's a daunting task, but I do't want to lose 10+ years of data. I'm > using an old version of Quicken, and don't trust the new version to be able > to read it. The old version might not work on newer Windows. I need to move > it. > > I’d try finding some of those threads or asking about a general ‘best > > practices’ or ‘workflow’ to accomplish this with the least amount of > > headache. > > > > There doesn't seem to be an easy way to find those threads. I might not be > searching right. "site:lists.gnucash.org quicken" has posts from many > years > ago on the first page, but not any from 2019. I know there are some from > 2019. > > Two gnucash.org pages need to be updated. They have broken links. > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > https://lists.gnucash.org/search/?idxinfo=gnucash-user > > Yes, you can do this at will, over and over till you have your tree the way > > you like it. (and then re-factor it again months later when you change > your > > mind) > > > > Yay! for easy moving / promoting / demoting / etc child / parent / sibling > / cousin accounts. Both your suggested methods make sense. > > One less reason to put off the migration. > > Also, for this particular example, I’d opt for tags for each kid instead of > > accounts, see below about Cars. > > > > I didn't think GNUCash supported tags. I plan to use #tagone in a text > field. That's one of the things I need to do in Quicken. Search for each > transaction using a label, and put it in a text field. Problem: The text > fields are short. Maybe I'll create accounts/categories for each tag, and > add a $0.01 line. That will at least preserve the info. Then in GC edit > again to put the tags in a text field and undo the $0.01 split. (Not $0 > because I think Quicken ignores $0 lines.) > > I’ve not found one yet, though that may be in the documentation. Look into > > Double-Line mode to give you an extra note field. Once discovered, I now > > use it extensively. > > > > I like that GNUCash makes it easy to switch between journal, register, and > split views. > > The #1 piece of advice I could give to anyone who even thinks they might > > want detail or multiple levels of categorization is to record as much > info > > as possible in each transaction. Record each split line from a receipt > and > > never combine items. Be descriptive for each split. That way, in the > > future, should you decide to break something out into its own account, > the > > process will be much easier. But if you don’t have that info in the first > > place... > > > > I've annoyed many people with data. It runs in the family. > > "Nothing ruins an argument like a fact." -- RM Thomas, P.Eng. (aka Dad) > > > > On the reporting end, if you really need to have parents with their own > > transactions (instead of just as placeholders), set your options like > this > > on the P&L (Income Statement): > > > > Options > Display > Parent account balances > Account Balance > > Options > Display > Parent account subtotals > Show Subtotals > > ... > > Parts` has one break-out sub-account with the remaining transactions in > > itself. So that one shows its own balance, and the `Total Parts` line > > combines it with its sub-account. > > > > Yay! I wasn't looking forward to creating "misc" (grand) child accounts for > every parent and moving the transactions. The GC report is similar to the > Quicken report. > > Does it also do that for a Transaction, Group by (sub-)account report? I > use that one a lot. There's probably something close enough. > > +++ > > Enough stalling. Today's goal is to replace all the investment accounts > with basic accounts. Apparently migrating investments isn't reliable. I > won't lose any data because I haven't tracked investment details in Quicken > in years. Also create appropriate income/loss accounts for the investment > accounts so the year-end balances work. And, of course, lots of pre/post > change reports
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 at 17:29, Adrien Monteleone < adrien.montele...@lusfiber.net> wrote: > > I'm preparing to convert 14,000 transactions from Quicken. It's a bit > > overwhelming, and I've put it off for years. > > Sounds like a daunting task. I don’t do such imports, but reading the > various threads over the years, this will be a doozy. > Yes, it's a daunting task, but I do't want to lose 10+ years of data. I'm using an old version of Quicken, and don't trust the new version to be able to read it. The old version might not work on newer Windows. I need to move it. I’d try finding some of those threads or asking about a general ‘best > practices’ or ‘workflow’ to accomplish this with the least amount of > headache. > There doesn't seem to be an easy way to find those threads. I might not be searching right. "site:lists.gnucash.org quicken" has posts from many years ago on the first page, but not any from 2019. I know there are some from 2019. Two gnucash.org pages need to be updated. They have broken links. https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user https://lists.gnucash.org/search/?idxinfo=gnucash-user Yes, you can do this at will, over and over till you have your tree the way > you like it. (and then re-factor it again months later when you change your > mind) > Yay! for easy moving / promoting / demoting / etc child / parent / sibling / cousin accounts. Both your suggested methods make sense. One less reason to put off the migration. Also, for this particular example, I’d opt for tags for each kid instead of > accounts, see below about Cars. > I didn't think GNUCash supported tags. I plan to use #tagone in a text field. That's one of the things I need to do in Quicken. Search for each transaction using a label, and put it in a text field. Problem: The text fields are short. Maybe I'll create accounts/categories for each tag, and add a $0.01 line. That will at least preserve the info. Then in GC edit again to put the tags in a text field and undo the $0.01 split. (Not $0 because I think Quicken ignores $0 lines.) I’ve not found one yet, though that may be in the documentation. Look into > Double-Line mode to give you an extra note field. Once discovered, I now > use it extensively. > I like that GNUCash makes it easy to switch between journal, register, and split views. The #1 piece of advice I could give to anyone who even thinks they might > want detail or multiple levels of categorization is to record as much info > as possible in each transaction. Record each split line from a receipt and > never combine items. Be descriptive for each split. That way, in the > future, should you decide to break something out into its own account, the > process will be much easier. But if you don’t have that info in the first > place... > I've annoyed many people with data. It runs in the family. "Nothing ruins an argument like a fact." -- RM Thomas, P.Eng. (aka Dad) > On the reporting end, if you really need to have parents with their own > transactions (instead of just as placeholders), set your options like this > on the P&L (Income Statement): > > Options > Display > Parent account balances > Account Balance > Options > Display > Parent account subtotals > Show Subtotals ... Parts` has one break-out sub-account with the remaining transactions in > itself. So that one shows its own balance, and the `Total Parts` line > combines it with its sub-account. > Yay! I wasn't looking forward to creating "misc" (grand) child accounts for every parent and moving the transactions. The GC report is similar to the Quicken report. Does it also do that for a Transaction, Group by (sub-)account report? I use that one a lot. There's probably something close enough. +++ Enough stalling. Today's goal is to replace all the investment accounts with basic accounts. Apparently migrating investments isn't reliable. I won't lose any data because I haven't tracked investment details in Quicken in years. Also create appropriate income/loss accounts for the investment accounts so the year-end balances work. And, of course, lots of pre/post change reports to catch problems. Wish me luck! ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
That page gave me nightmares when I first read it two years ago. I ran a few tests, then procrastinated. Nothing's difficult, but there's a lot to do. It looks like I should anticipate problems with the matcher for transfers between accounts, and for split transactions. I'll make before/after reports accordingly. That's safer than assuming all will go well. (Lots and lots of before/after reports, sigh.) On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 at 19:39, David Cousens wrote: > The following bit of the Wiki may be some help: > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Quicken_Migration > > The documentation on the importer is in need of some improvement and that > is > underway but not useful yet. There are some additions in the just released > 3.5 documentation, mainly to do with the CSV importer but there were some > mods to the matcher info as well. > > David Cousens > > > > - > David Cousens > -- > Sent from: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html > ___ > 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. > -- +++ Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. -- Rudyard Kipling ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
The following bit of the Wiki may be some help: https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Quicken_Migration The documentation on the importer is in need of some improvement and that is underway but not useful yet. There are some additions in the just released 3.5 documentation, mainly to do with the CSV importer but there were some mods to the matcher info as well. David Cousens - David Cousens -- Sent from: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html ___ 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.
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
> On Apr 25, 2019, at 3:16 PM, Cricket Onebit > wrote: > > Hello, > > I'm preparing to convert 14,000 transactions from Quicken. It's a bit > overwhelming, and I've put it off for years. Sounds like a daunting task. I don’t do such imports, but reading the various threads over the years, this will be a doozy. I’d try finding some of those threads or asking about a general ‘best practices’ or ‘workflow’ to accomplish this with the least amount of headache. Considering your #1 below, you might find it easier to either make those category changes in Quicken first, or else create your intended target accounts in GnuCash first, and import one account at a time from Quicken, placing the transactions where you want them. > > 1. Can I move child accounts to other parents, and promote / demote them? I > want to make some major changes, mostly Clothes-kid1 to kid1-clothes. It's > one more excuse for delaying the move. Yes, you can do this at will, over and over till you have your tree the way you like it. (and then re-factor it again months later when you change your mind) If however, you have a case of Expenses:Clothes:Kid1 and want to change that to Expenses:Kid1:Clothes, it will be a little trickier as the transactions are in `Kid1`, but you now want them to be in `Clothes` which will be a sub-account of `Kid1`. You can take several approaches: 1. Renaming a. Rename Expenses:Clothes and Expenses:Clothes:Kid1 to temporary names, perhaps - Expenses:Kid1-Clothes & Expenses:Kid1-Clothes:Clothes-Kid1 This way, you won’t have any naming collisions or confusion. b. Rename them again, this time to the desired end result - Expenses:Kid1 & Expenses:Kid1:Clothes or 2. Create new accounts and delete old ones a. Create the desired end accounts - Expenses:Kid1 & Expenses:Kid1:Clothes b. Delete the undesired sub-accounts - Expenses:Clothes:Kid1, GnuCash will prompt where you want to move the transactions, select the new account you just created. c. When the old Expenses:Clothes parent account is empty, you can delete it. (if it has transactions, which it shouldn’t, you could move them to the new `Kid1` parent if that makes sense, or if they were more generic, some other more appropriate account. Also, for this particular example, I’d opt for tags for each kid instead of accounts, see below about Cars. > > 2. Is there a length limit for descriptions, memos, notes, etc? I might use > keywords in those fields to duplicate Quicken's tags. A quick experiment > shows I can report on "transactions containing #tagone." Yay! I’ve not found one yet, though that may be in the documentation. Look into Double-Line mode to give you an extra note field. Once discovered, I now use it extensively. > > 3. Is there a problem if I have transactions under each level of account, > such as Car, Car-Ford, and Car-Ford-Accident? I vaguely remember reading > I'd have to change some report settings. Ideally, parent accounts should be placeholders. If you have miscellaneous transactions that don’t fit under a sub-account (but do, say, obviously belong to `Car`) then make a `Misc` or so sub-account for them. Note, `Accident` and `Ford` should probably be tags, not accounts. Accounts should be more generic. This way, you can still have report flexibility, but you aren’t causing yourself to make your account structure dependent on ‘labels’ that you might desire to change 6 months down the road. (and if you sell that Ford and buy some other make, how would you compare periods?) Here’s my `Auto` sub-tree for example: Auto -Auto Insurance | -Fuel -E10 | -Gas -Parking -Repair & Maintenance -Fluids -Labor -Parts -Warranty -Supplies See how I track why I am spending money, not necessarily which car it is on. (that would be a tag) Also, I do most of my own maintenance, which is why I bother to have subs for R&M. The fuel breakdown is part of my budget discipline - I prefer not to buy E10 if I can help it, this exposes such purchases, I suppose I should use the split memo or a tag here though. If I had different cars with different or flexible fuel requirements, like E85, Diesel, LNG, or Electricity, I’d want to split them out like I have here. And since that is likely in the future, I decided to create the sub-accounts now. I also put Auto Insurance under `Auto` rather than `Insurance` because it makes reporting the full expense impact of my car easier. (reporting all, even unrelated, insurances together doesn’t seem useful to me) If the car weren’t paid for, I’d still have a bit of number crunching or creative reporting for the liability payoffs, but this gets me the info how I want to see it. Finally, I have a separate account under "Household:Lawn & Garden" where I record fuel purchases (among other things) for my lawn equipment. I don’t record that under Auto:Fuel because it isn’t for the car, it is f
Re: [GNC] Changing account tree on large database
Cricket Onebit, I would suggest running an extended test possibly by importing one or two month's data into GnuCash then running both GnuCash and Quicken in parallel for a couple of months. It is easy to start over if you decide to do it a different way. Generally, GnuCash does not have any limits that most user could encounter. Often, because of differences with Quicken some things are easier to fix in Quicken before exporting and other things are easier to fix in GnuCash after importing, and it depends a lot on what your data looks like, so it is not easy to give general rules. David Carlson On Thu, Apr 25, 2019 at 3:19 PM Cricket Onebit wrote: > Hello, > > I'm preparing to convert 14,000 transactions from Quicken. It's a bit > overwhelming, and I've put it off for years. > > 1. Can I move child accounts to other parents, and promote / demote them? I > want to make some major changes, mostly Clothes-kid1 to kid1-clothes. It's > one more excuse for delaying the move. > > 2. Is there a length limit for descriptions, memos, notes, etc? I might use > keywords in those fields to duplicate Quicken's tags. A quick experiment > shows I can report on "transactions containing #tagone." Yay! > > 3. Is there a problem if I have transactions under each level of account, > such as Car, Car-Ford, and Car-Ford-Accident? I vaguely remember reading > I'd have to change some report settings. > > Just point me to the right bit of the manual if the details are there. It's > a good manual but there's a lot in it. > > > > New eyes found: > > The link to search Nabble is broken. > https://lists.gnucash.org/search/?idxinfo=gnucash-user . (I got there from > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user .) > > (The link to Google gave posts from 2018, even though there are more recent > ones with the word "Quicken". Not something GNUCash has any control over.) > > Thanks! > > > > > -- > +++ > > Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed, > But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. > -- Rudyard Kipling > ___ > 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.
