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205 lines
6.7 KiB
205 lines
6.7 KiB
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<ARTICLE ID="XACC-QUICKEN">
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<ARTHEADER>
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<TITLE>A Guide for Former Users of Quicken</TITLE>
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</ARTHEADER>
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<SECT1 ID="XACC-QUICKENGUIDE">
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<TITLE> Quicken (TM) User's Guide</TITLE>
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<PARA> </PARA>
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<PARA>Not all accounting systems use the same words to describe
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the same concepts. The following are some notes that may be
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helpful to users accustomed to Intuit's products.
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</PARA>
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</SECT1>
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<SECT1 ID="XACC-QUICKENCATS">
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<TITLE> Quicken Categories</TITLE>
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<PARA>What Quicken calls <EMPHASIS>Categories</EMPHASIS> are
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really just <LINK LINKEND="XACC-INCOMEEXPENSE">Income/Expense
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accounts. </LINK> Thus, if
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you are used to specifying a category in Quicken, just create
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an income/expense account of the same name in GnuCash, and use
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that as the name of the account.
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</PARA>
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</SECT1>
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<SECT1 ID="XACC-QIF">
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<TITLE> Quicken QIF File Import</TITLE>
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<PARA> GnuCash supports the import of Quicken
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Import Files (QIF). (Note: Only Quicken Version 3.0 QIF has
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been formally tested so far.)
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</PARA>
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<PARA>Note that the QIF format is representative of a somewhat
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peculiar data model that is not as expressive as one might
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wish; it requires dumping out a separate data file for each
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account, rather than permitting you to have one file that
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represents <EMPHASIS>all</EMPHASIS> of the accounts you might have had in
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Quicken.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>Furthermore, while there are plans to do so in the future,
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there is not, at this point, a way of mapping the account or
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category names used in Quicken to a <EMPHASIS>different</EMPHASIS> set of
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account names that you might be using in GnuCash.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>As a result, please read this section carefully. You may be
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somewhat disappointed with the results of a QIF import; this
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will at least give you some more accurate expectations as to
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what will happen.
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</PARA>
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<SECT2>
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<TITLE>Creating QIF Files</TITLE>
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<PARA> </PARA>
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<PARA>To create a set of Quicken <FILENAME>QIF</FILENAME> files, perform the
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following procedure:
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<ITEMIZEDLIST>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA> Start Quicken.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>It works on <ULINK URL="http://www.winehq.com/">Wine,</ULINK>
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Caldera's Wabi, and doubtless on VMWare, so this may not
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forcibly require that you run Windows.
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA> Select the account that you wish to export.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>Quicken can only export one account to each data file,
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which means that if you have many accounts, this may prove
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to be a somewhat tedious process. (On the other hand, it
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should be a whole lot <EMPHASIS>less</EMPHASIS> tedious than entering
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the data from scratch.)
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA> Choose the menu <GUIMENU>File</GUIMENU> and select the <GUIMENU> Export...</GUIMENU> menu entry.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>This will provide a dialog that requests a filename,
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effective dates, as well as a series of checkboxes,
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including <GUIMENU>Transactions</GUIMENU>, <GUIMENU>Accounts List</GUIMENU>,
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<GUIMENU>Category List</GUIMENU>, and so forth.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>For best results, you should make sure that those three
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are checked.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>If you do <EMPHASIS>not</EMPHASIS> check the <GUIMENU>Accounts List</GUIMENU>
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box, then the name of your account will likely be lost, and
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that will cause problems when you try to import the data
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into GnuCash later.
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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</ITEMIZEDLIST>
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Now you have a set of <FILENAME>.QIF</FILENAME> files, and should run
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GnuCash.
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</PARA>
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</SECT2>
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<SECT2>
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<TITLE>Loading QIF files into GnuCash</TITLE>
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<PARA> <ITEMIZEDLIST>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA>To import a Quicken QIF file, choose the menu <GUIMENU> File</GUIMENU> and select the entry <GUIMENU>Import QIF</GUIMENU>.
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA>The imported file will be merged with whatever other data
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you currently have in GnuCash. The merge allows multiple
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Quicken accounts to be imported and merged into one account
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group.
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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</ITEMIZEDLIST>
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</PARA>
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</SECT2>
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<SECT2>
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<TITLE>Things To Note About QIF Import</TITLE>
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<PARA> <ITEMIZEDLIST>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA> <EMPHASIS>Duplicate Entry Scanning</EMPHASIS>
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</PARA>
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<PARA>Note that during merge, a scan is made for duplicate
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transactions, and duplicates are removed. A duplicate
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transaction is one where the date, description (payee),
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memo, quantity, share price, and debited/credited accounts
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or categories match <EMPHASIS>exactly.</EMPHASIS> Thus, the merge <EMPHASIS> should</EMPHASIS> be safe unless you have multiple transactions
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on the same date, to the same account, for the same amount,
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with the same description and memo.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>This unfortunately <EMPHASIS>can</EMPHASIS> occur, the typical
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scenario involving where you make multiple withdrawals of
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identical amounts from ATM machines on the same day.
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA> <EMPHASIS>Empty Accounts</EMPHASIS>
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</PARA>
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<PARA>Note that when the <GUIMENU>Accounts List</GUIMENU> and <GUIMENU> Category List</GUIMENU> is exported from Quicken, <EMPHASIS>all</EMPHASIS>
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accounts and categories will be exported, even if they are
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empty and contain no transactions. When these are imported,
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they will appear as accounts with a balance of zero. If you
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do not plan to use such accounts, feel free to delete them.
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Future enhancements may allow you to delete them "en
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masse," or to make them invisible without deleting
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them.
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA> <EMPHASIS>QIF Mark II</EMPHASIS> An ongoing project is to build an
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alternative import utility in Guile that will be more
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flexible, and which, by virtue of being stored as a set of
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Scheme scripts, may be modified without needing to
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recompile the whole application.
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</PARA>
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<PARA>At this point, it successfully parses <FILENAME>QIF</FILENAME>
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files; what remains is the (rather complex task) of
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determine appropriate correspondences between the Quicken
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<EMPHASIS>Categories</EMPHASIS> and the GnuCash equivalents. That is one
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of the most significant weaknesses with the present QIF
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import scheme.
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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<LISTITEM>
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<PARA> <EMPHASIS>More about QIF</EMPHASIS>
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</PARA>
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<PARA>Further details about the QIF Interchange Format may be
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found <LINK LINKEND="QIF"> here.</LINK>
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</PARA>
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</LISTITEM>
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</ITEMIZEDLIST>
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</PARA>
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</SECT2>
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</SECT1>
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</ARTICLE>
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