gnucash/doc/sgml/C/xacc-quickstart.sgml

  <article id="xacc-quickstart">
    <artheader>
      <title>
	Getting Started
      </title>
    </artheader>
    
      <sect1>
	<title>
	  Welcome
	</title>
	
	<para>Hi there!  Welcome to GnuCash 1.6, an easy-to-use,
	  powerful, and reliable personal finance program.  This virtually
	  all-new version has an extensive list of features, and if you
	  want to know everything GnuCash can do, check the 
	  <link linkend="xacc-features">features section</link> of this manual.
	  However, if you're like us and impatient to get some work done,
	  that can wait until later.</para>

	<para>
	  As much as is possible, GnuCash is designed to be intuitive to
	  use.  Despite that, getting the most out of GnuCash requires 
	  understanding a couple of simple ideas used throughout the
	  program, and used throughout the rest of this manual.
	  Therefore, we highly recommend that you spend a few minutes
	  reading this manual page.  
	</para>
      </sect1>
      
      <sect1 id="xacc-remedial-accounting">
	<title>
	  Remedial Accounting 101
	</title>
	
	<para>
	At its core, GnuCash is a tool for tracking
	<emphasis>transactions</emphasis>. A transaction is a record
	of money being removed from one "account" and placed in
	another.  To take a simple example, say you have two bank
	accounts - a cheque account (that's checking, for the
	Americans in the audience . . .), and an investment account,
	and you transfer $500 from the cheque account to the
	investment account. GnuCash records that transfer.
	</para>
	
	<para>
	  "But what about when I buy things, or get paid?"  I hear you ask.
	  Well, "accounts" in GnuCash aren't just bank accounts.  You can
	  set up Income accounts, expense accounts, asset, liability, share
	  accounts, mutual fund accounts - in fact, there are a total of 
	  11 different account types GnuCash supports.  You can (and should)
	  set up a number of different expense accounts for different
	  types of expenditure.  So, your paycheck would be a transfer
	  from, say "salary", an income account, to your checking account.
	  Buying fuel with your credit card might be a transfer from 
	  "ABC Visa", a credit card account, to "Fuel", an expense account.
	  If you've grasped all that, you're 90% of the way to making best
	  use of GnuCash!
	</para>
	
	<para>
	  Now, if you're going to keep proper track of your finances,
	  you'll obviously want to create a variety of expense and
	  income accounts for keeping track of various transactions
	  you'll make - in fact, setting up the right set of accounts
	  is the key to making GnuCash work for you.  However, if you
	  create many different accounts, it can be a pain to keep
	  track of them all.  GnuCash has a way of dealing with this,
	  though.  It lets you create a <emphasis>tree</emphasis>of
	  accounts.  For instance, you can create a "Utilities"
	  expense account, and then create "Utilities:Power",
	  "Utilities:Gas", and "Utilities:Phone".  We term "Utilities"
	  to be the "parent" account, and the three others to be
	  "subaccounts".  When you produce <link
	  linkend="xacc-reports"> reports</link> of your financial
	  data, you can choose whether to display a summary of all
	  "utilities" accounts, or data for each individual account.
	</para>
	
	<para>
	  Now let's go create some accounts!
	</para>
      </sect1>
      
      <sect1 id="xacc-new-account-tree">
	<title>
	  Setting up accounts from scratch
	</title>

	<para>
	  This section is intended for people who are
	  using a personal finance program for the first time,
	  or can't import their data into GnuCash using the 
	  <link linkend="xacc-data-from-existing">QIF
	    importer</link>.  
	</para>
	
	<para>
	  If you want, GnuCash can help set up a default set of
	  accounts for you, using the
        <link linkend="xacc-account-hierarchy-creator">New Account Setup</link>
	  druid.  What's a druid?  Well, it's kind of like a wizard,
	  but it's called a druid.  Why? Because it's not a wizard,
	  it's a druid . . .
	  </para>
	<para>
	Anyway, the druid will take you through the process
	of creating a set of accounts to get you going.
	To get started, go to the "File" menu (in the top left
	hand corner of the GnuCash window), and select "New
	File".
	  Simply follow the prompts to select a default currency, 
	  then select the types of accounts you wish to create.
	  You will then be given the opportunity to enter opening
	  balances for these accounts.  Now, here's where things
	  get a little tricky.  The opening balances are just
	  a transaction, but where is it transferred from?
	  A special account of type "equity" is created, called
	  "Opening Balances", and all opening balances consist
	  of a transfer to (or from) this account.
	</para>
      </sect1>

      <sect1 id="xacc-data-from-existing">
	<title>
	  Importing data from other personal finance programs
	</title>
	
	<para>
	  If you have used another personal finance program that
	  can export QIF files, such as Quicken or Microsoft Money,
	  you can import the data into GnuCash.  See the instructions
	  for the <link linkend="xacc-quicken">QIF importer</link>.
	</para>

	<para>Once you've done that, you're ready to go - but first, 
	  couple of quick hints about two things GnuCash 
	  does a little differently from those programs:
	  </para>
	<itemizedlist>
	  <listitem><para>Where some programs uses "categories"
	      to categorize expenses and income types, GnuCash
	      uses income and expense accounts.  They work 
	      in a similar way, but it's a considerably cleaner
	      and more flexible way of handling things once
	      you get used to the idea.
	    </para></listitem>
	  <listitem><para>Some programs use a list of accounts.
	      GnuCash uses a "tree" of accounts, allowing you
	      to group similar sorts of accounts - very useful
	      when reporting your financial data.  You can
	      rearrange your accounts to use a more tree-like 
	      structure by using the <link linkend="xacc-accountedit">
		Account Edit Dialog</link>.
	    </para>
	  </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
      </sect1>

      <sect1>
	<title>
	  Starting to use GnuCash
	</title>
	<para>
	  Once the druid has done it's thing, you'll end up 
	  at the GnuCash <link linkend="xacc-mainwin">main 
	   window.</link>  To start entering transactions, select
	  the appropriate account and click on the "open" button
	  on the the toolbar.  This brings up the account's 
	  <link linkend="xacc-regwin">register</link>, so you
	  can enter transactions.  
	  You might also want to <link linkend="xacc-newacctwin">
	    add more accounts</link> or <link linkend="xacc-accountedit">
	    change something</link> about
	  existing accounts.
	</para>
	<para>
	  Please take the time to read some more about GnuCash
	  in this online manual.  You'll get much more out of 
	  it!
	</para>
      </sect1>
  </article>
  
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