I'm a bit confused as to the best update method. These seem to be
differing methods, incrementally updating GC (3 steps), or jump to 4.4
(1 step) and let it do the data update in one step. Is the JR one
step method reliable for a big file with many accounts?
On 1/8/21 10:15 AM, John Ralls wrote:
The old GnuCash file still has a bunch of imports and starting with it will
save you some time importing and perhaps training the import-matcher. Make a
separate backup of it for an extra layer of safety.
Since you didn't actually use GnuCash much it's probably safe to just install
4.4. The installer will take care of uninstalling your old 2.6.14. There's a
bunch of upgrading that GnuCash will do on its first run and a bunch more on
the first import, so be patient! If your existing file is large and your old
laptop is slow or doesn't have a lot of memory it may take more than an
hour--someone reported several hours for a very large file--to run all of the
startup scrubs and then more hours to update the import maps, so plug in the
laptop, turn off energy savers (it's OK to blank the screen but you don't want
it to go to sleep), and plan to leave it running for a while.
As you bring the GnuCash file up to date do small imports--a month or two worth
of transactions--to begin. If most of the imported transactions are matched
correctly then you can go to larger import batches, but if they're not then
you'll want to do a half dozen or so small batches to train the matcher. Note
that there's a recently added feature that allows you to select several
transactions in the matcher window and assign all of them to the same transfer
account; just right-click after selecting and pick Assign Account from the
context menu (it's the only option).
Remember to save frequently so that you can easily go back if something goes
wrong.
Regards,
John Ralls
On 1/8/21 10:28 AM, D. via gnucash-user wrote:
Welcome back!
Let me start with the last point first: in my experience, Gnucash's developer
team is deeply committed to compatibility, and works to ensure that upgrades
preserve ALL previous data. Furthermore, the default data storage is XML, which
is text that is human readable, and fully transparent to the end user (I'll add
the caveat here that for efficiency's sake, the file is usually stored in a
compressed format, which cannot be directly read by humans, but which can be
expanded and then read).
Under the circumstances, you can follow either path, but I'd probably choose to
upgrade and update in place, depending on details. Arguing in favor of a fully
new start in 4.4 is the simplicity of downloading that version and starting
anew. Rather strongly against this, however, is the fact that you have already
imported most of your history into the older version--a process that is usually
somewhat painful.
Under the alternative, you'd update the software, confirm your existing data,
and then import new transactions from Quicken. This would allow you to build
off the existing data set, perhaps quickly.
If you follow the upgrade path, the recommended method is to:
1) Make a backup of your data file.
2) Upgrade to 2.16.21, open your file and perform a check & repair on the
entire file.
3) Upgrade to 3.11, open your file and perform a check & repair on the entire
file.
4) Upgrade to 4.4, open your file and perform a check & repair on the entire
file.
5) Export new transactions from Quicken.
6) Import these transactions into Gnucash.
7) Perform any reconciliations in date order.
8) Relax, don't worry, have a home brew. (This last directive might not apply
to the current set of activities)
HTH,
David T.
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