Byron: You are correct in what you stated below.
Couple of additional suggestions ... 1- If there are transfers in Quicken (say between bank account to a bank account) then those are the types of transactions that are likely to error during import. When I imported almost 3 decades of transactions in thousands, transfers of these type where the most pain (besides the brokerage accounts). 2 - Assuming you are importing QIF format from Quicken to GNUCASH, you can hand edit the QIF file before importing to remove the reconcile flag with any editor's search and replace operation. QIF files are in plain text. Let me know if you need these details on what to remove. 3 - You may have to create the Quicken Account in GNUCASH manually if the import of just the account tree from Quicken is not working. By any chance are you using year end copies for your Quicken books? Sounds like no. The other suggestion I can make is that if the prior transactions in Quicken are not that important than you can start afresh with closing balance of Quicken as the Opening balance of GNUCASH and go forward from there on. You can keep Quicken around to consult for old transactions if need be. This only can be done if it is 2017 or prior version, though, as Quicken really insist on you paying them their due homage after that version. You can do year end copies and then start a fresh for the following year in GnuCash. Reconciling imported transactions is multi-month effort and even then it is trial-and-error basis. I am still doing clean up now-and-then from when I imported back in 2020, and I had few transaction that would refuse to import so had to hunt in the QIF file using plain text editor. Nonetheless, it is best conquered in pieces as GNUCASH isn't designed to be able to import everything correctly in one fell swoop. It is not because GNUCASH is bad but it because QIF format is imprecise so it has to be helped to clarify things. As I stated earlier, I ultimately ended up importing in batches few months of transactions from one account at a time after creating the account tree first. As others have mentioned, when you are at the right place -- the balances are correct, and it reconciles correctly -- make a backup of the file before moving onto the next batch of import so that you don’t have to start from scratch. HTH. -----Original Message----- From: Byron Bray <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 02, 2026 8:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [GNC] Banking Account - Imported QIF data and Opening Balances Kalpesh, Thank you! It is not too late. I had just finished un-reconciling the main account (my business account) in a copy of my QIF file, going back to 2020. > 1) It allows you to review in small batches to make sure that import is > correct and reconcile them before importing next batch I was just about to try that but will heed your advice and do a few months at a time. > 2) It also helps trains the matcher algorithm and lesson the effort if there > are any re-import of the same transactions. I was unaware of the Bayesian matcher algorithm but some research has been enlightening; thanks for mentioning that. > Are you importing multiple accounts at a time or one account at a time? If > you are doing multiple account at a time then you want to start first with > bringing just the account tree and then starting with importing largest > account first moving down to smaller ones for matcher to match them up as the > second leg that might be in the largest account for transfers. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I was unaware of (and had wondered about) GnuCash’s ability to handle the many account transfers in my data. I had tried to export just the account structure from Quicken, but found that that did not produce any result whatever. Unless GnuCash can match them in subsequent imports automatically, I expect that I would need to: 1) Import the business account transactions and their associated accounts and then 2) Manually construct any additional accounts in gnu cash, and then 3) Use the matching phase of the import process to match the quicken account transfer to the appropriate gnu cash account. Please correct me if I am wrong in any particular. Many thanks, - Byron ===================== > On Mar 2, 2026, at 1:39 PM, Kalpesh Patel <[email protected]> wrote: > > I am not sure if this is too late or not but recommendation is to import > limited se of transactions at a time (perhaps 1 to 3 months at a time > depending on number of transactions) for few reasons: > > 1) It allows you to review in small batches to make sure that import is > correct and reconcile them before importing next batch which can help you > flag down import error which is going to be in the non-reconciled > transactions. It is a lot easier to flag down an errant import entry in a > small set of transactions then all in one fell swoop. > > 2) It also helps trains the matcher algorithm and lesson the effort if there > are any re-import of the same transactions. > > Are you importing multiple accounts at a time or one account at a time? If > you are doing multiple account at a time then you want to start first with > bringing just the account tree and then starting with importing largest > account first moving down to smaller ones for matcher to match them up as the > second leg that might be in the largest account for transfers. Keep in mind > that in Quicken Categories are Accounts in GNUCash so you have to have them > setup before importing if you have transfers in Quicken, and are likely to > error when you bring them over. > > Worth case scenario is to reconcile month by month which will help narrow > down where the transactions might have been imported incorrectly. You can > always reconcile same set of time periods in GNUCash without any adverse > impact. > > HTH to get your account reconciled. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Byron Bray <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2026 8:46 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [GNC] Banking Account - Imported QIF data and Opening Balances > > Friends, > > I need some guidance as to the proper setup and handing of banking accounts > (at least) in GnuCash. I have spent the better part of two days, read dozens > of postings to the GnuCash lists and watched dozens of videos, trying to > resolve the issue I am seeing but, bright as I like to think I am, I am > clearly missing something; it is my hope that you can help me. > > I am trying to shift my accounting data from Quicken to GnuCash. My operating > environment: > Computer: Mac Pro (2019) > OS Version: MacOS 15 (Sequoia) > GnuCash version: Version: 5.14 Build ID: 5.14+(2025-12-20) > > I imported a Quicken QIF bank account, after making sure that the account was > accurately reconciled for the period of the import. Having completed the > import, the Reconciliation window reported a Starting Balance, Reconciled > Balance and Difference of almost $1,000. I had read that the way to overcome > this was to simply enter an opening balance transaction in Equities and > reconcile the first month, entering the accurate Ending Balance and > performing the reconciliation; subsequent months should, I read, display the > correct information. > > I created an “Opening Balance” transaction to take place on the last day of > the month prior to the imported data, entering the balance as of that date > and linking it to “Equities:Opening Balances”. I entered the Reconcile > window, set it for that previous month, made sure the “Ending Balance” was > correct and checked the box for that “Opening Balance” transaction. The > “Finish” button was disabled because it didn’t take into effect the erroneous > ≈$1,000 Starting Balance. > > Then, I created a balancing transaction and dated it the month before the > first transaction in the imported data and attempted to reconcile that month. > This time it DID enable the Finish button and completed the reconcile. When I > opened the Reconcile window for the following month (the first imported > month), the window for the following month reported that the Starting > Balance, the Ending Balance, the Reconciled Balance and the Difference were > all $0.00 … which was just what one would expect. The only problem is that > the running balance for the entire account, as shown in the register, is > almost $1,000 less than the actual balance. > > I’m hopeful that you know a better solution than this but at this point, the > only way I can see to arrive at a ledger whose balance and reconciliation > data are accurate is to go back to Quicken, un-reconcile all of the thousands > of transactions in this account, export the data, import it into GnuCash and > then reconcile them all again. I fervently hope that there is a better > solution than this. > > Any advice you can give me would be gratefully received and carefully > considered. Whether you can suggest a solution or not, I want to thank you, > in advance, for your time and energy. > _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
