Import and export
GnuCash's File > Import and File > Export mapped to methods - QIF, CSV transactions, accounts, prices, bills and invoices, and customers and vendors through import.preview and import.apply; exports through the export methods. OFX, QFX, MT940 and the AqBanking formats are not supported.
GnuCash imports through assistants that ask you questions as they go. red-ale always works in two steps: a preview that reads the file and changes nothing, then an apply or a discard. The answer to the preview is the Import proposal. See Importing and matching for how it matches and what you can change.
Import
| GnuCash | red-ale |
|---|---|
| File > Import > Import QIF... | import.preview with format qif. Only QIF takes several files. Which Account each QIF category goes to is a Configuration setting, import.qifAccountMap |
| File > Import > Import Transactions from CSV... | format csvTransactions, with a layout: the separator, the date and number formats, and what each column is. A saved layout is named in the Configuration (import.csvLayouts.*). Only this format goes through the duplicate matcher |
| File > Import > Import Accounts from CSV... | format csvAccounts |
| File > Import > Import Prices from CSV... | format csvPrices |
| File > Import > Import Bills & Invoices... | format csvDocuments |
| File > Import > Import Customers & Vendors... | format csvOwners |
| The assistant's final page: Finish, or Cancel | import.apply with your choices for each Transaction (add, clear, update or skip), or import.discard |
| The Match Picker and the Import Map Editor | matches in the proposal, and importMap.list, importMap.delete (Tools) |
| File > Import > Import Log Replayer... | book.replayJournal, for the .log journal GnuCash writes beside a book |
The file goes in the call as text; there is no path to read. A proposal that does not balance is not refused, as in
GnuCash: applying it adds an Imbalance-<CUR> split, which is flagged in the proposal beforehand. Rows that cannot be
imported are listed in errors and left out of the apply.
Export
| GnuCash | red-ale |
|---|---|
| File > Export > Export Transactions to CSV... | export.csvTransactions: Accounts, a date range, layout of complex (one line per Split) or simple (one line per Transaction). The text comes back in the result; no file is written |
| File > Export > Export Active Register to CSV... | The same with the one Account |
| File > Export > Export Account Tree to CSV... | export.csvTree |
| File > Export > Export Accounts (a new book with the Account tree and no Transactions) | export.accounts. It never overwrites a file |
| Report > Export Report... | report.export (Reports menu) |
Not supported
Open Financial Exchange (OFX and QFX), the AqBanking formats (MT940, MT942, MT535, DTAUS, CAMT 052, and the others), online banking and the HBCI setup are not in red-ale. Convert such a file to QIF or CSV first, or see Not in red-ale.