Derek, I had thought of going back a few years, for the sake of expediency, and then going further back as time allowed. It sounds as if I am better off going back to the first transactions I ultimately want in the GnuCash file and going forward from there. I can keep using Quicken until that process is complete and reconcile the new transactions last.
Thanks, - Byron > On Mar 2, 2026, at 4:45 PM, Derek Atkins <[email protected]> wrote: > > An OB transaction is just a regular transaction to Equity. When creating an > account there is a page to help you create that transaction, but you can > manually create it afterwards if necessary. > However, once you reconcile, you cannot (easily) add a new opening balance or > edit into the past. The reason is thst reconciliation is always from "the > beginning of time" to the reconcile date. > > -derek > Sent using my mobile device. Please excuse any typos. > > On March 2, 2026 19:36:50 Byron Bray <[email protected]> wrote: > >> David, >> >> Thanks for pointing that out; I should have been more specific. I had noted >> that GnuCash does allow entry of an opening balance, when creating an >> account; as you suggest, though, GnuCash creates the account during import >> and, apparently, derives the opening balance as David T. points out, by >> summing the import’s reconciled transactions. It does not provide, as far as >> I have been able to see, any mechanism for adjusting or setting the opening >> balance in that situation. >> >> I am going to try un-reconciling the account in Quicken, exporting it, >> importing it into GnuCash and recycling to see how will work. >> >> Thanks again, >> >> - Byron >> >>> On Mar 2, 2026, at 1:01 PM, David Cousens <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> You definitiely can enetr a starting balance for an account Using the >>> New Account dialogue. It allows you to set the account paraeters an set >>> an opening balance. I'm not sure but it may be that the QIF import >>> creates accounts where necessary if they don't already exist in which >>> case there is no mechanism to set the opening balance. >>> >>> The process of manually creating an opening balance is described in the >>> giuide >>> https://code.gnucash.org/website/docs/v1.8/C/gnucash-guide/txns_puttoget1.html >>> >>> >>> On Mon, 2026-03-02 at 10:22 -0800, Byron Bray wrote: >>>> First, my thanks to you both for your replies; I very much appreciate >>>> your help. >>>> >>>> David Cousens wrote: >>>>> If there are no transactions dated prior to the start date of the >>>>> reconciliation other than your opening balance entry, then the >>>>> starting >>>>> balance when you reconcile the first month of entered data should >>>>> be >>>>> that opening balance. >>>> >>>> Thanks for that tip. I checked the filter, making sure that ”Show >>>> All” and all “Status" options were selected. I had performed the >>>> export from Quicken with transactions starting on January 1st for the >>>> year in question; double-checking showed that there were no prior >>>> transactions. Nonetheless, the Reconcile Information window shows a >>>> starting balance of almost $1,000. >>>> >>>> It seems so odd to me that you cannot simply enter an opening balance >>>> for an account. Then all subsequent reconciliations could proceed >>>> normally. I can see the logic behind the design; it was created on >>>> the premise that the user would be starting at the beginning, with no >>>> transactions and thus a zero balance. But that is not the case with >>>> imported data. >>>> >>>> At present, I can see no way to arrive at an accurate opening balance >>>> and reconciliation (and thus with accurate running balances, since a >>>> “balancing transaction” unbalances the running balance for all >>>> subsequent transactions) other than to go back to Quicken, un- >>>> reconcile all the transactions in the account, export the account, >>>> import it into GnuCash and, starting with an opening balance >>>> transaction, reconcile them all. I have many accounts; this was just >>>> the first, so it looks like a very long slog to make this transition. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> David T. wrote: >>>>> One correction: the opening balance in the Reconcile window >>>>> includes EVERY reconciled transaction in the register, regardless >>>>> of transaction date. >>>> >>>> >>>> I observed and was puzzled by this. I was also puzzled by the fact >>>> that the Reconcile window, when invoked for a particular month, shows >>>> unreconciled transactions for all dates subsequent to the >>>> reconciliation’s Beginning Date, including those after the Statement >>>> Date. I had intended to ask, at some point, whether there was a way >>>> to cause GnuCash to show only the transactions prior to the Statement >>>> Date. Based upon your reply, I doubt it. >>>> >>>> I am no accountant and that behaviour seems strange to me. After all, >>>> by definition, reconciliation takes place for a finite period; there >>>> may be transactions which pre-date that period (e.g., a check written >>>> months ago that has still not been cashed) but I can see no reason to >>>> include transactions subsequent to the Statement Date since they, by >>>> definition, have not occurred during that period. >>>> >>>> It also creates a real problem in a situation like mine. If the >>>> opening balance is the sum of all reconciled transactions, the >>>> discrepancy in these cases can only be found by going through months >>>> or years of transactions trying to ferret out that transaction (or >>>> combination of transactions) has caused it. Again, it points to the >>>> idea of unreconciling all transactions in Quicken, exporting, >>>> importing into GnuCash and reconciling. >>>> >>>> I had another question: I found that, in un-reconciling the >>>> transactions for that month, I could not un-reconcile more than one >>>> transaction at a time. The documentation, and many videos, etc., >>>> indicate that I should be able to Ctrl-click (Windows) or Cmd-click >>>> (MacOS) multiple transactions in the register to create a selection >>>> to perform operations on but I could not do so. I tried doing so on >>>> both Basic Ledger and Transaction Journal views; nothing I have tried >>>> has allowed me to select more than one record at a time. If the >>>> Reconciliation window displayed both reconciled and unreconciled >>>> transactions for the reconciliation period, I could use the >>>> “Reconcile Selection” and “Unreconcile Selection” buttons to do this >>>> but, as mentioned earlier, the window only displays any unreconciled >>>> entries.What am I missing? >>>> >>>> >>>> Again, thanks to you both. >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> 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. >>> >>> -- >>> David Cousens >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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. > > _______________________________________________ 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. 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