# Getting Started

## &app;zum ersten Mal starten

Um &app; zu starten, wählen Sie in Ihrem Startmenü die entsprechende Programmgruppe und den darin enthaltenen Eintrag aus.

Alternativ hierzu kann das Programm auch über die Shell, also eine Befehlszeile, mit dem Kommando `gnucash` gestartet werden.

Während das Programm die benötigten Systemdateien nachlädt, erscheint der &app;Willkommens-Bildschirm (Splash Screen), der Ihnen einige Informationen zum Programm selbst und zum Status des Ladevorganges anzeigt.

### Cannot find default values (???) screen

Beim allerersten Programmstart werden Sie mit der Meldung "Kann keine aktuellen Werte finden." konfrontiert sein. Hier finden Sie drei Schaltflächen:

- Beenden beendet &app;.

- Überspringen führt Sie weiter, ohne das die Einstellungswerte für die Bildschirmdarstellung von &app; gesetzt werden.

- Setup öffnet den Assistenten zum Updaten der &app; Voreinstellungen (siehe hierzu update-configuration-data). Damit können Sie einen neuen Satz von Voreinstellungswerten erstellen.

### Assistent zur Aktualisierung der &app;-Voreinstellungen

Der erster Bildschirm zur Aktualisierung dere &app; Konfiguration beschreibt den Assistenten. Während sich die Daten auf dem Schirm ändern werden, ändern sich die drei Schaltflächen des Assistenten nicht.

- Abbrechen beendet den Assistenten.

  Wenn Sie diese Schaltfläche drücken, werden sämtliche erfolgte Auswahlen bis zu diesem Punkt verloren gehen.

- Zurück bringt Sie zum vorherigen Bildschirm so dass eine ursprüngliche Auswahl bis zum ersten Schritt geändert werden kann.

- Vorwärts bringt Sie zum nächten Schritt. Somit können Sie dem Assistenten durch die Schritte folgen.

The second screen allows you to Choose a Method of setting gconf configuration for &app;. The Update Search Path button will modify `.gconf` path in the user’s home directory. The Install in Home Directory button on this screen will install the configuration files in the `.gconf` directory in the user’s home directory.

After making your selection click the Forward button to display the next screen.

If you selected Install in Home Directory the next screen presents you with three options:

- &app; wird die Daten installieren.

- Sie installieren die Daten selbst.

- Die Daten wurden bereits geladen.

If you selected Update Search Path the next screen presents you with three options:

- &app; will update search path.

- You will update search path yourself.

- The update search path has already been updated.

The final screen has the usual three buttons, with the difference that Forward has changed to Apply. Click the Apply button to complete the initial defaults setting process. The Welcome to &app; screen (see welcome-to-gnucash) will now be opened.

### Willkommen beim &app;-Dialog

Nach die ersten Voreinstellungen festgelegt worden sind, werden Sie mit dem Willkommen in &app;!-Dialog begrüßt.

Dieser bietet Ihnen drei Auswahlmöglichkeiten:

- Neuen Kontenplan erstellen startet den entsprechenden Assistenten (siehe hierzu acct-hierarchy), der Sie durch diese Prozedur geleitet.

- Sind Sie bereits im Besitz von z.B. Quicken-Dateien (`.qif`-Dateien) aus einem anderen Finanzprogramm und möchten diese importieren, dann entscheiden Sie sich für Import >> QIF-Datei importieren. (siehe hierzu import-qif).

- Beschäftigen Sie sich das erste Mal mit GnuCash und wollen sich vorerst nur durch die Einstellungsmöglichkeiten von GnuCash führen lassen, so ist Hilfe >> GnuCash-Kurs und Konzepte Ihre erste Wahl.

Es besteht auch die Möglichkeit, dass Sie sich später mit den anderen Auswahlmöglichkeiten beschäftigen. In diesem Fall ist aber der Willkommen bei &app;!-Dialog dann nicht mehr zugänglich. Um die anderen Auswahlmöglichkeiten zu testen, lesen Sie bitte in acct-hierarchy, import-qif und im "tutorial" nach. Dort erfahrenn Sie, wie Sie diese aus dem &app;-Menü heraus starten können.

Dieser Schritt dient dazu, dass Sie schnell starten können. Die Abrrechen Schaltfläche dient dazu, diesen Eingabebildschirm zu verlassen. Es wird dann wie folgt gefragt:Den Willkommensdialog wieder anzeigen?. Wenn Sie das Willkommen bei &app;! Menü nicht nochmal sehen wollen klicken Sie die Nein Schaltfläche. Klicken Sie die Ja Schaltfläche oder drücken Sie Enter auf Ihrer Tastatur. Dies wählt den Standardwert aus, der darin besteht, dass der Willkommen bei &app;! Bildschirm abermals angezeigt wird.

Die Auswahl einer dieser Optionen gibt Ihnen ein minimales &app; Hauptfenster. Operationen in diesem Fest werden in "GUIMenus"> beschrieben.

## Einrichtung einer neuen Kontenhierarchie

Der Assistent hilft Ihnen eine Reihe von &app; Konten auszubauen. Er erscheint wenn Sie Erstellen eines neuen Kontenrahmens im Willkommen bei &app;! auswählen.

Dies erstellt eine neue, leere &app; Datei und starten dann automatisch den Assistent für die Einrichtung einer neuen Kontenhierarchie.

Um diesen Assistenten manuell zu starten, gehen Sie zu Datei Neu wenn Sie eine neue Datei erstellen müssen. Wenn Sie den Assistenten innerhalb der geöffneten Datei laufen lassen wollen, gehen Sie zu Aktionen Neue Kontenhierachie... wenn das Kontenbaum-Tab angezeigt wird.

1. The New Account Hierarchy Setup assistant opens with a screen that briefly describes what this assistant does. The three buttons at the very bottom of the screen will not change while using the assistant.

   - Cancel exit the process and cancel creating a new set of accounts.

     If you click this button, any selections you have made up to this point will be lost.

   - Back brings up the previous screen so that you can change a previous selection until the first screen.

   - Forward brings up the next screen so you can continue through the assistant.

2. The next screen allows you to Choose Currency to use as default for your accounts.

   - The Currency: drop down list defaults to the currency configured in the Accounts tab under &app; Preferences (see prefs-accounts). If you wish your accounts to use a different default currency, select one from the list.

   - The Forward button is used to confirm your selection and continue to the next screen.

3. The next screen is used to Choose accounts to create.

   You will see a screen divided into three parts.

   - The left upper portion has a list of Categories for commonly used hierarchies of accounts. Select from this list the types of accounts you wish to use. You can select as many of the categories of accounts as you wish.

   - The left lower section has a Category Description that displays a detailed description of the category currently highlighted.

   - The right side has a list of the Accounts that will be created from the selected category.

   - The Select All button allows you to include all of the account categories.

   - The Clear All button allows you to deselect all of the categories selected.

4. The next screen allows you to Setup selected accounts by entering the opening balances and by selecting if the account is a placeholder.

   Equity accounts do not have opening balances so the opening balance value for this kind of accounts is locked and set to zero by &app;

   Placeholder accounts are used to create a hierarchy of accounts and normally do not have transactions or opening balances.

   Follow the instructions in the display on how to select the account and entering an opening balance for the account. A single click is used to highlight an account.

   - The left side of the screen has a list of Account Names. Select an account by "clicking" once in the Account Names column with the account highlighted. This will open the account name for changes.

   - The right side of the screen has a check-box to make an account a Placeholder and a box to add the Opening Balance for the selected account. Again a single click in the Opening Balance or Placeholder column will open the field for changes.

5. The Finish account setup is the last screen and gives you a final list of the three choices to finish the assistant.

   - Cancel exits the assistant and cancels creating a new set of accounts.

     If you click this button, any selections you have made up to this point will be lost.

   - Back brings up the previous screen so that you can change a previous selection until the first screen.

   - Apply creates the accounts you have selected.

You should now have a hierarchy of accounts in your main &app; account window.

## Import QIF Files

This Assistant helps you import Quicken (QIF) files. It will appear if you choose Import my QIF files in the Welcome to &app;! menu.

To start this assistant manually go to File Import ... Import QIF....

In the following all the screens that you can see in this assistant are described in order of appearance.

1. The Import QIF files assistant opens with a screen that briefly describes what this assistant does and requests the file(s) to import. The three buttons at the very bottom of the screen will not change while using the assistant.

   - Cancel exit the process and cancel importing QIF files.

     If you click this button, any selections you have made up to this point will be lost.

   - Back brings up the previous screen so that you can change a previous selection until the first screen.

   - Forward brings up the next screen so you can continue through the assistant.

2. The next screen allows you to Select a QIF file to load. The Select... button on this screen is used to access the list of files. The Select... button brings up the Select QIF File dialog.

   Navigate to where you have stored your QIF files and select the first one then click Import. The next screen will display it in the Select a QIF File to Load field.

   If the file you are loading does not have an QIF date listed in it you will see the Set a date format for this QIF file screen. Select the proper format from the pull down list and continue.

   If the file you are loading does not have an account name listed in it you will see the Set the default QIF account name screen. Otherwise you will skip this screen and go on to the screen in the next section that shows loaded QIF files.

   - The Account name: field is used to set an account name for this QIF file.

3. The next screen shows you the QIF files you have loaded. You can use this screen to return to the previous screen and load more QIF files. It will also let you unload any files you have loaded by mistake.

   - The top panel shows the list of QIF Files you have loaded.

   - The Load another file button takes you back to the previous screen to load another QIF file.

   - The Unload selected file button allows you to select a file from the top panel and remove it from the list.

   When you have selected all the QIF files to be imported, click the Forward button.

4. Depending on the type of data contained in the QIF files to be imported, you may see only one or all of the following screens:

   Accounts and stock holdings

5. This screen gives a description of the Accounts and stock holdings matching process on the following Match QIF accounts with &app; accounts screen.

   This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see prefs-online) under &app; Preferences.

   The next screen lets you Match QIF accounts with &app; accounts. You will see a list of QIF account names on the left and suggested &app; account names on the right. The New? column indicates if the &app; account name will be created by the QIF Import.

   To change the &app; account to a different one select the QIF account. A screen will pop up to select another account or create a new one.

   - Select an account from the list to choose a already existing account.

   - The New Account button allows you to add a new account name as a sub-account (child of selected) of the selected account.

   - The OK button is used to confirm your selection.

   - The Cancel button is used to exit the dialog without using any changes you have made.

Income and Expense categories

- This screen gives a description of the Income and Expense categories matching process on the following Match QIF categories with &app; accounts screen.

  This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see prefs-online) under &app; Preferences.

  The next screen lets you Match QIF categories with &app; accounts. You will see a list of QIF category names on the left and suggested &app; account names on the right. The New? column indicates if the &app; account name will be created by the QIF Import.

  To change the &app; account to a different one select the QIF category. A dialog will pop up to select another account or create a new one.

  - Select an account from the list to choose a already existing account.

  - The New Account button allows you to add a new account name as a sub-account (child of selected) of the selected account.

  - The OK button is used to confirm your selection.

  - The Cancel button is used to exit the dialog without using any changes you have made.

Payees and memos

- This screen gives a description of the Payees and memos matching process on the following Match payees/memos to &app; accounts screen.

  This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see prefs-online) under &app; Preferences.

  The next screen lets you Match payees/memos to &app; accounts. You will see a list of QIF payee/memo names on the left and suggested &app; account names on the right. The default &app; account used is called Unspecified. The New? column indicates if the &app; account name will be created by the QIF Import.

  To change the &app; account to a different one select the QIF payee/memo. A dialog will pop up to select another account or create a new one.

  - Select an account from the list to choose a already existing account.

  - The New Account button allows you to add a new account name as a sub-account of the selected account.

  - The OK button is used to confirm your selection.

  - The Cancel button is used to exit the dialog without using any changes you have made.

- The next screen allows you to Enter the QIF file currency. The drop down list defaults to the currency configured in the Accounts tab (see prefs-accounts) under &app; Preferences. If you wish the new accounts to use a different currency, select one from the list.

  When you have selected the currency, click the Forward button.

- Depending on the type of data contained in the QIF files to be imported, you may or may not see one or more of the following screens:

  Tradable Commodities

- This screen gives a description of the Tradable Commodities process on the screen.

  This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see prefs-online) under &app; Preferences.

  A series of screens, one for each of the stock, mutual fund, or commodity, displays the exchange, full name, and symbol for each of the commodities listed in the QIF file you are importing so that you can check them before proceeding.

Match duplicate transactions

- This screen gives a description of the Match duplicate transactions process on the following Select possible duplicates screen.

  This and other informational screens in the Import QIF files assistant can be turned off in the Online Banking tab (see prefs-online) under &app; Preferences.

  The next screen lets you Select possible duplicate transactions. Imported transactions are shown on the left panel and possible matches to each selected transaction are shown on the right.

  - The left panel shows the list of Imported transactions to select from for matching duplicates

  - The right panel shows the list of possible duplicates for the selected imported transaction. Select the one that most closely matches

- The last screen, Update your &app; accounts, gives you a list of three choices to finish the assistant.

  - Cancel exit the process and cancel importing QIF files.

    If you click this button, any selections you have made up to this point will be lost.

  - Back brings up the previous screen so that you can change a previous selection until the first screen.

  - Forward imports the data and creates the accounts you have specified.

You should now have successfully imported your accounts.