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  Version: 2.2.0
  Last modified: 2014-09-22 (fell)

  Maintainers:  Tom Bullock <tbullock@nd.edu>
               Chris Lyttle <chris@wilddev.net>
  Author:
  		Jon Lapham <lapham@extracta.com.br>
  	Updated	Bengt Thuree <bengt@thuree.com>
  Originally written by Carol Champagne.
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<chapter id="chapter_oview">
  <title>Overview</title>

  <sect1 id="oview-intro1">
    <title>Introduction</title>

    <para>&app; is the personal finance software package made for you. It is
    versatile enough to keep track of all your financial information, from the
    simple to the very complex. It is one of the few financial software
    packages that supports global currencies, and it is the only open-source
    program of its kind. Best of all, &app; is easy to learn and use!</para>

    <para>So, what can &app; do for you? It can keep track of your personal
    finances in as much detail as you prefer. If you are just starting out,
    use &app; to keep track of your checkbook. You may then decide to track
    cash as well as credit card purchases to better determine where your money
    is being spent. When you start investing, you can use &app; to help
    monitor your portfolio. Buying a vehicle or a home? &app; will help you
    plan the investment and track loan payments. If your financial records
    span the globe, &app; provides all the multiple-currency support you
    need.</para>

    <screenshot id="oview-intro">
      <mediaobject>
        <imageobject role="html">
          <imagedata fileref="figures/oview_intro.png" format="PNG"
                     srccredit="Bengt Thuree" width="510"></imagedata>
        </imageobject>

        <imageobject role="fo">
          <imagedata fileref="figures/oview_intro.png" format="PNG"
                     srccredit="Bengt Thuree"></imagedata>
        </imageobject>

       <textobject>
          <phrase>&app; Chart of Accounts - Teaser</phrase>
       </textobject>

        <caption>
          <para>This image shows a Chart of Accounts with multiple currencies and investments.</para>
        </caption>
      </mediaobject>
    </screenshot>

    <para>While &app; is well suited for personal finances, it is also
    powerful enough for business use. There are many business features, from
    integrated accounts receivable and payable systems, to tax table
    construction. You will find these and the many other business features
    surprisingly powerful and easy to use.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="oview-features1">
    <title>Features</title>

    <sect2 id="oview-featureseasy2">
      <title>Easy to Use</title>

      <para>Within a matter of minutes you will be able to enter your personal
      finance information and generate color graphs that represent your
      financial status. If you can use the register in the back of your
      checkbook - you can use &app;! Type directly into the register, tab
      between fields, and use quick-fill to automatically complete
      transactions. The interface is customizable from within the application
      itself.</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Easy to Use Menus</emphasis>: &app; menus conform
          to the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines. This means that they are
          simple and similar in appearance to many other GNOME
          applications.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Documentation</emphasis>: &app; has built-in Help
          and extensive User&rsquo;s Guide documentation.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Import Methods</emphasis>: &app; supports many
          ways to input transactions besides manual entry. If you can access
          your bank accounts on-line, this is especially useful, as most banks
          and credit card companies support one of the following import
          methods. You will spend less time entering data and more time
          analyzing results.</para>

          <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
              <para><emphasis>Quicken Import File (QIF)</emphasis>: Import
              Quicken <acronym>QIF</acronym> style files, a popular file format with many
              commercial personal finance software packages.</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><emphasis>Open Financial Exchange (OFX)</emphasis>:
              &app; has been the first free software application to support the
              Open Financial Exchange protocol. Many financial institutions
              are moving towards this format.</para>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
              <para><emphasis>Home Banking Computer Interface
              (HBCI)</emphasis>: &app; has been the first free software
              application to support the German Home Banking Computer
              Interface protocol. This protocol includes statement download,
              initiates bank transfers, and makes direct debits
              possible.</para>
            </listitem>
          </itemizedlist>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Reports</emphasis>: &app; comes with over 30
          prebuilt reports, including Account Summary, Income, Expenses,
          Transaction Report, Balance Sheet, Profit&amp;Loss, Portfolio
          Valuation, and many others. Reports support graphical views of the
          data, including pie charts, bar charts, and scatter plots. The
          reports can be exported to <acronym>HTML</acronym> files, and are easily
          customized.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Scheduled Transactions</emphasis>: &app; now has
          the ability to automatically create and enter transactions, or
          remind you when these transactions are due, giving you the choice of
          entering, postponing or removing the automated transaction.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Mortgage and Loan Repayment Assistant</emphasis>: Used
          to set up a variable payment loan scheduled transaction.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Easy Account Reconciliation</emphasis>: Integrated
          reconciliation makes reconciling your &app; accounts with
          statements simple and effective.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Multi-platform Compatibility</emphasis>:
          &app; is supported on a variety
          of platforms and operating systems. The list of fully
          supported operating systems (and platforms) is for
          </para>
          <variablelist>
            <varlistentry><term>&app; &vers-stable;</term>
            <listitem><para>GNU/Linux (x86, x86_64), FreeBSD (x86, x86_64), OpenBSD
              (x86, x86_64), Apple MacOS (64-bit Intel), and Microsoft Windows
              (Windows 7 and later).</para></listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry><term>&app; &le; 2.6.21</term>
            <listitem><para>Apple MacOS (32-bit Intel, PPC) and Microsoft Windows
              (XP and Vista).</para></listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry><term>&app; &le; 2.2.9</term>
            <listitem><para>Microsoft Windows (2000).</para></listitem>
            </varlistentry>
            <varlistentry><term>Previous versions of &app;</term>
            <listitem><para>have been known to work with SGI IRIX (MIPS), IBM
              AIX 4.1.5 (RS/6000), Unixware 7 (Intel), SCO OpenServer 5.0.4
             (Intel), and Solaris (Sparc) but their current status is unknown.</para></listitem>
          </varlistentry>
          </variablelist> <!-- Platforms -->
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="oview-featuresinvest2">
      <title>Tracks Your Investments</title>

      <para>&app; includes a number of investment features that allow you to track all your investments. With &app; you can track stocks individually (one per account) or in a portfolio of accounts (a group of accounts that can be displayed together).</para>
      <para>&app; supports online stock and mutual fund quotes. This means you no longer need to look up stock prices one at a
          time. The process can be automated, and you can see the latest value of your stocks.</para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="oview-featuresintl2">
      <title>International Support</title>

      <para>&app; is truly an application that works with and understands
      users from all around the world. There are many built-in features to
      facilitate interaction with the international world we live in
      today.</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Native Languages</emphasis>: &app; has been
          translated into 56 languages. The best ones, with over 90%
          translated, are Croatian, German, Hebrew, Portuguese,
          Spanish, and Ukrainian. Almost as good, with over 80%
          translated, are Catalan, Dutch, Japanese, Latvian, Russian,
          Serbian, and Turkish.
          <footnote>
            <para>
              If you want to create or improve the translation of your language see
              <ulink url="&url-wiki-L12N;"></ulink>.
            </para>
          </footnote></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>International Format Handling</emphasis>: &app;
          understands that different countries display the date and numbers differently.
          You are able to work with the date and number formats you are accustomed
          to.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Multiple Currencies and Currency Trading</emphasis>:
          Multiple currencies are supported and can be bought and sold
          (traded). Currency movements between accounts remain fully balanced
          if "Trading Accounts" is enabled.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>On-line exchange rates</emphasis>:
          With &app;, you no longer need look up your exchange rates one at a
          time. The process can be automated, to always present you with the
          account values converted to your preferred currency using the latest
          exchange rates.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="oview-featuresbus2">
      <title>Business Support</title>

      <para>&app; has many features to support the needs of the business
      accounting community.</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Accounts Receivable/Payable</emphasis>: &app; has
          an integrated Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable system. You
          can track Customers, Vendors, Invoicing and Bill Payment, and use
          different Tax and Billing Terms in a small business.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Depreciation</emphasis>: &app; can track
          depreciation of capital assets.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Reports</emphasis>: &app; offers a wide variety of
          ready-to-use business reports.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="oview-featuresaccounting2">
      <title>Accounting Features</title>

      <para>For those knowledgeable in accounting, here is a list of &app;&rsquo;s
      accounting features.</para>

      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Double Entry</emphasis>: Every transaction must
          debit one account and credit others by an equal amount. This ensures
          the <quote>books balance</quote> - that the difference between income and expense
          exactly equals the sum of all bank, cash, stock and other
          assets.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Split Transactions</emphasis>: A single transaction
          can be split into several pieces to record taxes, fees, and other
          compound entries.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Chart of Accounts</emphasis>: A master account can
          have a hierarchy of detail accounts underneath it. This allows
          similar account types such as Cash, Bank, or Stock to be grouped
          into a master account such as <quote>Assets</quote>.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>General Journal</emphasis>: One register window can
          display multiple accounts at the same time. This eases the trouble
          of tracking down typing/entry errors. It also provides a convenient
          way of viewing a portfolio of many stocks, by showing all
          transactions in that portfolio.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Income/Expense Account Types
          (Categories)</emphasis>: These categorize your cash flow and, when
          used properly with the double-entry feature, will provide an
          accurate Profit&amp;Loss statement.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </sect2>

  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="oview-about1">
    <title>About this Book</title>

    <para>This manual&rsquo;s goal is to save you time. It will get you started
    using &app; as quickly as possible.</para>

    <para>Each chapter follows a simple format. A chapter begins with a
    <quote>Concepts</quote> discussion which introduces general themes and
    terminology, addressed and used within that chapter. <quote>How-To</quote>
    sections, which address specific procedures follow. Finally, a
    <quote>Putting It All Together</quote> section ends the chapter by giving
    detailed, concrete examples.</para>

    <para>Beginning users will find the <quote>Concepts</quote> sections very
    helpful. They provide a reference for good ways to track your finances,
    and serve as a general introduction to financial background and
    terminology. Experienced users can flip to the <quote>How-To</quote>
    sections to quickly scan procedures. These sections provide to-the-point
    steps for accomplishing specific tasks. The <quote>Putting It All
    Together</quote> sections present real-world examples in the form of a
    tutorial. Beginning with creation of a file in <xref linkend="chapter_basics"></xref>,
    each successive chapter builds on the previous chapter&rsquo;s tutorial.</para>

    <para>This manual is organized into 3 main parts: <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Getting Started</emphasis></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Managing Personal Finances</emphasis></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><emphasis>Managing Business Finances</emphasis></para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>

    <para><emphasis>Getting Started</emphasis> provides you with the most
        basic information needed to begin using &app;. The chapters in this section explain concepts that are fundamental to using &app;. New users of &app; should familiarize themselves with the information in these chapters to get you up and running: <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
           <para><xref linkend="chapter_oview"></xref> - (this chapter) gives a general overview of &app;</para>
       </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_basics"></xref> - gives users a very brief introduction to accounting principles, and then provides information about how &app; structures its data. There is also information on basic interface elements in &app;. Finally, this chapter explains how &app; stores and manages your data.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_accts"></xref> - gives further information about accounts and how to organize them.</para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_txns"></xref> - gives basic information about transactions and how to enter them.</para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>

    <para><emphasis>Managing Personal Finances</emphasis> addresses
    common applications and features of &app; in greater detail. You will
    see more specific cases, based on frequently asked questions about
    applying &app; to everyday situations. Here are the applications and
    features covered in this part: <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_cbook"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_cc"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_loans"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_invest"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_capgain"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_currency"></xref></para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist></para>

    <para><emphasis>Managing Business Finances</emphasis> discusses the
    use of &app; in business accounting: <itemizedlist>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_bus_features"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_budgets"/></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_other_assets"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="chapter_dep"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="ch_python_bindings"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="ch_import_bus_data"></xref></para>
        </listitem>

        </itemizedlist></para>

    <para>This manual also includes several appendices, which contains extra information
    you might want to know:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
       <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="gnc-gloss"></xref> - Glossary of terms used in &app;</para>
       </listitem>
       
       <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="appendixa"></xref> - Guide for former <trademark
             class="registered">Quicken</trademark>, MS Money or other <acronym>QIF</acronym>
        users</para>
       </listitem>
       
      <listitem>
          <para><xref linkend="appendixb"></xref></para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><xref linkend="appendixc"></xref></para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><xref linkend="appendixd"></xref></para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><xref linkend="fdl"></xref></para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>Last, but not least, a glossary and index help you quickly locate
    topics.</para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="more_help">
    <title>Getting More Help</title>

    <para>&app; offers help in many ways, including the <link linkend="basics-tip2">
    <guilabel>Tip of the Day</guilabel></link>, context help, a website, a wiki, the mailing lists, and IRC chat.</para>

    <sect2 id="online_help">
      <title>Context Help</title>
      <para>The context help provides detailed instructions for using
      &app;'s menus, windows, and
      controls. To open online help, select <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu>
      <guimenuitem>Contents</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.</para>
      <para>The <guilabel>&appname; Help</guilabel> window also acts as a simple
      web browser, so you can pull up a website for additional information.
      You can open any website under this window by clicking the
      <guibutton>Open</guibutton> <emphasis>Toolbar</emphasis> button and then typing in the URL.
      Use the <guibutton>Back</guibutton>, <guibutton>Forward</guibutton>,
      <guibutton>Reload</guibutton>, <guibutton>Stop</guibutton>, and
      <guibutton>Print</guibutton> buttons as you would in a standard
      browser.</para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="website">
      <title>&app; Website</title>
      <para>The <ulink
      url="http://www.gnucash.org"><citetitle>&appname;</citetitle></ulink> website
      contains helpful information about the program and about any
      updates to it. It also contains links to other online resources.</para>
    </sect2>

    <sect2 id="wiki">
     <title>&app; Wiki</title>
     <para>An immense amount of less-formal documenation, both of
     &app; itself and its maintenance and
     development may be found in the <ulink
     url="https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki">&app;
     Wiki</ulink>; the <ulink
     url="https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ">Frequently Asked
     Questions</ulink> page should be a first stop whenever you
     encounter difficulty using
     &app;.</para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2 id="on-line-assistance">
    <title>&app; On-line Assistance</title>

    <bridgehead>Mailing List</bridgehead><para>The primary source of user support is the <ulink
    url="mailto:gnucash-user@gnucash.org">user mailing list</ulink>. If
    you prefer a web forum-like presentation, you can use it via <ulink
    url="http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html">Nabble</ulink>. One must <ulink
    url="https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user">subscribe</ulink>
    before posting, even if using Nabble.</para>

    <bridgehead>IRC</bridgehead><para>Several of the developers
    monitor the #gnucash channel at irc.gnome.org. They're usually
    doing something else, too, and of course aren't always at their
    computers. Log in, ask your question, and stay logged in; it may
    be several hours before your question is noticed and responded
    to. To see if you missed anything <ulink
    url="https://code.gnucash.org/logs">check the IRC logs</ulink>.</para>

      <para>The <ulink url="http://www.gnucash.org">&app; website </ulink>
        has more details on these channels. You will also find pointers there
        to additional useful resources such as the &app; wiki
        and bug tracking system.</para>
    </sect2>
    <sect2 id="topic-search">
      <title>Topic Search</title>

      <para>The online manual also provides a search function. To search for a
      particular topic, click the <guilabel>Search</guilabel> tab at the
      bottom of the help window and type in your topic in the field provided.
      Click the <guibutton>Search</guibutton> button to complete your search.
      A list of choices should appear in the box below, clicking a choice will
      bring up its text on the right.</para>
    </sect2>

  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="oview-install1">
    <title>Installation</title>

    <para>Installation of &app; is usually simple.</para>

    <para>The <ulink url="http://www.gnucash.org/download.phtml"><citetitle>&app; download page</citetitle></ulink> contains detailed instructions on how to install
    &app; for each operating system supported.</para>
  </sect1>
</chapter>
