MS-Money user so GNUcash newbie and first post

[David T.]

--- On Sun, 11/7/10, Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com> wrote:

> From: Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com>
> Subject: Re: MS-Money user so GNUcash newbie and first post
> To: "Ian Waddington" <iwaddox at gmail.com>
> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010, 1:46 AM
> On 7 November 2010 09:11, Ian
> Waddington <iwaddox at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi
> > [...]
> >
> > 1, I am used to recording a Payee for each
> transaction. This helps me find
> > things at a later date. Is there a way to record this
> information?
> 
> First make sure you are using the registers in double line
> mode (View
> > Double Line).  To make this the default go to
> Edit > Preferences >
> Register Defaults and select Double Line Mode.
> Then you can use the description field for Payee.

Actually, the Description field in each transaction is the Payee, and it is visible at all times in the register. Or perhaps I am misunderstanding you? 

> 
> > 2, I make extensive use of classifications to give an
> extra dimension to
> > reporting and tracking, two examples, to track
> household decorating project
> > to track all expenditure against that project
> irrespective of the account
> > (or category), or to track the total cost of a
> holiday, a classification
> > allows you to report on a quite disparate set of
> transactions.
> 
> I am not sure how one would do this.

To be more specific: Gnucash does NOT specifically support classification in this way, although there have been requests for this feature, and such a feature would be greatly welcomed by both the community and the developers, were it submitted for consideration. Perhaps this will happen, but it has not yet occurred. (Maybe you'll be the one who catches the fever and writes the code? It could happen!)

That said, your original email hinted that you might want to modify the database structure to accommodate this. As Elizabeth noted, Gnucash 2.3 is the development (unstable) version, and while it is very close to being released as Gnucash 2.4, I think you should wait to use it (and its database back end) for your real data. I wouldn't want to go through a 40MB data migration only to find that I had to do it again because of some unnoticed quirk in the unstable software.

If you DO decide to stay in the database version, it is important for you to realize that if you modify the data structure, it will make future upgrades difficult (to say the least). Now, because this is an Open Source program, you are fully able and encouraged to do this. But perhaps you could then offer your designs back to the community.

In the meantime, I know that others have made creative use of accounts (and the fact that Gnucash allows you to create an unlimited number of accounts and subaccounts) to "categorize" their transactions. It seems pretty unwieldy to me; I've simply made do with a detailed set of accounts that allow me to track household expenses and tax categories in enough detail to (a) get through tax season and (b) tell whether my family is spending outrageous amounts of money on groceries this month/quarter/year.

> 
> > 3, Memo field to capture information about a
> transaction, for example it was
> > a Toaster or the car mileage and litres purchased on a
> full receipt.
> 
> Now you are in Double Line mode you have the Notes field
> for this.

To be more specific, each transaction has a note field for the kind of information you want to capture. Furthermore, if you create a transaction with multiple splits (money going from one account to more than one destination), each split can have a note of its own.

> 
> > 6, Is there a sample file somewhere that would give me
> a head start with my
> > evaluation?
> 
> The tutorials on the web site may be helpful

You might also want to look at the Concept guide and online help.

HTH,
David

> 
> Colin
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