[GNC] Understanding Transaction Report options

[George Riner]

Yup.  I am a Quicken data-convert. And all those accounts at 'top level' 
are what I got. I did not start 'fresh' with GnuCash from the outset 
with the GnuCash way of organizing accounts.

But, accounts all have a property of 'account type' that pretty much 
seems like workable 'top-level' categorization. Why not use that 
property elsewhere in the app? (I'm not a business user, so perhaps 
those account types come into play more for business users?)

Thanks for the tip about hiding accounts.  I think I'll give that a 
try.  Because the Quicken-data convert went back so far in time, there's 
a lot of accounts that I'll be hiding.  I just hope I can find the 'show 
hidden accounts' box when I need to.

:George

On 10/16/2019 9:38 AM, Adrien Monteleone wrote:
>
>> On Oct 16, 2019 w42d289, at 11:19 AM, George Riner <GeorgeRiner at mycogeo.com> wrote:
>>
>> (Using GnuCash 3.7.1 on Windows 10)
>>
>> I approach the Transaction Report options for "Accounts" and "Filter By..." as a sort of 2-dimensional thing.  Down the rows are the incomes and expenses that I want reported (sorta like Quicken's old 'categories') and across the columns are the accounts that I used to pay for those expenses (credit cards, checking accounts, cash, etc.)
>>
>> What I find unfortunate in this regard is that both "Accounts..." and "Filter By..." lists are unaffected by account type.  All my accounts are listed in alphabetical order by my Account Name and this has the effect of jumbling up expense accounts and income accounts with banking and credit card accounts, making it necessary to have to scroll through each list and pick out the particular accounts for each 'dimension' I use.  Since I sometimes decide to create a new income or expense account to track some activity I'm doing, or I get a new credit card - when I run a saved report later - I have to remember to scroll through both "Accounts..." and "Filter By..." to add the new accounts to each lists' selections before running the report.
> My accounts in report options are all grouped just like they are on my CoA tab, by type. Not sure how you ended up in that situation. (using 3.7 on MacOS)
>
>> Because of this, I've been tempted to reorganize my COA so that I only have a handful of 'top' accounts and everything else is subaccounts. E.g. I'd have a top level of 'Expenses', a top level of 'Incomes', a top level of 'Bank accounts' and 'Credit cards', etc.  I could also then create a top level account for 'Archived' and move accounts I no longer use under that top level.   Then I simply select "Expenses" and "Incomes" in the "Accounts" list and then click 'Select Children' and in the 'Filter By...' list I select 'Credit Cards' and 'Bank Accounts' and click 'Select Children' and I'm done.
>>
>> :George
> That’s how GnuCash organizes accounts from the outset. Did you create *all* of your individual accounts as ’top level’?
>
> That might be why you are seeing that mess in report Options. (and on the CoA tab)
>
> Also, no need to create an ‘archive’ level. You can just hide inactive accounts. That way, they stay where they belong in the account tree and you can make them visible when needed.
>
> It is rare to need top level accounts other than the basics. (Assets, Liabilities, Income, Expense, Equity)
>
> Regards,
> Adrien
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