[GNC] GNC "CLASS" equivalent to QB

[Vincent Dawans]

Hi Ael:

The short answer is that unfortunately gnuCash does not offer "analytical
accounting" features. What quickbooks calls classes, but in some other
places are called dimensions or codes or categories, etc. The term is not
important, but these types of features allow for orthogonal classification
across general ledger accounts. There are workarounds but none of course as
powerful or polished as what you would find in applications with full
analytical features. But still depending on your needs it might be enough.

There is a long conversation about this in this bug report
https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=113772. Along with some
workarounds.

One workaround is to use a series of side placeholder accounts that can be
filtered on. It's explained at the bottom of this comment:
https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=113772#c6

Another workaround is using tags with a custom report I recently made. But
it's still limited to one type of report. See this comment:
https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=113772#c53

In some cases, it might also make sense to simply use general ledger
accounts for things that you were using classes for. For instance if
managing several rental properties, a tree of accounts for each might make
more sense than using analytical features. It really comes down to specific
uses and needs. And we certainly need more people to share their experience
and use cases with these sorts of features in other applications so we can
work on better solutions for gnuCash. So feel free to share with the list
how you are specifically using classes in QB and we might be able to come
up with more targeted feedback.

Sincerely,

Vincent Dawans

On Fri, May 19, 2023 at 8:01 AM aelif aelif <aelif0 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am an experienced Quickbooks Desktop (QB) User.  I am now moving over to
> Gnucash because of the newly excessive cost of QB.
>
> I have scoured the internet for a Gnucash equivalent method for CLASS to
> segregate accounts without good results.  I have also checked the archives
> here by subject.
>
> Has a method been developed by my fellow users to figure this out? Like
> many I have multiple activities that I need to account for.
>
> Many thanks,  AEL
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