[GNC] Account tree

[David T.]

... Or you could just put your tag into the split line memo field directly, without creating the Tags account. 

If I were going down this approach (not saying I would), I'd probably create subaccounts for each tag I wanted, and then simply add the empty split for the specific tag: Tags:July Meeting

Then, a number of reports can be run filtering on that account. I haven't tested this in any way, but believe it might work.

David T. 

On July 28, 2026 7:09:14 AM GMT+05:30, Tom Route36 <tom.route36 at gmail.com> wrote:
>Hi Clint,
>
>I was looking back thru this email chain; and I noticed that earlier you were saying that what you were really hoping for was that GnuCash had the ability to do tagging.  Well, it kinda does -- although not officially, and not in a very straightforward manner. I personally don't have a need to do this on a regular basis; but if you're looking for a way to tag transactions with some sort of free-form tag names, this might work for you.
>
>Create a new asset account, and name it Tags.  When you want to tag a transaction, say a meeting room that was paid for with a credit card, add a split entry to that transaction.  The split you add will be a zero-amount; but what it does is it gives you a dedicated Memo field.  In that Memo field for the Tags account, you can now type in your tag -- e.g., #July-Meeting.  If you add a similar split entry for every transaction related to the July Meeting, you can then run a Transaction Report that only includes the Tags account, and that you can filter for only those transactions that include the tag #July-Meeting.
>
>It's not a very elegant solution; but it might help get you that tagging feature that GnuCash lacks.  Hope this helps a little.
>
>Tom
>
>
>
>On 07/25/2026 10:36 AM, Clint Chaplin wrote:
>> Why?  tl;dr: to implement the missing ability to have "job
>> costing"/"tagging".
>> 
>> Longer explanation: I keep the books for a group that has three meetings a
>> year, in March, July, and November.  Everything is focused on those three
>> meetings, and very little happens (financially) outside of those meetings.
>> At one point we had the ability to keep finances on a system that
>> implemented tagging, and it was glorious!  Unfortunately, the parent
>> organization changed finance software several times since then, and none of
>> the replacements have tagging.
>> 
>> Each meeting has income (meetings fees, primarily), and expenses (F&B, AV,
>> meeting rooms, etc).   I'm keeping the finances in a rather elaborate
>> spreadsheet that goes back to 2011 that we've sorta agreed will be our
>> source of truth, but we want to switch to something more open and portable.
>> 
>> I was hoping that with Gnucash I could use an account tree that started
>> with the year, then the meeting, then the associated income and expenses,
>> to sorta implement tagging.  But it is not to be.  Beancount is an option
>> that has been suggested that actually has tagging, but I have other issues
>> with its philosophy.
>> 
>> 
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