At which point, I return to my original point, which is you don't need a Tags account at all. Just put your tag into the memo for the split.
I left Quicken behind decades ago, and while I enjoyed classes there, I haven't felt compelled to shoehorn that functionality into GnuCash. On July 28, 2026 10:45:38 AM GMT+05:30, Tom Route36 <[email protected]> wrote: >David, > >Actually, the big advantage of creating a Tags account (just one) is that *no* >sub-accounts are needed. If you add a Tags account entry into the split of >any transaction anywhere, you can type anything you want into that entry's >Memo field -- #July-Meeting, #November-Meeting, #Tijuana-Vacation, ... >whatever. Whatever text you type into the Tags split entry for that >transaction means you can run a Transaction Report later and filter for any >tag that you might have put in that Memo field. > >Also, let's say you have multiple credit card accounts involved in the >meetings; but maybe you don't recall which credit card accounts were used. >When you run the Transaction Report for your specified tag (the Tag split memo >field) you don't need to know or care what other accounts might have been >involved in the transaction. You just run the report against that one Tags >account and filter it for the tag you want. > >Like I said before, it's not very elegant; but it's simple ... and it does the >job. > >Tom > > > >On 07/27/2026 10:21 PM, David T. wrote: >> ... 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 <[email protected]> >> 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. >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your >> subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: >> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do >> this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. >> David T. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
