Johnathon, A database is not necessary to use GnuCash. GnuCash has an XML text file, which may be compressed as an option, as its default storage. That file can be located in a cloud storage. I keep my data files in a dropbox account so that I can access them from several computers. Note however that this does not support concurrent access from multiple computers, only single access and that when one computer has the file open another computer can normally only open the file in read-only mode. This can be overridden, but in normal circumstances should not be, for the fairly obvious reason that you can end up not knowing which computer has the most up to date version of the file. Closing the files in the wrong order is likely to lead to a loss of data.
The database backend is an optional extra for GnuCash. The database backends also currently don't support concurrent access from multiple computers although this is a future longer term objective. You can choose one of either SQLite3, PostGreSQL or MYSQL for the database backend. If you have limited database experience using the XML backend is probably the best choice. Backing up and maintaining databases requires some considerable investment in developing the necessary skill set. You can always open the XML file and write it to a database (if your version of GnuCash is compiled with database support which is the default option) at a later time of your choosing. A Google search will provide you with tutorials on database support, setup etc. Customers and Vendors in GnuCash are associated and accessed with the business features which support Invoices/Bills/Credit Notes and the associated Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable accounts. Similar restrictions apply to the use of the Tax features in GnuCash. If you want to use them you will need to use the business features which can be a bit cumbersome for dealing with cash sales subject to VAT/GST type taxes for example as you have to create an Invoice/Bill even though the sale is not a credit sale. The default accounts for Invoices and Bills are Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable respectively. David Cousens ----- David Cousens -- Sent from: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.