Do classes take up more space (i.e. create more targets) than using jobs? I have been told we have to condense more often if using classes than if we use jobs. Truth?

Good day, Conway2019,

It will take up the same space since both will be added to the Lists.

You'll want to use class tracking if you want to track balances for breakdown of your business. For example, if you have business office in different locations, or separate properties.

You can check this article in setting up class tracking: Set up and use class tracking. You can also run reports by class for easy tracking: Filter, sort or total reports by Class.

If you have additional questions about class tracking, you can always leave a reply below.

Here is the full story the initial question was limited in characters.

We have historically used classes in some of our balance sheet accounts to keep track of things.  We have used it to track our Wells and offsetting A/Depletion, Property Locations in our Fixed Assets, and other items.  We also use classes our P&L as well usually different classes than used in balance sheet accounts. 

For this discussion lets focus on the Work in Progress account.  We put items into a 1501 WIP account with classes and pull them out of a contra account 1503 of the same classes so that the net balance of the 2 accounts is zero.    There is actually more to it than that but that is the basics.

Our QuickBooks expert recently told us we had to condense our books.  In order to get the books down to what she considered a comfortable file size we condensed all the way through 2014.  When we did this we lost all of the balance forwards for our classes. 

So then our QuickBooks expert told us if we would use jobs instead of classes we would not have to condense as often because the jobs don't make as many targets as the classes do and therefore the file size will not get as big as fast and we won't have to condense as often.  She also told us if we didn't change something we would have to condense again in 6-9 months in two of our companies, both of which use classes heavily on the Balance Sheet.

I do know that with both Jobs and classes I will lose my historical data before the condensing date, but is it true it will take longer to need to condense if we use classes versus jobs?

Thank you for providing the full story about your initial question above, @Conway2019. 

Yes, using classes in the Enterprise version will take longer to condense than jobs. The maximum number of class entries you can create is 100,000, while jobs have only 10,000. For more information about the list limits, go through this article: Maximum Number of List Entries. 

Before you condense your data, it's recommended to first check your list size in the program. Just open QuickBooks Desktop and either press the F2 or Ctrl+1 on your keyboard. Then, either review the File Size in the File Information section or the List Information section of the Product Information window. The screenshot below serves as your visual guide. 

When you're ready, you can visit this website: Use the Condense Data Utility. This link provides you more information about condensing, its limitations, how it is done, and what to do before, during, and after the process. 

You can always run and customize any reports by class to get the information you need about your business' segments. For more details, check out this article: Filter, Sort, or Total Reports By Class.

I'm here anytime you have other concerns. Have a great day, @Conway2019. 

Interesting, What you are saying is the reverse of our expert.  And by expert I mean she is a certified ProAdvisor.   However, I think while she understands it she isn't good at explaining it to me.

She says jobs take up less space but did not say anything about there being a limit.   When I looked at the article on Maximum # of list entries it says the Job types is limited to 10,000, but  Customers is allowed 100,000 which it seems to me the jobs I have been adding fall under customers and appear in the Customer center when I added them in my test file.  Are we talking about the same thing?

Hello there, Conway2019,

The job you see under the customer center is the job itself. When we talk about job types, that's the type of job under jobs. You can only see the job types if you go to the job info. Which you can only add when creating a new customer.

Here's how it looks like when you create a new customer, and add a job type:

Please let me know if you need additional information about this.

Okay, that is the way I was using jobs as you described, but the previous poster started talking about job types and since I had not mentioned anything about job types I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. 

So back to the original question...specifically regarding file size and the need to condenses...which one takes up space quicker, classes or jobs (not job types)?    I'm trying to avoid having to condense sooner rather than later and lose all my balance forwards by class (or jobs) if that is the path we take.

As a point of reference, my file size is 128768k and number of classes of 664 and customers 382

Our pre condense file had 1,179 classes and 669 customers.

If I convert and start using jobs instead of classes will it prolong the time it will take to have to condense?

Thank you for the response, @Conway2019. 

Technically, adding a job will take more space than adding a class. When you enter a job, it will add around 20 KB while class is at around 8 KB depending on how many characters you name the class.

For more information, check the following articles: 

• Filter, sort or total reports by Class
• Customize customer, job, and sales reports in QuickBooks Desktop

Let me know if there's anything that I can further assist you with by leaving a comment below. Take care and happy thanksgiving!

Is there any data available or anything to read that discusses these issues and whether the use of a job in a transaction takes more or less space than the use of a class in the same transaction and over prolonged use.   I'm sorry to beat a dead horse but our expert was so adamant that the use of classes takes less space and unless we convert to the use of jobs for these balance sheet accounts we are going to have to condense in another 6 months even though we just condensed.

Also, does the use of estimates in connection with these jobs create storage issues since I read somewhere that when a condensing takes place estimates are not cleaned up but remain indefinitely?

Thank you,

Hello there, Conway2019. 

Generally, condensing will remove the audit trail which contributes a significant amount of data to the file size. On the other hand, we have no article that states how the class or job contributes to the size.

In addition, estimates are non-posting transactions and aren’t condensed into journal entries which are posting ones. I'll provide the article again on how to use the Condense Data Utility for more information about the process and the features' limitations. 

Keep me posted here if you need anything else with handling your company files.