[GNC] Line entry creates incorrect balance

[David Carlson]

Ted,

This is my initial advice to a new user:

First skim through the Help manual up to chapter 6

https://www.gnucash.org/docs.phtml

Then start GnuCash following the instructions in chapter 3 and create a
test file with a minimal set of accounts.  You should consider it to be a
throw-away test, so name it as such and save it in some sub-directory off
of your home page.

There are a couple of videos available on U-Tube that you may find helpful,
even tho they are rather out of date, very little has changed in the basic
program and they should be easy to follow.

There are a couple of preferences that should be set before going further.
While you have your first bank account register in view select View > Auto
Split Ledger and View > Double Line.  You can change those later but start
there to have a view that you can relate to the examples that you will
encounter later in the Help Manual.
Also check View > Sort by > and set it to Standard Order.

Then the highlight will show the selected transaction with two yellow lines
at the top.  When you start entering a new transaction the curser starts in
the yellow highlight and as you tab from box to box you eventually move the
yellow highlight into the next line where you can enter memo, the
Asset:bank account, then Deposit or Withdrawal amount.  Tab again to enter
another memo, then the transfer Expense:Account or Income:Account and the
opposite value will automatically appear.  When you press Enter the lines
may swap so the first line is always on the left or deposit side and the
second line is on the right or Withdrawal side.

Enter several sample transactions. Since you are in a bank account register
your deposits should increase the balance and withdrawals decrease the
balance.  If you get one backwards, just highlight the value, then left
arrow > minus, tab to the other value and again left arrow > minus, Enter.

When you enter another transaction the yellow highlight is at the top and
it shows the value that, when added to the Balance in the transaction
above, results in the new Balance.

If not, be prepared to tell us what version of GnuCash you installed into
what operating system and exactly what steps you followed to get to a
result that does not add up.

Good Luck,

David C


On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 8:35 PM Ted <tpnp05 at comcast.net> wrote:

>
> Sirs,
>
> I am using GnuCash and I am trying to make a simple ledger checking
> account
> register.  I have it set to date of entry and after I get down to line 44
> of
> my entries I notice that the running balance is off.  I have found that it
> take the amount in the line expense amount in line 44 and adding it the
> the
> expense amount in line 42 and getting a totally different amount the in
> the
> balance column in line 44.  I have deleted the information in line 44
> several times and the answer still remains the same.  What am I doing
> wrong
> and what can be done to correct it?
> I have no accounting background and I want to keeps thing as simply as I
> can.
> Thanks for you time and assistance.
>
> Ted
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> THANK YOU for deleting ALL PRIOR e-mail addresses before forwarding this
> message.
> And PLEASE use Bcc: for any "bulk" e-mailings, instead of To: or Cc:.
> By helping to keep our addresses private, we might be able to cut down on
> spam and computer identity theft.
>
>
>
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at 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.
>