[GNC] How to compare 2 Transaction Reports to find orphan transactions

[Adrien Monteleone]

I would say consider the criteria you used to create the set of transactions for each report, then try to craft a report using the options that gives you only those that don’t lie in the joint set.

If *every* transaction on both reports is between two and only the *same two* accounts then you might do better with using regex and/or instead do a Find operation then run an Account Report instead of a Transaction Report. (since Find can filter on more fields)

My personal mileage is better with running Find operations from the Accounts tab rather than a particular register.

If however, the two reports have transactions all sharing one account in common (say checking) but not other splits, you might want to investigate the Account Filter option. So while filtering on other data might appear to get you what you want, sometimes filtering by the ‘other’ split narrows things down much faster. With a Transaction Report (as opposed to Find then Account Report) you can filter based on including or not including transactions which have splits in other accounts.

Otherwise, the spreadsheet approach is likely the simplest. If you know how to use command-line tools, you could use the spreadsheet step just for saving in CSV format, then using a cli `diff` tool to show you what is different between the two files. (MacOS as well as most if not all BSD & Linux distributions have this built-in. I’m not sure about Windows)

Such tools are very fast and each one has its own features. The output takes some getting used to as most are not super ‘clean’ on screen, but once you do it enough, you’ll be able to use them more effectively.

You could jump straight to using `diff` and get used to it, and it will help get the job done, but the better option is to think carefully about what you are trying to find and then crafting a Find or Report that gets you there from within GnuCash.

Regards,
Adrien



> On Nov 9, 2019 w45d313, at 8:53 AM, Fran_3 via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
> 
> I want to compare Transaction Report A to Transaction Report B
> and find transactions that appear on one report but not on the other... aka orphan transactions
> In past I have either...
> - Done a screen capture of each, pasted them side by side in PC Paint and marked off matching transactions one by one...
> - Or printed them out and done the same with pen & paper
> - Or exported the reports and then imported them into a spreadsheet and marked matching transactions one by one
> All of this is a bunch of work...
> 
> Is there an easier way?
> Thanks for any help - Fran3