[GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

Adrien Monteleone adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net
Sat Dec 17 18:00:55 EST 2022


The transaction didn't disappear entirely when you pressed ENTER. And 
that is the proper way to commit the transaction. There's nothing random 
about how it works.

If you are viewing a register that is not one of those you are entering 
amounts for, it will be gone from view, because it doesn't belong in 
that register. But it still exists. Just view one of the affected accounts.

I find it easier to always enter transactions using the register from 
where the funds are originating. The 'other' accounts are always where 
the funds are going.

In your mentioned case, I'd open the Bank Account register and enter the 
transaction there.

If you view your Groceries or Entertainment accounts, you'll see the 
transaction that you thought 'disappeared'.


Regards,
Adrien

On 12/17/22 4:19 PM, p.f.cuthbert at btinternet.com p.f.cuthbert--- via 
gnucash-user wrote:
> 
> Hi
> 
> Having today transferred all my data from Quicken to GNUCash I am just 
> trying to understand how it works.  Entering single data items is easy, 
> but the difficulty I have hit is with payments that require multiple 
> debits (ie. a split payment)  The User Guides that I found today uses an 
> income example that I did not find at all helpful despite several readings.
> 
> So let us have an example:
> 
> Payment by bank card (credit entry to Bank Account) of £7.24 comprising 
> a book (debit £5.25 to Entertainment) and some milk (debit £1.99 to 
> Groceries).
> 
> The process in Quicken would be credit bank £7.24, then for the 
> 'Category' choose Split and fill in the details tabbing down to the next 
> line and choosing catergory and amount until the balance unallocated 
> drops to zero.  Finally save transaction by pressing Return.
> 
> The process in GNUCash seems to start the same.  Credit bank £7.24, then 
> choose Split.  The yellow analysis lines come up, but for me the debit 
> (Deposit) column comes up £16.74, which is the last Groceries posting. 
> This is because I put the store name in as the descriptor for the 
> transaction but the last one was not split. I put in the correct account 
> Entertainment and then delete the £16.74 and enter £5.25. Next I tab 
> down to the next line.  I enter some description like Milk, then select 
> the Account Groceries, tab to the next column and enter £1.99.  At this 
> point the total Credit of £7.24 is still in place.
> 
> At this point things look good.  So what does one do next? Press Return 
> seems like a safe bet.  However it is far from it.  All that happens is 
> that the whole transaction disappears.  The alternative, using another 
> Tab is almost as bad.  The £1.99 debit in Groceries is now replaced by a 
> £5.25 credit and the £7.24 credit from the bank has disappeared.  Ok, it 
> makes the books appear to balance since double entry is maintained but 
> the whole process seem astonishingly random.
> 
> If any kind reader can advise on the correct way yo handle this simple 
> task I would be most grateful as I do simple domestic accounting but 
> have lots of split debit analysis.



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