[GNC] Splitting a Transaction (Newbie Question)

[David Cousens]

Peter,

Their are a couple of preference entries which can help make things a bit
clearer. Under the Edit Preferences dialog in the Register defaults there are 3
options basic Ledger, Autosplit Ledger and Transaction Journal. These control
how a transaction is displayed in the register for an account by default. They
can also be set on an account by account basis from the View menu. 

In the Basic ledger mode, the register only displays the split or entry for a
transaction which affects that particular account. 

With the autosplit mode selected when you click on a transaction it will display
multiple lines for a transaction showing the entry for the account that is
displayed in the register as well as the components of the transactions which
affect other accounts. Th

The Transaction Journal mode displays all components affecting other accounts of
any transaction to the register account all of the time. 

Tab generally moves between fields and Enter commits the transaction as you seem
to have discovered.


It is likely that you have the basic ledger mode selected and after you hit
enter it has gone back to only displaying the component of the transaction
affecting the account displayed in the register.

David Cousens

On Sat, 2022-12-17 at 22:19 +0000, 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.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Pete
> 
> 
> Dr Peter Cuthbert
> Creuddyn
> Coedlan Y Plas
> 
> Llangawsai
> Aberystwyth
> Ceredigion
> SY23 1HJ
> 01970 623 447
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