[GNC] Split Transaction in One Account results in Multiple Transactions in the Other Account

[David Cousens]

David T,

I had realized that was the case. I setup a test transaction with 2-3
entries  and verified that what Tom was seeing happened as he had
described it. It is not a bug in the sense that the recorded
information is incorrect, more that it maybe could be clearer. 

On Sat, 2025-08-23 at 22:00 -0400, sunfish62 at yahoo.com wrote:
> David C.,
> 
> He is seeing 17 transactions in Groceries because he's entered 17
> separate splits for the Groceries account. As you note, if he were to
> change to Transaction Journal mode, he wouldn't see it as 17 entries,
> but one multi split transaction. 
> 
> Tom, that's your fix. GnuCash has always rendered splits this way,
> and I don't expect that will change any time soon. So, set your
> default view to Transaction Journal, or settle for entering less
> detail into GnuCash generally. 
> 
> David T. 
> On Aug 23, 2025, at 9:50 PM, David Cousens <davidcousens49 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Tom 
> > This is an artefact of the View mode selectable with the View-
> > >(Basic
> > Ledger, Auto-Split Transaction, Transaction Journal) menu item
> > while
> > the register is selected (also Edit->Preferences->Regiter Default
> > settings). 
> > In Transaction Journal mode the transaction is displayed as a
> > single
> > transaction with the splits as you would expect.
> > 
> > In Basic Ledger mode, and Auto-Split mode only a single line is
> > displayed for the transaction. At present to show all the entries
> > to
> > that account, GnuCash does not display the sum of all splits
> > against
> > that line for the transaction but displays each split as though it
> > were
> > a separate transaction and similarly in the Auto-Split ledger mode
> > where you will notice that the total for each split as a single
> > line is
> > only the value of the split. 
> > 
> > When you open the transaction in Auto-Split mode you will see that
> > the
> > transaction total now displays as the sum of the splits and each
> > split
> > is listed. You can open the transaction from any of the single line
> > displays of the splits, but it is the same transaction being opened
> > from any of the splits belonging to that transaction, so the
> > transaction is not recorded multiple times although it may appear
> > to
> > be. 
> > 
> > It may be possible that this could be fixed to display the total of
> > the
> > transaction splits in the Basic Ledger mode and Auto-Split in
> > single
> > line mode and not display the individual splits on separate lines
> > and
> > similarly in the Auto-Split mode. 
> > 
> > If you report this as a bug (see
> > https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Bugzilla
> > ) there is a much higher chance of it being addressed by one of the
> > developers, however it may also be a result of the way the
> > underlying
> > GTK library used for the GnuCash register display works in which
> > case
> > it may be much harder to program to do this as you would like. That
> > is
> > a likely explanation for the way it is currently working.
> > 
> > On Sat, 2025-08-23 at 18:27 -0600, Tom Route-36 wrote:
> > >  Hi all,
> > >  
> > >  I'm still new and learning my way around GnuCash; but I'm
> > > noticing an
> > >  annoying behavior.  When I record a transaction I put a LOT of
> > > detail
> > >  into the recording of that transaction.  For example, let's say
> > > I
> > >  bought 
> > >  a large quantity of groceries at a particular grocery store and
> > >  charged 
> > >  it to a credit card.  For the example here, let's say it was 17
> > >  grocery 
> > >  items on a single credit card transaction, and the total charge
> > > came
> > >  to 
> > >  $136.00.
> > >  
> > >  When I record this $136.00 transaction in GnuCash, the credit
> > > card 
> > >  account will have a single transaction consisting of 17 splits,
> > > where
> > >  each split documents the description (in each Memo field) and
> > > the
> > >  cost 
> > >  of each of those 17 items.  And all 17 split items get recorded
> > > into
> > >  my 
> > >  Expenses:Groceries account.
> > >  
> > >  In the credit card account all looks normal the way I expect it
> > > to
> > >  be. 
> > >  It's a single transaction with 17 SPLITS, each split going to
> > > the 
> > >  Expenses:Groceries account.  But when I jump to the
> > >  Expenses:Groceries 
> > >  account, there I see 17 SEPARATE INDIVIDUAL TRANSACTIONS -- all
> > > with
> > >  the 
> > >  same date, and all with the identical set of 17 splits.  The
> > > only
> > >  thing 
> > >  different among these 17 separate transactions is that the
> > > Expense 
> > >  column amount of each transaction shows the amount of each
> > > individual
> > >  split line entry.  That is not at all what I expect.
> > >  
> > >  What I would expect to see in the Expenses:Groceries account is
> > > also
> > >  a 
> > >  SINGLE transaction, just like I entered in the credit card
> > > account. 
> > >  And 
> > >  I would expect that that single transaction would have 17 splits
> > > in
> > >  it 
> > >  documenting each of the 17 grocery items and amounts the same as
> > > it 
> > >  appears in my credit card account.  Why is that not happening? 
> > > And
> > >  is 
> > >  there some setting or option in GnuCash to change that behavior?
> > >  
> > >  Tom
> > >  
> > > 
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