[GNC] Removing old transactions

[Ken Pyzik]

Joseph -- this e-mail/information below is from 2019.  I am not sure if 
there has been anything added or changed since then -- but back then 
this was very handy for me to delete hundreds of transactions:

"How can I delete multiple transactions in a batch in GnuCash?"

I made a copy of my current file.  Then on the copy I wanted to  delete 
any transaction after 1/1/2018.  This file now become an archive
file.  Now re-open my current file.  Delete any transactions in it prior 
  to 1/1/2018.  Before deleting, make note of account balance amounts so 
I can
make sure I am balanced once I delete.  Enter new "Opening balance 
amounts" as needed to ensure balances are current and balanced.  Now I 
have a file with just the last 2 years transaction.   Did a search on 
the net and found this:

"As a workaround I made a shortcut key for deleting transactions. I  
modified  the C:\Users\username\.gnu-cash\accelerator-map file (with 
gnucash closed) by changing the line

; (gtk_accel_path
"<Actions>/GncPluginPageRegisterActions/DeleteTransactionAction" "")

To:

(gtk_accel_path
"<Actions>/GncPluginPageRegisterActions/DeleteTransactionAction"

"<Primary>Delete")

Now I could delete transactions by pressing ctrl+delete. Pressing and  
holding this key combination allowed continuous deleting at a 
predictable
rate so it was quite easy to delete a few hundred transactions quickly.  
  Might not be the best solution if you have many thousands of 
transactions
that you want to delete but for a few hundred it was quite painless.   
As a follow-up to this very useful info, on a Windows PC, the file is
located in:

C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\GnuCash\accelerator-map

The way the edited line is displayed in the above answer is correct but 
it  may not be immediately obvious to everyone that like some other 
languages, the semicolon needs to be removed as well. The semicolon is a 
comment tag that disables the line it is on.

Notes:

<Primary> is the same as "Command" on macs and "Ctrl" on Windows. Other  
modifiers are <Shift> and <Alt> and they can be combined so to make it a 
bit more difficult to do accidentally, my new line is:

(gtk_accel_path
"<Actions>/GncPluginPageRegisterActions/DeleteTransactionAction"
"<Primary><Shift>Delete")

AKA: Control + Shift + Delete

Additionally, you should know that the first time you will get a dialog 
box asking whether you are ok with the delete.  You can select to ignore 
the dialog for the rest of the session and never show the dialog after 
that-- otherwise it will prompt you each time. "

This version worked in 3.7 for Windows.  I am assuming it still works 
now.  If you need or want to  delete multiple transactions - this is 
very handy.

Ken




------ Original Message ------
>From "Joseph Hesse" <joehesse at gmail.com>
To gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Date 12/17/2025 8:39:03 AM
Subject [GNC] Removing old transactions

>My gnucash file covers about 5 years worth of data.  I want to delete the first three years of transactions and keep the recent 2 years of transactions.  Are there any orderly ways of doing this rather than just deleting transactions?
>Thank you,
>Joe
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