[GNC] Resizing columns
David Carlson
david.carlson.417 at gmail.com
Wed Nov 5 12:05:58 EST 2025
I have always seen the description column exactly fill the width of the
displayed window and remove the bottom scrollbar whether it is maximized or
not when the right edge is dragged sufficiently to the left. That is how
the nightly build dated about the end of October is behaving on my Windows
10 computer screen.
David Carlson
On Wed, Nov 5, 2025, 10:52 AM Paul Kinzelman <paul at kinzelman.com> wrote:
> Yes, I think you've got the secret with a bit of clarification.
>
> It appears that I can reduce the Desc column to the point that it
> fills the window *if the window were maximized*. If the window is
> narrower than maximized, the column code acts like the window
> is still maximized and some of the columns will be cut off on
> the right because it's actually smaller than maximized. Then if I
> maximize the window, they will appear.
>
> Bottom line is that the column width code needs some repair someday,
> it doesn't work at all intuitively.
>
> Thanks for all your help!
>
> On 11/5/2025 9:16 AM, Chris K wrote:
> > It appears to me that the Description column width can only be reduced
> > to the point that all the columns fill the window, otherwise it snaps
> > back so that all the columns fill the window, as you say. However, ff
> > you want to make one of the other columns wider first, e.g Transfer,
> > then you can reduce the Description column so all columns then fill
> > the window again with a narrower Description column.
> >
> > On 05/11/2025 16:04, Paul Kinzelman wrote:
> >> On 11/5/2025 8:34 AM, sunfish62 at yahoo.com wrote:
> >>> Did you in fact click and drag the right side of the Description
> >>> column to the left and then release?
> >> Yes, and it snaps back. If I drag it to the right it stays and moves
> >> the Transfer and the
> >> rest of the columns off the screen to the right. I can't seem to
> >> shrink the Desc
> >> column by dragging the right side to the left.
> >>>
> >>> Are you looking at the *Guide* for section 2.3.5? Did you click the
> >>> link i provided?
> >> I saw what you sent me, but as you said, it's not very clear.
> >> But I also wanted to find it in the documentation. Oh I see it's in
> >> the Guide,
> >> not in the Manual where I was looking.
> >> But I still can't download them. The section says "Downloads" so I
> >> figured
> >> there would be a way to download it.
> >>>
> >>> David T.
> >>>
> >>> On Nov 5, 2025, 7:46 PM, at 7:46 PM, Paul Kinzelman
> >>> <paulkinzelman at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>> On 11/4/2025 10:00 PM, sunfish62 at yahoo.com wrote:
> >>>>> Keep the replies on the list, please.
> >>>> Sorry, it looked like you replied to just me so I replied thusly too.
> >>>>> 2.3.5 is at
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v5/C/gnucash-guide/basics-running-gnucash.html#basics-register2
> >>>>
> >>>>> First question: why are you double clicking the Withdrawal column to
> >>>>> resize the Balance column?
> >>>> I'm just trying various things to figure out how the column sizing
> >>>> works.
> >>>> Your hint about clicking on the column header from right to left is
> >>>> very helpful and not at all obvious to me. I was just completely
> >>>> confused.
> >>>>> Second: Doesn't your screen have a scroll bar along the bottom of the
> >>>>> register window?
> >>>> Yes. Duh! That was dumb of me. So I can see the rest of the balance,
> >>>> but
> >>>> then when I scroll right,
> >>>> I lose part of the date even as the Description is huge so there's no
> >>>> reason to lose anything.
> >>>> The Description column is not being shrunk.
> >>>>> Third: Others have noted that resizing columns works best from right
> >>>>> to left: double click the balance heading, followed by Withdrawal,
> >>>>> Deposit, etc. The final step is to grab the *right* edge of the
> >>>>> Description column and drag it fully to the left and release. The
> >>>>> Description column will then fill up the remainder of the window
> >>>>> width. (For the record, the Note does describe this process, just a
> >>>>> little cryptically).
> >>>> When I do that, I get reasonable sizes for each column from
> >>>> Transfer to
> >>>>
> >>>> Balance, but it doesn't
> >>>> shrink the Description to fit the window so I get a scroll bar and
> >>>> have
> >>>>
> >>>> to move around. If I maximize
> >>>> the window then I do get all the columns displayed without a
> >>>> scrollbar.
> >>>> Thank you. But I still can't shrink the window less than the entire
> >>>> screen without losing the end
> >>>> columns and getting a scroll bar. It should shrink the Description to
> >>>> fit according to your directions.
> >>>> But what you told me does help, thanks!
> >>>> It does seem like it'd be easier and much less confusing to just have
> >>>> users
> >>>> move the columns where they want and have them stay put.
> >>>>
> >>>> And about documentation...
> >>>> How do I get to 2.3.5?
> >>>> Again, when I go to Support | Documentation | Table of Contents | 2
> >>>> it goes to only 2.2 and when I go thru the pages of chapter 2, I get:
> >>>> 2
> >>>> | Next | 2.1 | Next | 2.2 | Next 3.1
> >>>>
> >>>> And when I go to Downloads | Documentation I don't get anything to
> >>>> download, it goes to the
> >>>> same place as Support | Documentation
> >>>>
> >>>>> David T.
> >>>>> On Nov 5, 2025, at 9:46 AM, Paul Kinzelman <paulkinzelman at gmail.com>
> >>>>> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I can't find 2.3.5
> >>>>> Going to the documentation either download or support, I can't
> >>>>> download, all I can do
> >>>>> is page by page and Ch 2 ends at 2.2 and when I go Next, it goes
> >>>>> to chapter 3.
> >>>>> What am I doing wrong?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I tried your note but the windows still act weirdly.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> With even almost the whole screen width
> >>>>> (and also even with the window maximized),
> >>>>> I see only 1/2 the balance column.
> >>>>> Then when I double-click the Withdrawal,
> >>>>> that column gets wide enough, but it shrinks the Balance so I
> >>>>> see
> >>>>> only 1/2 of the column. When I click on Balance, I now see the
> >>>> whole
> >>>>> thing only if the window is maximized. If I shrink
> >>>>> the gnucash window to be less than maximize,
> >>>>> I lose 1/2 the Balance column. I can see it trying to expand
> >>>>> automatically
> >>>>> like you said in your reply,
> >>>>> but it's really not doing the right thing if the window isn't
> >>>>> maximized.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Why not just allow the user to move the columns around wherever
> >>>>> they want? Wouldn't it be more intuitive as well as
> >>>>> the code would be a lot easier to write too?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I like to balance my statement against gnucash and display them
> >>>> both
> >>>>> on the laptop screen so I can't really maximize it.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Thanks for your help!
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On 11/4/2025 8:10 PM, sunfish62 at yahoo.com wrote:
> >>>>>> Apparently, you didn't read 2.3.5, which includes the following
> >>>>>> note:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Note
> >>>>>> In the register windows, you can resize the various columns
> >>>>>> that
> >>>>>> GnuCash displays, but keep in mind that the Description and
> >>>>>> Balance columns behave differently from other columns.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The Description column is designed to expand automatically to
> >>>>>> fill all unused horizontal screen space. Therefore you should
> >>>> set
> >>>>>> the widths of all your other columns before setting the
> >>>>>> Description column width.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> The Balance column must be resized by double-clicking on the
> >>>>>> column heading.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> David T.
> >>>>>> On Nov 5, 2025, at 4:44 AM, Paul Kinzelman
> >>>>>> <paulkinzelman at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Sunfish62: I looked in chapter 2 and it's about"Using this
> >>>>>> Document & Getting Help"
> >>>>>> I didn't see any column sizing stuff in there.
> >>>>>> Chapter 4.3 seemed more relevant but I couldn't find
> >>>> anything
> >>>>>> there either.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> David: Double-click enlarges the column which is good and
> >>>>>> shrinks the Description
> >>>>>> but still when I drag the vertical bar on the left of
> >>>>>> "Transfer" to the left it snaps back to where it was.
> >>>>>> When I drag the vertical bar on the right of "Transfer" it
> >>>>>> stays put, but the
> >>>>>> vertical bar on the left of "Transfer" snaps to the right
> >>>>>> also when it shouldn't move.
> >>>>>> Something is very weird about resizing.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 11/4/2025 9:31 AM, David Carlson wrote:
> >>>>>>> What happens if you double click the title of any of the
> >>>>>>> amount columns?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> On Tue, Nov 4, 2025 at 10:16 AM Paul Kinzelman
> >>>>>>> <paul at kinzelman.com> wrote:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Im running the updated 5.13 release but it happened
> >>>> with
> >>>>>>> older ones too.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I can't get the ledger columns to resize properly.
> >>>> Works
> >>>>>>> the same way
> >>>>>>> with both one and Double Line view.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The Description field is huge, and when I try to drag
> >>>>>>> the left side of
> >>>>>>> the Transfer column over to shrink the Desc, all the
> >>>>>>> columns Transfer and to
> >>>>>>> the right drag over to the left, but when I click to
> >>>> put
> >>>>>>> them down,
> >>>>>>> they snap back to where they were. I can't shrink the
> >>>>>>> Desc column.
> >>>>>>> And then several of the columns are too small
> >>>>>>> to see. If I drag the left side of Balance to the
> >>>>>>> left,
> >>>>>>> it gets larger, but
> >>>>>>> then Withdrawal becomes too small to see.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Suggestions?
> >>>>>>> Thanks!
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> --
> >>>>>>> David Carlson
> >>
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