[GNC] Resizing columns
Paul Kinzelman
paul at kinzelman.com
Wed Nov 5 12:27:29 EST 2025
Maybe you have a bigger screen. I'm usually on my 14" laptop screen
and shrinking the window definitely cuts off on the right instead of
the description.
On 11/5/2025 10:05 AM, David Carlson wrote:
> 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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