[GNC] Resizing columns
R Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Wed Nov 5 13:17:52 EST 2025
If I can figure out how to add it to the guide, I'd be happy to do so.
I will confess that when I first ran across the resize behavior, I thought
it weird, but after getting used to it, I think it was a brilliant (if
unorthodox) idea. Yes, it isn't like other applications, but I think it is
the other applications that make resizing harder.
On Wed, Nov 5, 2025 at 12:08 PM Paul Kinzelman <paul at kinzelman.com> wrote:
> While I disagree with you about how this should work, this is great
> helpful information, and this ought to be added to the guide as
> long as it is going to work this way.
>
> On 11/5/2025 11:05 AM, R Losey wrote:
>
> Once I understood that the Description field works differently, I have
> never had any problems.
>
> In my registers, I always even things out by double-clicking in the
> following order (double-clicking auto-adjusts to the necessary width - if
> you screen is narrow, you may have to decide which fields to shrink):
>
> Starting on the left
> 1) The vertical bar to the right of "Date" (although, this field has never
> been off)
> 2) The vertical bar to the right of "Num"
>
> Now going to the far right and working back:
> 3) The Balance heading (I didn't know that this would work until I read
> this)
> 4) The vertical bar to the right of "Credit" (or the other name)
> 5) The vertical bar to the right of "Debit" (or the other name)
> (I skip the "R" column)
> 6) The vertical bar to the right of "Transfer"
> 7) Finally, the vertical bar to the right of Description, which will auto
> resize so that all columns are visible.
>
> I'm quite used to the behavior and would not want it changed. I think it
> is well designed (but perhaps a bit difficult to work with until you know
> what it's doing)
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 5, 2025 at 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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>
>
> --
> _________________________________
> Richard Losey
> rlosey at gmail.com
> Micah 6:8
>
>
>
--
_________________________________
Richard Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Micah 6:8
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