[GNC] Copy and paste account into a new account

John Ralls jralls at ceridwen.us
Mon Sep 8 21:19:46 EDT 2025 

Quit GnuCash. Use Finder to make a copy of the gcm file to be safe.
Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. At the prompt type
    nano ~/Library/Appliation\ Support/Gnucash/books/<your-file-name>.gcm
It has completion so you can probably just type the first few letters of your file name and hit tab to fill out the rest of the file name.

Type control-w and enter balance_width=0 <return>. The first entry will be in the Accounts page where that’s the right value, so use control-n or the down arrow to move to the next line, then type control-w again. This time it will find it in a Register block. Change the 0 to 85. Do another control-w, it should wrap back up to the Accounts page one. Type control-x, answer y to save, and you’re done. Restart GnuCash and your balance column should be restored. Use Finder to delete the copy of the gcm file.

Regards,
John Ralls

> On Sep 8, 2025, at 11:18, Edwin Booth <elybeedle at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> BTW, I understand the fact that somehow reduced the column width to zero.
> And, in the past, I’ve been able to grab it back. But now I can’t seem to
> undo the reduced size. I’d really like to try going to the $HOME file and
> see if I am able to fix it there, but this gnu-be needs some instruction.
> 
> Thanks so much!
> 
> Edwin
> 
> On Mon, Sep 8, 2025 at 1:13 PM Edwin Booth <elybeedle at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Thank you for the iMac info. I’d like to know how to get to that screen
>> level on my MacBook. I’ve only recently switched from a PC to this MacBook
>> and I don’t yet know how to get down to the level where I am able to get to
>> the $HOME file. Sorta basic I know, but… Google isn’t helping me right now
>> because I guess I don’t even know the right questions to ask.
>> 
>> On Mon, Sep 8, 2025 at 1:05 PM R Losey <rlosey at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> On my iMac, the .gcm file is in $HOME/Library/Application
>>> Support/GnuCash/books
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2025 at 3:03 PM Edwin Booth <elybeedle at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Thank you so much!!! Not sure if I’m savvy enough to do that but I shall
>>>> try.
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks again,
>>>> 
>>>> Edwin
>>>> 
>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2025 at 2:01 PM Stephen M. Butler <kg7je at arrl.net> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Looks like the Down Arrow is only on the ACCOUNTS register -- sorry
>>>> about
>>>>> that.  My mistake.
>>>>> 
>>>>> You need to located GNC_DATA_HOME for your box and edit the file in
>>>>> books/your-book-name.gnucash.gcm.  For me on Ubuntu that is in
>>>>> $HOME/.local/share/gnucash/books.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Look  for a liine:  balance_width=0 and change that to something like
>>>>> balance_width=94.
>>>>> 
>>>>> You can find this info at:
>>>>> 
>>>> https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/151095/gnucash-checkbook-columns-shrunk-too-far-cannot-get-them-back
>>>>> 
>>>>> I did a search for:  gnucash zero width column
>>>>> 
>>>>> Following info came from
>>>>> 
>>>> https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#GNC_DATA_HOME
>>>>> (while looking for GNC_DATA_DIR referenced in above article).
>>>>> GNC_DATA_HOME
>>>>> 
>>>>> *Versions:* 3.x and more recent
>>>>> 
>>>>> This is the subdirectory in USER_DATA_HOME
>>>>> <
>>>> https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#USER_DATA_HOME
>>>>> 
>>>>> that GnuCash uses exclusively for its *user specific* data. The default
>>>>> locations:
>>>>> Linux pristine USER_DATA_HOME
>>>>> <
>>>> https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#USER_DATA_HOME
>>>>> 
>>>>> /gnucash Flatpak $HOME
>>>>> <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME>
>>>>> /.var/app/org.gnucash.GnuCash/data/gnucash Windows %APPDATA%
>>>>> <
>>>> https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#Environment_variables_LOCALAPPDATA_and_APPDATA
>>>>> 
>>>>> \GnuCash macOS HOME
>>>>> <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME
>>>>> /Library/Application
>>>>> Support/GnuCash
>>>>> 
>>>>> Note that on Windows the base directory is *APPDATA
>>>>> <
>>>> https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#Environment_variables_LOCALAPPDATA_and_APPDATA
>>>>> *
>>>>> and on macOS this is *HOME
>>>>> <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME
>>>>> /Library/Application
>>>>> Support*. The base directories will be different for the next relevant
>>>>> directory:
>>>>> 
>>>>> USER_DATA_HOME
>>>>> 
>>>>> This directory can be used by *applications* to store data that can't
>>>> be
>>>>> stored in the user's data file for some reason. For example gnucash
>>>> will
>>>>> store saved reports here, or some metadata such as which register tabs
>>>> were
>>>>> open for your books last time you closed them. The default locations:
>>>>> Linux pristine $HOME
>>>>> <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME>
>>>>> /.local/share Flatpak <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Flatpak>
>>>> $HOME
>>>>> <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME>
>>>>> /.var/app/org.gnucash.GnuCash/data Windows On this platform there are
>>>>> actually two directories for this kind of data: Local—machine specific
>>>>> 
>>>>>   - The machine is no member of a Windows domain *or*
>>>>>   - the user has choosen a (machine) local profile on login:
>>>>> 
>>>>> HOME <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME>
>>>>> \AppData\Local, often referred to as %LOCALAPPDATA%
>>>>> <
>>>> https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#Environment_variables_LOCALAPPDATA_and_:APPDATA>
>>>> Roaming—domain
>>>>> wide
>>>>> 
>>>>>   - The machine is member of a Windows domain *and*
>>>>>   - the user has choosen a domain wide profile on login:
>>>>> 
>>>>> HOME <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME>
>>>>> \AppData\Roaming, often referred to as %APPDATA%
>>>>> <
>>>> https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#Environment_variables_LOCALAPPDATA_and_APPDATA
>>>>> 
>>>>> macOS On this platform there are actually two directories for this kind
>>>>> of data: native current HOME
>>>>> <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME
>>>>> /Library/Application
>>>>> Support OS X 10.6 and older HOME/Library/Applications Defaults by
>>>> ported
>>>>> software HOME
>>>>> <https://www.wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#HOME>
>>>>> /.local/share The former is native to macOS (and will be used by
>>> 
>>> 
>>>>> GnuCash), the latter is often used by software that's ported from linux
>>>>> (like GTK3). The difference will get clearer further down.
>>>>> 
>>>>> It's important to understand this directory is shared by all
>>>> applications
>>>>> you run on your system. So aside from GnuCash, applications like
>>>> Firefox,
>>>>> Microsoft Office, LibreOffice and so on will also write here. To avoid
>>>>> clutter, most applications have the courtesy to create their own
>>>>> subdirectory here and only write in that subdirectory. This leads
>>>>> seamlessly to the next couple of important directories:
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 9/7/25 11:38, Edwin Booth wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thank you! I have tried your No. 2 suggestion countless times and just
>>>>> does not reappear. I’m not sure what you mean by the down arrow on the
>>>>> column headers (I’m using a MacBook). I only get the side-to-side
>>>> arrows as
>>>>> well as the regular cursor. I’m keen to try your No. 3 but have no
>>>> idea how
>>>>> to do that.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks so much for the reply!
>>>>> 
>>>>> Edwin
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2025 at 1:17 PM Steve Butler <
>>>> stephen.m.butler51 at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Create the new account.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Delete the old account and check the box to transfer all transactions
>>>> to
>>>>>> the new account.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> It may be that your balance column was either:
>>>>>> 1.  Turned off -- check the down arrow on the column headers.
>>>>>> 2.  Pushed off the page by wider columns.  Double click the
>>>> Description
>>>>>> column headers to see if columns suddenly appear(and description
>>>> column
>>>>>> shrinks)
>>>>>> 3.  Width of Balance column set to zero pixels.  There is a file you
>>>> need
>>>>>> to edit to fix that.  Not sure which one nor where it is located.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Sun, Sep 7, 2025, 11:11 Edwin Booth <elybeedle at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Hi. I’m having trouble with one of my accounts. I have lost the
>>>> Balance
>>>>>>> column and I think I need to make a new account. Is it possible to
>>>> copy
>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> paste a whole account into a new account window?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Thanks, Edwin
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> _________________________________
>>> Richard Losey
>>> rlosey at gmail.com
>>> Micah 6:8
>>> 
>> 
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