[GNC] empty transactions

[Derek Atkins]

There is an account -- the open register into which you've entered the
transaction.

There is no TRANSFER account, but that's not required because the
transaction is balanced by the $0 amount.  If you had a value in there the
scrubber would just insert it into your Imbalance account.

So I repeat -- train yourself to not hit Enter until you're done entering
your transaction.

-derek

On Fri, September 4, 2026 10:00 am, Marty Landman wrote:
> How is the transaction considered valid when there is no account? IMHO
> not choosing an account should cause the trx to fail validation.
>
> On 9/4/2026 9:36 AM, Derek Atkins wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I wouldn't call it a feature, but I wouldn't call it a bug.  I would
>> call
>> it "GnuCash is doing exactly what you tell it to do".  Namely, once you
>> edit ANY field in the new transaction it is considered "completed" --
>> and
>> if you hit Enter it will run through the "is this a balanced
>> transaction"
>> tester (NB: 0 == 0: Balanced) and get committed.
>>
>> So you're basically saying that you want to enter a transaction with a
>> specific date, but without a description (this is allowed) and with
>> $0.00
>> amount (also allowed).
>>
>> Train yourself to not hit Enter prematurely.
>>
>> -derek
>>
>> On Fri, September 4, 2026 9:15 am, Marty Landman wrote:
>>> Notice that GnuCash creates empty transactions having nothing in it but
>>> the date when altering the date on a blank transaction and entering.
>>>
>>> I accidentally create these on a semi-steady basis and then have to
>>> find
>>> and remove them. Is this a feature for some reason? Can I remove this
>>> ability through configuration somehow? Or get a warning before blank
>>> trx's are created?
>>>
>>> Marty
>>>
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>


-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant