[GNC] empty transactions

[Patrick James]

That may be what it says in the manual, but it does NOT always work as suggested in the manual.

Maybe I'll document a few situations where the commit happens without the ENTER key being pressed.

> On 09/04/2026 7:43 AM PDT Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
> 
>  
> This is simply how the app works.
> 
>  From the Help Manual "6.2.1: Entering Directly in the Register Window":
> 
> "The register window will look slightly different depending on the style 
> options you have chosen. The following describes entering simple 
> transactions in the basic ledger style. The cursor is placed in the date 
> field by default when the register window is opened.
> 
> *Note
> 
> When working on transactions in GnuCash, be aware that the Enter key and 
> the Tab key behave differently, and perform different actions.
> 
> The Enter key moves to the first field of the next split, regardless of 
> which field you are in. If there is no next split, proceeds to the next 
> transaction. In any case, Enter finishes the transaction edit, and any 
> imbalance is posted to Imbalance-CUR, where CUR is the currency of the 
> transaction.
> 
> The Tab key moves to the next field in the current split. If it's the 
> last field, moves to the next split, creating a new one if there isn't 
> one. If the split is blank, the Tab key finishes the transaction and 
> posts any imbalance to Imbalance-CUR, as above."
> -----
> 
> 
> The intended and designed key sequence is to TAB through fields and 
> ENTER to commit transactions.
> 
> Since you don't have any info, ENTER commits and jumps to a new 
> transaction. (per the manual text above)
> 
> It is working as expected and designed.
> 
> Myself and other folks use empty transactions for 'journal notations' 
> since this feature isn't provided explicitly, though admittedly, I 
> always have some type of info typed into Description, Notes, or Memo 
> accordingly since that was my intention and purpose for it. Those 
> 'transactions' neither have or need transfer accounts or amounts.
> 
> Regards,
> Adrien
> 
> On 9/4/26 08:15, 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?
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe:
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
> -----
> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.