[GNC] empty transactions

[Kalpesh Patel]

I have couple of unorthodox use for those type of transactions. One is to link to individual important estate planning documents in an account and then I reconcile when I review them so that way I have a note when I last reviewed. I also update/add individual transaction date when such document is updated so I have a full running history what was updated when. Reports are also available on them if needed.

Such workflow just mends into the natural workflow of GNC register.

-----Original Message-----
From: Marty Landman <martster at gmail.com> 
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2026 11:34 AM
To: Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com>
Cc: GnuCash Users <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
Subject: Re: [GNC] empty transactions

Out of curiosity, since I am neither an accountant nor a bookkeeper. Is there a valid reason that someone might want to enter such a transaction?

On 9/4/2026 10:05 AM, Derek Atkins wrote:
> 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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>