Type ahead search when entering the accounts to a transaction
Corresponding bugzilla item: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=545160
I'd like to suggest using type ahead search when specifying which account
should be used in a transaction.
Just to give an example i have the following expenses accounts:
Expenses:Auto:Repair
Expenses:Auto:Gas
Expenses:Boat:Repair
Expenses:Boat:Gas
I would like to type "rep" and have Gnucash suggest all matching accounts. In
this case:
Expenses:Auto:Repair
Expenses:Boat:Repair
If I start typing "a" it should show
Expenses:Auto:Repair
Expenses:Auto:Gas
In short it should work like the label selection widget on Gmail.
I have a pretty deep expenses structure (matching different budgets I have set
up) which makes typing all the different levels tedious even if I can
":"-complete.
GnuCash 4.0 (2020-06-28):
https://www.gnucash.org/new_features-4.0.phtml
Update 4.3: See
https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=797994
Update Bugzilla (2018-07-01)
https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=545160
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Anonymous commented
Thank you!
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AJ commented
Thank you Jean Laroche.
I would be curious to know which features you are targeting to implement -- specifically the one in my post below, which is a superset of the one in the first post (albeit in a slightly different way).
Volunteer work is noble and highly commendable. I respectfully salute you all who serve the community.
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jean laroche commented
FYI I have started implementing these suggestions. I will keep you guys posted.
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AJ commented
Also, account numbers often differ in the trailing few digits so typing the entire account number is a big pain as opposed to typing the last 3 or 4 digits to find it.
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AJ commented
I am switching over from MoneyDance which allows even more powerful search:
My accounts:
Me:Citibank:Savings:xxxx4455
Wife:Citibank:Checkings:xxxx9977
Me:Wells Fargo:xxxx3355... and so on... maybe 250 accounts or more (of family, different currencies, mutual funds, etc.) with much deeper nesting than above.
When entering transactions, I want to be able to type any sequence of characters and get all matches anywhere in the account name.
For example, typing "45" should immediately bring up
Me:Citibank:Savings:xxxx4455PLEASE implement this feature. I can also contribute to adding to the Bounty program someone said below.
I have donated before and will continue to support this project... and my humble thanks and deep appreciation for those who are developing this project for the public with virtually zero returns.
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Anonymous commented
I confirm it lacks me as I migrated from MS Money where it was working exactly as you explained.
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Brian Andrew commented
I'm testing GNU_Cash in hopes of moving from Quicken. Even using the E:A:R(ep) shortcut is significantly more costly than how Quicken can match sub-accounts directly. When I download checking/credit card transactions I wait until I match entries with my statement/receipts before I enter the account info. Even with the shortcut above I'm doing double the work (6 keystrokes per entry instead of 3). This adds up with 30-40 entries being done at a time. I would really appreciate this feature.
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Yoni commented
This is by far the most important feature I miss in GnuCash. A huge time saver. Any chance for it to be implemented ?
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Semky commented
I start out every account with its account code 2345_Big bank, that way everywhere in gnuchash all I have to do is do the first 4 numbers and it auto completes correctly,
Also account codes 2345a seems to work. -
Jim Smith commented
as a touch typist for many years, I really like the way the developer already meets this request. For instance, if you have an account like this:
Expenses:Auto:Repair
You only need to type E:A:R and you get the opportunity after each colon to select whatever account is listed. I use this constantly, and consider it a huge time save. -
YeOldHinnerk commented
@cstim: The tirck with the account separator is actually quite usefull and to some extent makes this request obsolete. However, I doubt this trick is known to most users. The request is much more intuitive.
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YeOldHinnerk commented
There is a bounty available for implementing this feature.
http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Bounty_Program#Uservoice -
Admincstim (Core Developer, GnuCash) commented
Do you know the existing workaround for faster typing: You can type the account separation character to jump from the first level of account name to the next one. In your example you can type 'E' ':' and if Expenses: is your only top-level account name starting with an 'E', these two keys will take you to the more meaningful options.
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Matt Durak commented
Yes that's a huge time waster for me (typing Expenses: before I get any meaningful options being populated).
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Bjorn commented
This would be so awesome!
One of the only flaws I see in your software ;-) -
YeOldHinnerk commented
I think this feature would be a huge time-saver.
Since I have to book all my credti card expenses, by portfolio and also anything I pay in cash manually in GnuCash, a strong autocompletion would be awesome. In the current version, it's almost useless, except for a few specialised accounts. -
Anonymous commented
would be good to enable this also for online transaction import matching. there is some search functionality but it seems clunky
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thehandyman commented
I couldn't agree more. I just started using Gnucash, coming from Money 2004 (!!!), and the better autocomplete you describe worked in Money for many versions before that. People seem to think the ":" or "." is good, but it's achingly slow! Very frustrating to take such a big step backwards.
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Hil commented
I agree... Or the other option I was thinking was splitting the transfer field. So you would enter say Expenses in the first field and then Auto:Repair, Auto:Gas, Boat:Repair, etc. in the next field. Then if it is an expense type transaction default the next tab move into the Withdrawal field.