Hi Sherlock,
Thanks for the advice as to pressing Esc or selecting Don't AutoComplete
before hitting Tab. That's pretty much what everyone has been
suggesting here. It's also what I've been trying all along to get
around this issue. Unfortunately, that method isn't working. If I type
in anything for the Description that GnuCash has seen previously, that
earlier entry will appear in the drop-down list. And whether I hit Esc
at that point, or select Don't AutoComplete from the top of the list, it
doesn't seem to matter. Once I try to continue the entry by hitting the
Tab key, GnuCash still insists on AutoCompleting the entry with the most
recent transaction it finds for whatever I typed into the Description field.
The way that GnuCash is behaving here seems like something I'd call a
bug; since it certainly seems like hitting Esc should stop the
AutoCompletion. But that's not happening.
For David who asked about the GnuCash release and OS version, I'm
running Windows 11 Home Version 24H2 OS Build 26100.6584. And I've
confirmed this problem with the two latest stable versions of GnuCash:
with both v5.12 Build ID: 5.12+(2025-06-28) and with v5.13 Build ID:
5.13+(2025-09-27).
I have come up with a fairly reliable workaround for this problem;
although I have to say it's not something I really like. My workaround
is to leave the Description field completely BLANK. And I just go ahead
and enter all the amounts and details in the Splits. Once all those
details are entered, I go and save the Transaction -- yes, with a BLANK
Description field. After saving the Transaction that way, then I go
back and edit the Transaction to type in whatever the Description field
should actually be. And since I'm only editing an existing Transaction,
GnuCash is happy to leave things alone and no longer try to AutoComplete
anything. This solution of mine does work; but as noted above, it's not
something that I really like. I think the proper solution would be for
GnuCash to recognize the Esc key up front as a flag to stop doing the
AutoCompletion. Or, even better, have a Preference setting in GnuCash
to let the user decide whether or not they want to enable AutoCompletion.
Anyway, that's where things stand right now for me. If you need any
additional details, or would like me to try some other solution for this
issue, just let me know.
Tom
On 11/25/2025 11:56 AM, Sherlock wrote:
Hi Tom,
There is no preference setting to disable autocomplete. If you don't
want GnuCash to match the earlier transaction, press the Esc key (or
select Don't Autocomplete in the pull-down menu) before you hit the
Tab key.
Regards,
Sherlock
On 11/25/25 1:22 AM, Tom Route36 wrote:
Hi. I'm still learning my way around GnuCash; so forgive this
beginner question. When I go to enter a new transaction into a
register and what I am entering into the Description field matches an
earlier transaction, GnuCash will automatically fill in the amount
and the split details exactly as it was recorded previously for that
earlier transaction.
For example, let's say my earlier transaction had the Description
"Walmart - Sacramento" with a Tot Charge amount of $154.26, and the
Split consisted of 9 entries. If a couple weeks later I go to enter
a new transaction with the same Description ("Walmart - Sacramento")
and I hit the Tab key to type in whatever new Tot Charge amount I
want to record, what happens is that GnuCash will automatically
fill-in that same earlier $154.26 amount before I have any chance to
enter my new Tot Charge amount. Worse yet, it fills in the 9 Split
entries for the new transaction to match that earlier transaction as
well.
Not only is this annoying; but GnuCash gets bogged down and slows my
system down while it tries to recall the Split details of that
earlier transaction. Is there a preference setting somewhere to stop
GnuCash from trying to AutoComplete my new transactions with the
details of my earlier transactions?
Tom
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