Tom, It depends on how one defines the metric for "performance." You seem to be defining it by processing time, which is fine and all.
Try using the register scrollbar when there are 30 years of data and thousands of transactions. The performance is terrible by some scroll bar usability metric, even if the processing time is 'small.' I most often have the General Journal filter set to 30 days. Maybe 30 days is a bit short for some people, which I can understand, but generally I don't need more than a year or two of data. This discussion is about the Find function, and sometimes I do need to go back further. What I generally do then is open a second General Journal tab, and set the filter to whatever I need. Then I have both a 30 day tab and the other with a different filter (sometimes shorter, like a daily journal, but often longer). > On 01/13/2026 6:58 PM PST Tom Route36 <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi David, > > I don't think it makes too much difference performance-wise to keep the > General Journal view unlimited with all transactions showing. My GnuCash > data file includes almost 400 accounts with transactions going back over > 32 years. LOTS of transactions. But my GnuCash data file is still only > 10.7 MB. And just out of curiosity I did a test today comparing how > much time it takes to open GnuCash with the General Journal tab open. I > did the test twice with a system restart between each test. > > In test #1 the General Journal was configured to show only the past 30 > days. And in test #1, it took 18 seconds for my data file to open. > > In test #2, the General Journal was configured to show EVERYTHING -- ALL > 32 years' worth of transactions. And in that test #2, it took 21 > seconds for my data file to open -- an extra 3 seconds. > > I'll admit that my system is a gaming desktop; but it's also a bit over > 3 years old now. So it's not what I'd call a high-end type system these > days. There's much higher performance systems available. Anyway, > unless you're on a much older system there, I don't think the General > Journal view setting is going to make much difference one way or the > other. Just FYI. > > Tom > > > On 1/13/2026 5:31 PM, David Carlson wrote: > > I believe that the General Journal should be limited to transactions after > > 30 days before today because some data files (mine for one) have so many > > transactions that if the General Journal tried to load all transactions it > > might take a very long time or even crash the program. Let the user try a > > manual method to load all so (s)he can see what happens and recover if it > > causes a problem. > > > > The Find Transactions assistant is exceptionally clumsy in its basic > > design, so it isn't surprising that the documentation is too. I doubt that > > it could be substantially improved with less than a total re-write before > > the conversion to a full database format is completed. Then it should be > > much easier to fix. > > > > > > > > On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 5:31 PM Stan Brown (using GC 4.14)< > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > >> On 2026-01-13 15:00, Adrien Monteleone wrote: > >>> Be aware that changing that time window on the GJ is not persistent. > >>> (unless that has been fixed recently) Next time you start GnuCash, it > >>> will be back to 30 days. > >> I have 4.14, and the filter is persistent if you tick the "Save Filer" > >> box. I'm not sure when the fix was made, but if it works in 4.14 I > >> expect it works in all versions 5.x. > >> > >> I tested this, and if you tick the box, the filter will persist over > >> closing and reopening GC, closing and reopening General Journal, or > >> doing both. > >> > >> Stan Brown > >> Tehachapi, CA, USA > >> https://BrownMath.com > >> _______________________________________________ > >> gnucash-user mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> 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. > >> > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > 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. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] 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.
