Hi John,
Thanks for the reply. It's a very minor irritation in an incredible
piece of software. I might donate to get it changed if that was an
option, but it's true that I use GnuCash in a non-standard way.
We have many internal projects but my developers are not C or C++
developers and it would be very hard for us to fork and adjust.
Kind regards,
Paul Feakins
Managing Director
Antropy.co.uk <https://antropy.co.uk>
Antropy Ltd, Crawley Business Centre, Stephenson Way, Crawley, RH10 1TN
<https://maps.app.goo.gl/QQ2iBRDE5mHuHA7G6>
Antropy Ltd | Reg No: 06468795 | Registered in England & Wales
On 19/02/2026 17:08, John Ralls wrote:
Paul,
It seems like you’ve decided to use GnuCash in a way that the GnuCash team
doesn’t intend to support, and since you now have hundreds of clients your
business has grown to a size that is beyond our abilities to support. The fact
that GnuCash is Free-as-in-liberty software provides a simple solution: Fork
GnuCash and make it behave however you like.
Regards,
John Ralls
On Feb 19, 2026, at 07:11, Paul Feakins via
gnucash-user<[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Derek,
I'm sure this won't change your mind, but logically if there is an option to default to
"Single Line", a user would expect all accounts to follow this preference
unless stated otherwise.
I am not using multiple currencies, and appreciate your work-around suggestions.
They are of type "Accounts Receivable" because in accounting terminology, that
is what they are. I have multiple sub-accounts so that I can easily track which clients
owe which money and keep track. I do not use Customers as they should be used, so I
accept I'm not using the software how it should be used in some ways. It would be a huge
job to correct this now.
I have implemented my own reports for those, however in my code when I parse
the XML, I do look at the account type ...
I take the .gnucash file, unzip it, parse the XML in PHP and put it into the
database of a CakePHP application called Webzash:https://webzash.org/
From that database I can get any reports/data I like to automatically chase
customers or even submit our VAT return to HMRC via MTD which it does using
some of the code I shared here:https://github.com/paulfeakins/hmrc-mtd-api-php
Kind regards,
Paul Feakins
Managing Director
Antropy.co.uk<https://antropy.co.uk>
Antropy Ltd, Crawley Business Centre, Stephenson Way, Crawley, RH10
1TN<https://maps.app.goo.gl/QQ2iBRDE5mHuHA7G6>
Antropy Ltd | Reg No: 06468795 | Registered in England & Wales
On 19/02/2026 14:56, Derek Atkins wrote:
Sorry, it's not a bug, and we're not adding another option for it.
If anything, the bug is allowing the user to turn off double-line-mode at
all!
But your objection is duly noted. :)
Also, yes, if you actually have subaccounts (WHY?? There's no reason for
multiple A/R or A/P accounts unless you're using multiple currencies) then
yes, you would need to clear out the subaccounts first.
The only reports that expect the A/R or A/P account types are the business
reports (customer report, ageing report, etc), bills-due reminder, etc.
-derek
On Thu, February 19, 2026 9:49 am, Paul Feakins wrote:
Hi Derek,
I still think it's a bug because there is clearly an option NOT to
default to "Double Line", yet these accounts DO default to "Double Line".
If these accounts need to be treated differently, there should be
another option for other account types if they are treated differently.
I probably want them to remain Account Receivable as I'm sure some
reports would use the account type to give a report of how much money is
due, for example.
The honest answer is I started using this software 18 years ago before I
knew much about accounting, and I was an IT contractor sending 1 invoice
per month.
Now though, I'm glad I did it that way because I have numerous web-based
systems that use the data from GnuCash and send invoices and chaser
emails automatically. GnuCash wouldn't be able to automate that
considering we have hundreds of clients now.
I tried to delete the parent Accounts Receivable account and it said I
must first delete or move the sub-accounts.
I think if this really is desired behaviour there should be options:
Edit > Preferences > Register Defaults > Double line view
(Asset/Liability accounts)
Edit > Preferences > Register Defaults > Double line view (Accounts
Receivable/Liability accounts)
It's a minor irritation, but most definitely a bug in my opinion.
Kind regards,
Paul Feakins
Managing Director
Antropy.co.uk<https://antropy.co.uk>
Antropy Ltd, Crawley Business Centre, Stephenson Way, Crawley, RH10 1TN
<https://maps.app.goo.gl/QQ2iBRDE5mHuHA7G6>
Antropy Ltd | Reg No: 06468795 | Registered in England & Wales
On 19/02/2026 14:23, Derek Atkins wrote:
Hi,
On Thu, February 19, 2026 9:17 am, Paul Feakins wrote:
Hi Geert,
[snip]
I am starting to think this really is a genuine bug rather than desired
behaviour.
Nope, this is specific, desired behavior of the business account types.
And you are correct, once you have data in the account, you are not
allowed to change the type by hand. Again, not a bug -- it's designed
that way so as not to break the business features.
Something you can try... (MAKE A BACKUP FIRST IN CASE THIS DOESN'T
WORK)..
Try to delete the A/R account. GnuCash /should/ ask you where to move
the
transactions, and you should be able to select an Asset account.
I say "should" because I don't remember if this action is blocked, too.
This is why I suggest making a backup, so if it doesn't work you can
exit
gnucash and restore the backup.
I am pretty familiar with GnuCash having used it since 2008 when I
started my business, it has been fantastic and I've integrated it with
other open source systems to create a pretty good accounting system.
I'm just curious -- if you're using it for your business, why don't you
use the Invoice/Bill features?
-derek
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