Mark,
Essentially, the solution is to continue what I'm currently doing, like
I described back on Feb. 7th:
=====
"I'm not a fan of AutoFill actually filling in the whole transaction.
But I kinda like having AutoFill fill in JUST the Description field --
and leaving the rest of the transaction blank. The way I do that is by
entering something (anything at all) into the Notes field BEFORE typing
anything into the Description field. Then when I do start typing into
the Description field, AutoFill will fill in ONLY the Description field,
rather than the whole transaction. It seems kinda stupid to have to do
things in that order; but it's the way I work around the AutoFill
issue. Just FYI."
=====
But I still think it would be more user-friendly to have an AutoFill
preference setting so that the user could select the default behavior --
either the whole transaction, or just the Description field by itself.
Tom
On 2/22/2026 12:30 PM, Mark Bourne wrote:
Having pressed Enter to complete the description, I can then press the
down arrow to move into the notes and transaction details (I usually
have the view set to double-line and transaction journal). I'm not
sure how to do it (if there is a way) with both single-line and basic
ledger views set, but in that case I wouldn't have thought it that
difficult to just type over the autocompleted values in the other
fields - particularly as the content of each field is selected as you
tab through them, so just typing will replace whatever is already there.
Mark.
Tom Route36 wrote:
Hi Mark,
I find AutoComplete useful also -- but mainly for completing the
Description, not the whole transaction. In my case, the Description
field gets repeated extensively. But the actual transaction is
usually radically different each time. That's why I'd like to see a
user option to AutoComplete the Description field ONLY.
But that leads me to a question about your suggestions here. If you
select an item and press Enter to complete just the Description,
you're correct that the rest of the transaction remains unfilled --
at least initially. It's also correct that pressing Escape will
cancel the AutoComplete. And that's great. But then here's my
question: How do you go about entering the rest of the transaction
after you do that?
If I press Enter to complete just the Description (as you suggest), I
then typically hit Tab to enter an amount, or to select a Transfer
account. But if what I just entered into the Description field (with
Enter or Escape) happens to match a previously entered transaction,
GnuCash still insists on AutoCompleting the transaction. So how
would you stop that from happening -- and be able to enter the rest
of the transaction manually?
Tom
On 2/20/2026 4:46 AM, Mark Bourne wrote:
Apologies for resurrecting a thread from a couple of weeks ago, but
I've just noticed that in GnuCash 5.14, when I start typing in the
description and a list of autocomplete suggestions comes up, I can
either:
- Select an item and press Tab to fill the whole transaction
- Select an item and press Enter to complete just the description
(leaving the rest unfilled)
- Press Escape to cancel autocomplete and just keep what I've typed
Not sure if that's something that's changed in recent versions, but
thought it might help those who don't like the whole transaction
being autocompleted.
I'm using GnuCash 5.14 on Linux Mint 22, but installed from the
GnuCash PPA since there's a bug in the version from the Ubuntu/Mint
repositories that makes scheduled transactions unusable.
Personally I find autocomplete quite useful for entering
transactions similar to previous ones, but not on a fixed schedule
(so not suitable for scheduled transactions). Unlike "Duplicate
Transaction", I don't need to find a previous example to copy, I
just start typing the description and autocomplete it.
Mark.
Tom Route36 wrote:
I'm not a fan of AutoFill actually filling in the whole
transaction. But I kinda like having AutoFill fill in JUST the
Description field -- and leaving the rest of the transaction blank.
The way I do that is by entering something (anything at all) into
the Notes field BEFORE typing anything into the Description field.
Then when I do start typing into the Description field, AutoFill
will fill in ONLY the Description field, rather than the whole
transaction. It seems kinda stupid to have to do things in that
order; but it's the way I work around the AutoFill issue. Just FYI.
Tom
On 2/7/2026 4:01 PM, Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) wrote:
On 2026-02-07 14:11, Liz wrote:
This autofill feature remains contentious. Suggestions on how to
improve it would help overall.
Personally I would turn it off if that option was available.
I agree wholeheartedly. If I want to duplicate a transaction, I
can use
the Duplicate button.
The annoyance of the mandatory autofill, when it's not actually
wanted
the majority of the time, is enough to keep me, reluctantly, from
upgrading to 5.x.
Stan Brown
Tehachapi, CA, USA
https://BrownMath.com/
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