Tom,
The GnuCash project has several different elements to provide assistance, and
it's in your interest to familiarize yourself with all of them. I'll summarize
my own perspective on these here. Note that I'll probably get multiple
corrections in reply...
There are four broad pillars, the first two of which are considered the
official documentation:
* The GnuCash Manual ("Help")
(<https://gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=5&lang=C&doc=help>),
* The Tutorial and Concepts Guide ("The Guide")
(<https://gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=5&lang=C&doc=guide>),
* the GnuCash Wiki (<https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/>), and
* the user list (this list).
F1 brings up the GnuCash Help, which is intended to provide quick contextual
answers to issues that users encounter.
The Guide contains more in depth content and explanation, with greater
background and theory.
The wiki contains information that users have gleaned and wish to share with
the community, but which is not included in the Help or the Guide. The wiki has
an extensive FAQ as well as numerous sections explaining how individual users
have used GnuCash to address their specific accounting needs.
Finally, the user list provides a forum for all to raise their concerns and
ideas as they arise, and to get immediate feedback from fellow users.
Issues and ideas that enter into this continuum typically follow a common path.
They first get raised in the user list, where they are discussed and debated.
Those ideas that appear to have more substantial import to GnuCash and its
users then get added to the wiki by a member of the community. Ideas that are
more fundamental to the GnuCash project will eventually find their way into the
official documentation.
The official docs have been created and updated over the years and have had a
great deal of editorial oversight. Information there is, generally speaking,
the most accurate. Ideas and suggestions from the lists and the wiki get added
to the docs only after there is general agreement by the developer team.
Understanding how the different data sources are created and maintained, and
what kinds of data live where, can be very helpful to know.
David T.
On June 3, 2026 8:20:00 AM GMT+05:30, Tom Route36 <[email protected]> wrote:
>Hi Sherlock,
>
>Thanks for the link. I see my mistake. I was relying solely on the built-in
>GnuCash F1 (Help -> Contents); but didn't check the online manual. In the
>future I'll just go directly to the online version; and not even bother with
>the built-in Help.
>
>Thanks,
>Tom
>
>
>On 06/02/2026 07:49 PM, Sherlock wrote:
>> Hi Tom,
>>
>> https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Scheduled_Transactions
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Sherlock
>>
>> On 6/2/26 6:03 PM, Tom Route36 wrote:
>>> Hi Mark,
>>>
>>> You're my hero. I guess I'm still a newbie here. The idea of using a
>>> variable in the template transaction never occurred to me. I wasn't even
>>> aware of the possibility of doing that. In looking thru the GnuCash manual
>>> for tips about scheduling , I never saw any mention there about variables
>>> at all. (But feel free to point me to the documentation if I missed it.)
>>>
>>> Anyway, by plugging in a variable name in my template transactions, that
>>> pretty much takes care of my laziness. Essentially, I just create those 8
>>> scheduled transactions once -- with a variable name for each amount. And
>>> then I never have to edit those schedules again. I just plug in the
>>> correct amount whenever each transaction comes due and gets created. Easy!
>>> That's what I was looking for.
>>>
>>> Thanks for your help,
>>> Tom
>>>
>>>
>>> On 06/02/2026 12:50 PM, Mark Bourne wrote:
>>>> I don't know if it would ease the burden of editing the transactions, but
>>>> you can use variables in the template transactions and the "Since Last
>>>> Run" dialog will then prompt for the value(s) each time the transaction is
>>>> due. Where you would normally fill in debit/credit amounts in the
>>>> template transaction, instead enter a word such as "estimate". Use the
>>>> same word in both splits, and it'll prompt for the value for "estimate"
>>>> each time the transaction is due and use the value you enter for the
>>>> transaction.
>>>>
>>>> That would avoid needing to go into each template transaction to edit the
>>>> amounts, at the expense of needing to manually enter the amount each time.
>>>>
>>>> Another workaround would be to schedule the transaction for every month,
>>>> and just select to skip entering the transaction in the "Since Last Run"
>>>> dialog when it comes up in the months you don't need it.
>>>>
>>>> Neither of those options is perfect, more a matter of working out what's
>>>> least inconvenient ;)
>>>>
>>>> Mark.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Tom Route36 wrote:
>>>>> Hi Liz,
>>>>>
>>>>> I know what you're saying as far as GnuCash handling things "under the
>>>>> hood" once the transactions are setup. The reason it's a bit annoying
>>>>> (at least once a year) is that I usually need to adjust the estimated
>>>>> payments each year. So it would be easier to only have to adjust 2
>>>>> scheduled transactions, rather than having to edit and update 8 of them
>>>>> individually every year.
>>>>>
>>>>> As I said, it's really minor. But if anyone had come up with an easy way
>>>>> to handle these kinds of irregular schedules it would be useful to know
>>>>> about it. Editing 2 each year is better than editing 8. (Hey, I'll admit
>>>>> I'm lazy.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Tom
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 06/01/2026 10:00 PM, Liz wrote:
>>>>>> On Mon, 1 Jun 2026 20:51:01 -0600
>>>>>> Tom Route36<[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I know this isn't a big issue. But I'm just wondering if it's
>>>>>>> possible to combine those 8 scheduled transactions into just 2. Any
>>>>>>> advice would be appreciated.
>>>>>> I don't know of any way to do that.
>>>>>> I would also note that once they are all scheduled it doesn't really
>>>>>> matter how they appear in the editor for scheduled transactions, as
>>>>>> Gnucash handles the rest under the hood.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have had 12 monthly tax payments listed, 4 occurring regularly at
>>>>>> quarterly intervals with one set of splits, and the other 8 on the
>>>>>> fill in months with a second set of splits.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I made separate entries for the second group as the only way I found to
>>>>>> manage this in Gnucash.
>>>>>> It was then of no concern until I needed to cancel eight separate
>>>>>> entries.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Liz
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