I generally agree with David T. I would like to add a couple of points. . 1. Descriptions, notes and Memos are free form text of great length and accounts with subaccounts can get lengthy as well, it is quite likely that in the fixed transaction display structure not all the text can be displayed even if the user selects a full screen display window on a high resolution type of monitor.
2. The fixed transaction display structure is common to all transactions currently in view including the transaction currently being edited. This restricts the display of prompts and auxiliary help text relating to the currently edited transaction. 3. The design choice selected by the developers automatically displaying as much of the description field as fits in whatever window width is available is a very good compromise given the fixed transaction display structure. 4. To move away from the variable description length view choice would require changing the fixed transaction display structure. That actually was attempted several years ago and it was called Register 2 in Bugzilla, which I think is the only remaining evidence from that attempt, which did not come to fruition probably because of the complexity involved. On Wed, Mar 11, 2026 at 10:08 PM David T. <[email protected]> wrote: > Ken, > > The fact is that every column *except* the Description column behaves as > everyone here seems to think it should. (I'll note that our determination > of what is right is determined by our conditioning through experience, and > not necessarily by what would be best in a given situation). > > The reasons for making the Description behavior different are definitely > buried in the past, which is understandable given GnuCash's almost 3 > decades of existence and volunteer developer base. Maybe, just maybe, some > developer in 1997 decided that having empty screen real estate on the right > was not a good idea (especially given screen technology in the 1990s), and > having a field fill the remaining space was preferable. Having made that > decision, it seems logical to have the Description field be that field. > > Once coded, no one has had the determination to go back and rewrite the > core code of the entire app to fix what is, ultimately, a matter of > preference and expectation rather than actual program functionality. > > And as Adrien noted, the of behavior of this field is documented in > numerous places, such that a person who needed to understand this could go > to a written document and read about both the behavior and how to work > within its limitations. > > Having listened to this very discussion annually on the lists for nearly > 20 years, I'm ready for people to learn to accept this. That, or write new > code to remove the behavior that everyone loves to complain about. > > David T. > > On March 12, 2026 2:00:08 AM GMT+05:30, Ken Pyzik <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > >Sorry -- I don't mean to be a contrarian here - but having worked with > spreadsheets for over 35 years, the columns do NOT act/respond like Libre > Office and Excel. Yes, they do move by handling the right side - BUT they > do not work like Excel or Calc . > > > >For example, if you move the description column at the title bar and try > to "make it smaller" it refuses and snaps back to the original length. > THIS IS NOT spreadsheet behavior. If I wanted to make the description > field only 5 spaces - it is NOT allowed. Again - this is not spreadsheet > behavior. Spreadsheet behavior would allow me to make the size of the > column ANYTHING I want even if i had 100 characters in there - it would > allow me to make it only 5 characters and wrap the text. GNUCASH DOES NOT > DO THIS. > > > >Then if you attempt to move other columns, the space it some how > allocated to the description field as well. There seems to be some spastic > proportional spacing going on - and this is DEFINITELY not spreadsheet > behavior. > > > >So please - you can say justify it anyway you want and you can say you > are OK with this odd behavior - but it is NOT spreadsheet behavior. I > have learned to live with it. I still really enjoy and use the product. > But please everyone, stop saying it is spreadsheet behavior. It is not. > > > >Ken > > > > > > > > > >------ Original Message ------ > >From "Adrien Monteleone" <[email protected]> > >To [email protected] > >Date 3/11/2026 1:03:29 PM > >Subject Re: [GNC] How to widen the 'Account' column when entering > transactions > > > >> And Number for MacOS and LibreOffice Calc. (I don't have Excel handy to > test) > >> > >> All of those apps size a column by dragging its right-handle border in > the header. If you think you are sizing by dragging the left-handle, notice > instead, the column to the right does not resize, but moves, as the column > to the left shrinks or grows. > >> > >> I'm not sure why folks think it would work any other way. > >> > >> Regards, > >> Adrien > >> > >> On 3/11/26 2:59 PM, Adrien Monteleone wrote: > >>> The Gnumeric spreadsheet app does as well. (which is where the code > came from if I'm not mistaken.) > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> 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. > -- David Carlson _______________________________________________ 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. 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