Locating transactions with the "Find Transactions" dialog


Table of Contents
Locating transactions with the "Find Transactions" dialog

Locating transactions with the "Find Transactions" dialog

Overview

The Find Transactions dialog allows you to search for transactions which match criteria that you specify, including:

  • Account(s) affected by the transaction,

  • Value of the transaction,

  • Date

  • Memo field

  • Transaction description

etc.

  • You may bring up the Find Transactions dialog by clicking on the "Find" button in the main GnuCash window or any register display window.

    The results of your search will be shown in a register display similar to the ones used to display your accounts, with the window title "Search Results".

    Clicking the "Find" button again within a Search Results register window allows you to add additional terms to the query whose results are displayed in that window.

    By combining multiple searches, you may construct rather sophisticated queries to display exactly the subset of your transactions that you want to see.

How to use the Find Transactions dialog

The Find Transactions dialog has two main parts.

  • The upper part of the dialog is a Notebook with tabs that allow you to specify the conditions of your search.

    See Setting up a search for details on each search type.

  • The lower part of the dialog is a selector which allows you to specify how the results of the search are to be combined with any previous search.

If you get the Find Transactions dialog by clicking the Find button in the main GnuCash window or any normal account display register, the only option available will be "New Search". If you select Find from within a Search Results register the other options will be available; see Modifying your search for details.

Most simple queries can be directly handled by a single invocation of the Find Transactions dialog. The dialog has nine tabs, each of which represents a particular field of the transaction (or split) that you can search on. If you specify conditions on multiple fields (for example, selecting one or more accounts in the Accounts tab and also entering a date range in the Date tab), a transaction must match all the conditions you specify in order to be displayed.

If simple searches are not specific enough, you can combine them by clicking the Find button in a search results window and selecting any "Type of Search" except "New search".

Setting up a search

You can find transactions by any or all of the following criteria. Each one has a tab in the dialog where you may enter the match value(s) and comparison method.

  • Accounts affected by the transaction

  • Date the transaction took place

  • The string in the Description field

  • The string in the Number field

  • Amount of the transaction's splits

  • The string in the Memo field

  • Number of shares in a stock transaction

  • Share price in a stock transaction

  • The string in the Action field

If you specify multiple criteria in the search, all of the criteria must be true for the transaction to be displayed.

Account searches

In the Account tab, select any accounts of interest and then choose whether transactions affecting Any, All, or None of these accounts is to be displayed.

If you select "All" accounts from the picker at the top of the tab, the only transactions that will be show are those which affect all the selected accounts.

For example, if you select My Checking Account and My VISA Account and then choose All, only transfers from Checking to Visa will be shown.

If you select "Any" from the picker, transactions affecting any selected amount will be shown. For example, if you select "My Checking Account" and "My VISA Account" and then choose "Any", your entire checking account and your entire Visa account will be shown together in the Search Results window.

Date searches

In the Date tab, you can specify a date range for the transactions you wish to find. The year, month, and day fields are in the order you specify in Preferences:International:Date Format.

If you want to locate any transaction before a certain date, specify your date in the second date entry and put a distant date in the past in the first date entry. The default date is January 1, 1900, which should be distant enough for most peoples' purposes.

Similarly, if you want to find any transaction after a certain date, put the date in the first date entry and put a date after your last transaction in the second entry.

Amount searches

The searches in the Amount, Shares, and Price tabs allow you to search for particular quantities in various transaction fields. You need to enter both the amount (in the entry box) and the type of comparison (with the option menu to the left of the entry box). The amount in the entry box is always positive.

For the Amount tab, you need to indicate whether you are interested in debits, credits, or both.

String searches

In the Description, Number, Memo, and Action tabs, you can specify a string which is matched against the respective fields of splits and transactions.

  • By default, the match used is a case-insensitive substring match.

  • If you select the "Case sensitive" toggle button, the search is a case-sensitive substring match.

  • If the "Regular expression" button is selected, the match interprets the string you enter as a POSIX extended regular expression; case sensitivity is still determined by the "Case sensitive" button.

Modifying your search

Clicking the "Find" button within a Search Results window allows you to modify or replace the search criteria used within that window. The search functionality is the same, but you have new options for how to use the results of the search.

  • New Search. If you select "New Search", the current search will be replaced with the one you specify, and the results will be shown in the existing Search Results window.