Bitcoin Forum

Can I import watching-only address to Electrum wallet? Something like 'importpubkey'? I know I can create separate wallet for public addresses, but it is more practical to have one balance of all wallets and addresses I have in one place (wallet).  

I found this (https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/225) issue with solution, but I think that method is not longer working since wallet file format changed. At least I could not get Electrum read my custom wallet file.

please see the FAQ http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-import-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

ThomasV,
Is this you are pointing to? I do not want to import private keys and do not want to use separate watching-only wallet. I want to import public addresses to standard electrum wallet so I can see the whole balance and transactions relating to them . So I suppose your answer is "No, it is not possible"?  :-\

File -> New/Restore -> Restore a wallet or import keys & Standard wallet -> enter addresses instead of seed or private keys.

I think the OP wanted to mix a seeded wallet with watch only addresses which would appear to be not possible in accordance with the FAQ (so he would need to create two separate wallets).

Now that Bitcoin supports "pruning" (with a wallet) perhaps the OP should consider using Bitcoin Core instead of Electrum (that should let you create a mixed wallet although you would lose the ability to restore from a seed so you'd have to import all the private keys into a new Bitcoin Core wallet and then be sure to create regular backups of that wallet).

Exactly. That would be nice feature if it is not possible now. Removing importing of private keys is understandable due to possible losses when recovering from seed (and anyway it should be possible fmpov). In case of imported watch-only addresses you are only could lose those watch-only addresses, no big deal.
As I remember import of watch-only addresses is in core since some 0.10.x release. My critical requirement now is my own one private remote full node, I want to stop wasting my space, RAM and CPU on all my laptops and desktops. As I know Electrum is the only solution, if you know alternative please let me know.

If you use the pruning you can limit the disk space to about 2 GB (depending upon how many active keys you have of course).

Prior to 0.12 you couldn't use pruning with a wallet but since 0.12 this is now possible but of course even though it doesn't need to keep the entire blockchain it will still need to have processed it all (so it might take a few days to set it up).

I am fairly certain that having watch-only addresses in a wallet with 0.12 should work fine provided that you create them prior to pruning (so best to do that before you even begin syncing).

Unfortunately I don't think it will support adding further watch-only addresses currently (although that should be permitted if you are not requiring a re-scan).

CIYAM, one of the reasons why I want to have and use full node - to avoid all possible (and a few impossible ;) ) limitations all other options could provide.

I don't think there is a "perfect" solution to what you are wanting so basically it just comes down to the trade-off between the amount of disk space and bandwidth you are willing to sacrifice for a full node.