Export Transaction file from mobile Android Electrum watch-only wallet

[Bestcoin-fan]

Does anybody know, how to export (for signing offline in my PC's Electrum Cold Storage wallet) a transaction file from my mobile Android Electrum watch-only wallet??
Thank you!

[TryNinja]

AFAIK, you can't export it as a file. The easiest way would be to have a webcam, so you can scan the Raw Transaction QR code and sign it on your computer.

[Bestcoin-fan]

AFAIK, you can't export it as a file. The easiest way would be to have a webcam, so you can scan the Raw Transaction QR code and sign it on your computer.

Thank you for your answer.
My situation is this: on a website (on my desktop PC) I get the QR code for the transaction. I want to scan it with my mobile phone's Android Electrum watch-only wallet , and then pass it to my always Electrum Cold Storage wallet for signing ,and then passing it back for broadcasting.
I cannot scan the QR code directly from my PC and pass it to my watch-only wallet in a way other than with a file

[TryNinja]

AFAIK, you can't export it as a file. The easiest way would be to have a webcam, so you can scan the Raw Transaction QR code and sign it on your computer.

Thank you for your answer.
My situation is this: on a website (on my desktop PC) I get the QR code for the transaction. I want to scan it with my mobile phone's Android Electrum watch-only wallet , and then pass it to my always Electrum Cold Storage wallet for signing ,and then passing it back for broadcasting.
I cannot scan the QR code directly from my PC and pass it to my watch-only wallet in a way other than with a file

Like I said, it's not possible. If you notice, there is only a button to show a QR code of the raw transaction after you press the "Send" button. There is no option to export it as a txt file.

It's not the best solution, but what you could do is press to show the QR code, take a screenshot of your phone screen and upload the image somewhere. Then, use a decoder to get the raw transaction data from the QR code image. Other than that, I don't see any other solution.

[Bestcoin-fan]

You know, in the Android Electrum Send tab there is a button (diskette) which is a Save transaction button indeed, I think.
When I press it Electrum says 'invoice saved'. But where is it saved , no idea.
I  thought it was a sort of the Desktop's Export button (which can be used to save and pass transactions from Desktop watch-only wallets.
Well , actually I see there's NO clear and simple way to use Android Electrum watch-only wallet. Now I have to copy-paste BTC address , amount from destination to my Desktop's watch-only wallet. Instead of using an instant and so pleasant scanning QR code method

[TryNinja]

You know, in the Android Electrum Send tab there is a button (diskette) which is a Save transaction button indeed, I think.
When I press it Electrum says 'invoice saved'. But where is it saved , no idea.
I  thought it was a sort of the Desktop's Export button (which can be used to save and pass transactions from Desktop watch-only wallets.

It's not. When you save an invoice, they are stored on the "Invoices" page so you can send them later. When you click on the invoice you want to complete, it will fill the amount and address fields so you can send it. That's all. You can test yourself by checking the "Invoices" button right next to the "Save" button. Like I said, (AFAIK) there isn't any way of exporting the transaction to a file.

[Bestcoin-fan]

TryNinja, you are right of course.
I just hope one of the excellent , wise and smart Electrum's developers (Thomas Voegtlin, Maran Hidskes, Michael Wozniak or EagleTM) visit this topic and implement this very very useful , a "must-have" feature!
TryNinja, thank you very much for your help and attention!

[HCP]

Based on my investigations... the "Save" option on the "Send" tab in Android Electrum (the little diskette icon), simply saves the "invoice" into your wallet file... It is not used like the "save" option in the desktop client for being able to export transactions for signing offline.

Code:

...
    "invoices": {
        "1dummyBitcoinAddress": {
            "hex": "22291xxxxxxxxxxxxx[redacted]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx6f6f2a00",
            "requestor": null,
            "txid": null
        }
    },
...

[Bestcoin-fan]

Based on my investigations... the "Save" option on the "Send" tab in Android Electrum (the little diskette icon), simply saves the "invoice" into your wallet file... It is not used like the "save" option in the desktop client for being able to export transactions for signing offline.

Code:

...
    "invoices": {
        "1dummyBitcoinAddress": {
            "hex": "22291xxxxxxxxxxxxx[redacted]xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx6f6f2a00",
            "requestor": null,
            "txid": null
        }
    },
...

Of course it is. Unlike the great Desktop version the very restricted Android Electrum wallet application does NOT have an Export button !    (Which personally I do use always for exporting unsigned transaction for signing offline

[HCP]

Yeah... the android version is a very cut down version. So, unfortunately, there are a lot of really useful features missing.

I guess the dev's never envisaged someone trying to use the Android version as the "watch-only" wallet for an offline Desktop version   It doesn't strike me as an overly complicated thing to achieve (exporting transactions), so maybe raise a ticket on their github and they might add it as an enhancement one day

[Bestcoin-fan]

Yeah... the android version is a very cut down version. So, unfortunately, there are a lot of really useful features missing.

I guess the dev's never envisaged someone trying to use the Android version as the "watch-only" wallet for an offline Desktop version   It doesn't strike me as an overly complicated thing to achieve (exporting transactions), so maybe raise a ticket on their github and they might add it as an enhancement one day

HCP,  you know, I think that is a very natural , self-evident, matter-of-course way if using the Android wallet version!

Look, on my online Desktop PC I want to send bitcoins to somewhere. They usually provide me with a QR Code which I would have just scanned with my Android watch-only wallet, export (save) the transaction file, and then signed it on my offline cold Storage notebook, then I'd again export it back to my Android (or PC's ) watch-only wallet for broadcasting.
That would be quick and fine!
I have never used the GitHub, yet maybe later I'll try to do waht you suggest

[bob123]

Look, on my online Desktop PC I want to send bitcoins to somewhere. They usually provide me with a QR Code which I would have just scanned with my Android watch-only wallet, export (save) the transaction file, and then signed it on my offline cold Storage notebook, then I'd again export it back to my Android (or PC's ) watch-only wallet for broadcasting.
That would be quick and fine!

Well, you can skip the mobile phone and it will be even faster.

1) Create unsigned transaction on your online PC and display the QR
2) Scan the QR code with your offline computer
3) Sign the transaction and display the QR
4) Scan the QR code with your online computer
5) Broadcast the transaction


But you could also (if you don't have webcams or don't want to use them) do this:

1) Create unsigned tx on your online PC and display the QR
2) Make a photo of the QR code with your mobile phone
3) Move the photo onto your offline PC
4) Use a QR code reader software on your offline PC to decode the data
5) Import the unsigned TX into electrum
6) Sign the transaction and display the QR
7) Do 2) - 5) with the signed tx from your offline pc -> online pc
8] Broadcast the TX


The second approach is more time consuming and requires a software to extract data from QR codes installed on your online AND offline PC.
I, personally, would choose the first option for dedicated offline storage.

[Bestcoin-fan]

Well, you can skip the mobile phone and it will be even faster.

1) Create unsigned transaction on your online PC and display the QR
2) Scan the QR code with your offline computer
3) Sign the transaction and display the QR
4) Scan the QR code with your online computer
5) Broadcast the transaction

But you could also (if you don't have webcams or don't want to use them) do this:

1) Create unsigned tx on your online PC and display the QR
2) Make a photo of the QR code with your mobile phone
3) Move the photo onto your offline PC
4) Use a QR code reader software on your offline PC to decode the data
5) Import the unsigned TX into electrum
6) Sign the transaction and display the QR
7) Do 2) - 5) with the signed tx from your offline pc -> online pc
8] Broadcast the TX


The second approach is more time consuming and requires a software to extract data from QR codes installed on your online AND offline PC.
I, personally, would choose the first option for dedicated offline storage.

Bob123, thank you very much for your interesting ideas!

You are right , I don't want to use my notebook's camera to scan QR codes from my PC. My PC screen is actually my smart TV hanging on the wall, it I would be extremely uncomfortable for me to scan anything from that screen with the Notebook.
So , I should use either your method 2 or my own method (copy-paste described above) . Both methods are complex and inconvenient