Electrum and address management

[Hatthat]

Hello, Bitcointalk I have two questions and sorry if anwers already exist on some thread, but I haven't found it.

1. How to import private key to a wallet that created by seed. Sweep is unsituable if you want to use vanity address. I found the way is just create new separate wallet by importing keys.

2. Will addresses from "used" category be deleted ever by Electrum? I don't want to lose them.

[shorena]

Hello, Bitcointalk I have two questions and sorry if anwers already exist on some thread, but I haven't found it.

1. How to import private key to a wallet that created by seed. Sweep is unsituable if you want to use vanity address. I found the way is just create new separate wallet by importing keys.

You cant. It was possible in electrum 1.x, but removed in 2.x, because people lost coins AFAIK. The seed can not cover addresses that are not generated by it. You can import the private key for the vanity address into a specific wallet however. That way its really obvious that its not covered by the seed and you need to keep a separate backup.

2. Will addresses from "used" category be deleted ever by Electrum? I don't want to lose them.

No, its just to encourage you to use new addresses, because its best practice to do so.

[Hatthat]

Thanks for reply!

And, it is imposible to manage addresses you send coins from, rigth?

[shorena]

Thanks for reply!

And, it is imposible to manage addresses you send coins from, rigth?

Well there are no "from addresses" even though blockchain explorers show it like that, but no electrum does not allow you to select which inputs (coins you received previously) to use.

[dan91]

Thanks for reply!

And, it is imposible to manage addresses you send coins from, rigth?

Well there are no "from addresses" even though blockchain explorers show it like that, but no electrum does not allow you to select which inputs (coins you received previously) to use.

There is a way but its a bit drawn out.. You need to go to the address' tab and right click "freeze" the address' you dont want to spend. When you then send a tx it will send it from the amount that isnt frozen.

[shorena]

Thanks for reply!

And, it is imposible to manage addresses you send coins from, rigth?

Well there are no "from addresses" even though blockchain explorers show it like that, but no electrum does not allow you to select which inputs (coins you received previously) to use.

There is a way but its a bit drawn out.. You need to go to the address' tab and right click "freeze" the address' you dont want to spend. When you then send a tx it will send it from the amount that isnt frozen.

Interesting I didnt think about that, I only though about creating a unsigned TX by hand and importing it like you would form an offline wallet, but that would be overly complicated.

[Hatthat]

There is a way but its a bit drawn out.. You need to go to the address' tab and right click "freeze" the address' you dont want to spend. When you then send a tx it will send it from the amount that isnt frozen.

Thanks! I will try it. But it can take much time if you have many addresses and you have to make transaction often.

Interesting I didnt think about that, I only though about creating a unsigned TX by hand and importing it like you would form an offline wallet, but that would be overly complicated.

I have read about BTC since your post "there are no "from addresses" even though blockchain explorers show it like that." And I understood that how it wokrs. Can you suggest a program or method to easily create transaction "by hand". Or link me to some informative place.

[Abdussamad]

1. How to import private key to a wallet that created by seed. Sweep is unsituable if you want to use vanity address. I found the way is just create new separate wallet by importing keys.

Creating a separate wallet is the only way

2. Will addresses from "used" category be deleted ever by Electrum? I don't want to lose them.

No addresses don't expire and they are never deleted.

Thanks for reply!

And, it is imposible to manage addresses you send coins from, rigth?

This is called coin control and electrum has had this option for a long time now. On the addresses tab select the addresses you want to spend from. On PCs you can select multiple addresses by holding down the ctrl key when clicking on an address. Then right click and choose "Send from". There is no need to freeze addresses.

[shorena]

-snip-
This is called coin control and electrum has had this option for a long time now. On the addresses tab select the addresses you want to spend from. On PCs you can select multiple addresses by holding down the ctrl key when clicking on an address. Then right click and choose "Send from". There is no need to freeze addresses.

Brilliant, thanks. From what you write it sounds like its limited to address though and would not work with individual inputs, correct?

-snip-
I have read about BTC since your post "there are no "from addresses" even though blockchain explorers show it like that." And I understood that how it wokrs. Can you suggest a program or method to easily create transaction "by hand". Or link me to some informative place.

Very detailed information can be found here[1] and here[2], if you want to play around with TX created by hand I suggest bitcoin core. You dont have to fully sync it for this. Just use regtest or testnet (significantly small than mainnet). That is recommended anyway, because you dont have to risk any actual bitcoin. If you need testnet coins, just send me a PM with a testnet address and I will send you a few to play with. A QR code would be even better so I dont have to type the address

Electrum uses .txn files to import signed/unsigned transactions its mainly a wrapper around a raw TX though. You probably know the small window electrum open for transactions where you click "sign" and "broadcast" to actually send it. You can also click on "save" to create these .txn and get familiar with the format. Once you know how you create a raw TX with core and how electrum handles .txn file you should be able to do select individual inputs and not just addresses, but as I said above its overly complicated for the little amount of control you gain over the method Abdussamad mentioned.

[1] https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-reference#createrawtransaction
[2] https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-examples#transaction-tutorial

[Hatthat]

This is called coin control and electrum has had this option for a long time now. On the addresses tab select the addresses you want to spend from. On PCs you can select multiple addresses by holding down the ctrl key when clicking on an address. Then right click and choose "Send from". There is no need to freeze addresses.

Thank you! This is what I need.

Very detailed information can be found here[1] and here[2], if you want to play around with TX created by hand I suggest bitcoin core. You dont have to fully sync it for this. Just use regtest or testnet (significantly small than mainnet). That is recommended anyway, because you dont have to risk any actual bitcoin. If you need testnet coins, just send me a PM with a testnet address and I will send you a few to play with. A QR code would be even better so I dont have to type the address

Electrum uses .txn files to import signed/unsigned transactions its mainly a wrapper around a raw TX though. You probably know the small window electrum open for transactions where you click "sign" and "broadcast" to actually send it. You can also click on "save" to create these .txn and get familiar with the format. Once you know how you create a raw TX with core and how electrum handles .txn file you should be able to do select individual inputs and not just addresses, but as I said above its overly complicated for the little amount of control you gain over the method Abdussamad mentioned.

[1] https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-reference#createrawtransaction
[2] https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-examples#transaction-tutorial

Thanks for information and links! I had no idea about testnet and I am going to find out in this.
P.S. Your node (http://213.165.91.169/) is nice thing

[Quickseller]

Brilliant, thanks. From what you write it sounds like its limited to address though and would not work with individual inputs, correct?

This is not correct.

If you have 3 transactions sent to a particular address, and you want to spend a very particular input, then you right click on the address that you want to send "from", click on 'send from', electrum will take you to the "send" tab, right click on the input that you do not wish to spend and click remove, and repeat as necessary (note: you can select multiple inputs to remove at one time if you wish).

One thing to note is that electrum will not spend inputs that it is not necessary to spend. For example, 18JqsJ9g4ybvxRHCLZAMgK1oUNGTon7g45 currently has two inputs, both of .9 btc....if I wanted to send .3 to address 1shorena... then electrum would create a transaction that spends one of the .9 btc inputs and sends .3 to 1shorena... and .6 to a change address (assuming 0 tx fee is paid). If I wanted to spend both inputs "in" the above address while sending .3 to 1shorena.., then I could create a transaction that sends .3 to 1shorena... and 1.5 to another address in my electrum wallet.

[shorena]

Brilliant, thanks. From what you write it sounds like its limited to address though and would not work with individual inputs, correct?

This is not correct.

If you have 3 transactions sent to a particular address, and you want to spend a very particular input, then you right click on the address that you want to send "from", click on 'send from', electrum will take you to the "send" tab, right click on the input that you do not wish to spend and click remove, and repeat as necessary (note: you can select multiple inputs to remove at one time if you wish).

One thing to note is that electrum will not spend inputs that it is not necessary to spend. For example, 18JqsJ9g4ybvxRHCLZAMgK1oUNGTon7g45 currently has two inputs, both of .9 btc....if I wanted to send .3 to address 1shorena... then electrum would create a transaction that spends one of the .9 btc inputs and sends .3 to 1shorena... and .6 to a change address (assuming 0 tx fee is paid). If I wanted to spend both inputs "in" the above address while sending .3 to 1shorena.., then I could create a transaction that sends .3 to 1shorena... and 1.5 to another address in my electrum wallet.

Great, thanks. I will have a closer look at it the next time I have some funds on my electrum wallet.