address reuse within Electrum

[NeuroticFish]

Each time you create a new recieving address you automatically are allowed to use that to send to? How do I tell it which one I want to use to send if I have 5?

You can at any time send from any or all addresses you have funds into.
You can choose the sources using "spend from" (for addresses) or coin control (for specific inputs, so even more specific). I use r-click/spend from, from addresses tab, which I recommend you make visible so you'll understand better what you are doing.
Even more, I recommend you play a little with Electrum on Testnet (so with free dummy coins) so you can see for yourself much better and then come with more specific questions.

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[Faisal2202]

Each time you create a new recieving address you automatically are allowed to use that to send to? How do I tell it which one I want to use to send if I have 5?

For example, if you have the option of five receiving addresses, it means you can send funds to these five addresses. Why would you need five different sending addresses while the five receiving addresses are acting as sending addresses too? I hope you understand my point now or not. If you want to send funds to another wallet that has five different receiving wallets, you have the option to use those five receipt (deposit) addresses to send funds, which means you have the option to choose from five sending addresses indirectly.

Can that be done?

Yeah, but why would you do that? It will cost a huge fee as the network is already very congested.

[bitcoin talk]

You can at any time send from any or all addresses you have funds into.
You can choose the sources using "spend from" (for addresses) or coin control (for specific inputs, so even more specific). I use r-click/spend from, from addresses tab, which I recommend you make visible so you'll understand better what you are doing.
Even more, I recommend you play a little with Electrum on Testnet (so with free dummy coins) so you can see for yourself much better and then come with more specific questions.

For example, if you have the option of five receiving addresses, it means you can send funds to these five addresses. Why would you need five different sending addresses while the five receiving addresses are acting as sending addresses too? I hope you understand my point now or not. If you want to send funds to another wallet that has five different receiving wallets, you have the option to use those five receipt (deposit) addresses to send funds, which means you have the option to choose from five sending addresses indirectly.

Under the tab named 'addresses' I see something like this many times over some with zero balances:
Type                     Address                         Label           Balance           Tx                  
receiving          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                            .0008000           1
change            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                             0.000536          1

You can only use the 'Spend From' under the Addresses tab of Electrum if you have money in it's balance. Right click on mouse to get 'Spend From'.
I see many more addresses with nothing in them under the addresses tab in Electrum, these don't offer you the option 'Spend From' when you right click them with mouse, the only ones that did were had money in them.
I see some 2's under Tx, I am not sure what that means.
I am not sure what it means by 'Type change'.
I see that this is highlighted in green 'coin control active" and a reset button. How do I reverse what I just did?

To get more addresses to send from you would need to receive more first i.e. click the generate 'New Address' button then go to tab called Addresses and right click and scroll down to Spend From, select that, and now you have a new address to send btc to others. How much privacy does this give you?

[khaled0111]

Under the tab named 'addresses' I see something like this many times over some with zero balances:
Type                     Address                         Label           Balance           Tx                  
receiving          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                            .0008000           1
change            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                             0.000536          1
...
I see many more addresses with nothing in them under the addresses tab in Electrum, these don't offer you the option 'Spend From' when you right click them with mouse, the only ones that did were had money in them.

That's totally normal. You can't spend from an empty address that's why the "Spend from" option does not appear when you right click on it. You can only spend from a loaded address(es).
 

I see some 2's under Tx, I am not sure what that means.

The number under the TX tab is how many times that address has received/spent coins.

I am not sure what it means by 'Type change'.

There are two types: receiving and change. A receiving address is the one you are supposed to use to receive coins. A change address is the one to which the change will be sent. Let's suppose you have 1btc and you want to send 0.5btc to a friend. Electrum, by default, will send the 0.5btc to your friend's address and send the remaining amount (the change) to your change address.

I see that this is highlighted in green 'coin control active" and a reset button. How do I reverse what I just did?

Just click on the reset button.

[bitcoin talk]

Under the tab named 'addresses' I see something like this many times over some with zero balances:
Type                     Address                         Label           Balance           Tx                  
receiving          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                            .0008000           1
change            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                             0.000536          1
...
I see many more addresses with nothing in them under the addresses tab in Electrum, these don't offer you the option 'Spend From' when you right click them with mouse, the only ones that did were had money in them.

That's totally normal. You can't spend from an empty address that's why the "Spend from" option does not appear when you right click on it. You can only spend from a loaded address(es).

How do I create more loaded addresses so I can have a vast variety to send/spend from?

[nc50lc]

To get more addresses to send from you would need to receive more first i.e. click the generate 'New Address' button then go to tab called Addresses and right click and scroll down to Spend From, select that, and now you have a new address to send btc to others. How much privacy does this give you?

How do I create more loaded addresses so I can have a vast variety to send/spend from?

Create new addresses and receive bitcoins to each of them.
"Loaded address" aren't created and your balance aren't distributed among your addresses in your wallet;
Your loaded addresses are the ones that already received bitcoins.

To understand the (missed) explanations in the first page, you should refer to your 'Coins' tab (View->Show Coins) instead of 'Address' tab because
it represents "unspent transaction outputs" which are the outputs of the transactions that you've received, each are specifically tied to the address that is derived from it.
Those are what you're spending.
Given that, if your "address" haven't received bitcoins yet, it cannot be used for sending.

If you want more UTXO to spend, you can use "Send tab->Settings icon->Pay to many" (instructions) and "coin control" to send a large UTXO from your coins tab to multiple addresses of your wallet.
That'll create more small UTXO from your larger UTXO but I can't see how you'll benefit with that in terms of privacy since it'll be visible in the blockchain like any other transaction.

[bitcoin talk]

Create new addresses and receive bitcoins to each of them.
"Loaded address" aren't created

then how did they get there?

and your balance aren't distributed among your addresses in your wallet;
Your loaded addresses are the ones that already received bitcoins.

To understand the (missed) explanations in the first page, you should refer to your 'Coins' tab (View->Show Coins) instead of 'Address' tab because
it represents "unspent transaction outputs" which are the outputs of the transactions that you've received, each are specifically tied to the address that is derived from it.
Those are what you're spending.

I see 4 under send tab>Outgoing payments
3 have credit
1 is unpaid because I decided not to use that, should I delete that?

Given that, if your "address" haven't received bitcoins yet, it cannot be used for sending.

Under addresses tab,
I see 2 there in credit,
of those one is green (recieving) the other a different color (change).
Note under under send tab there are 3 in credit. Not sure why one has 2 and the other 3.

If you want more UTXO to spend, you can use "Send tab->Settings icon->Pay to many" (instructions) and "coin control" to send a large UTXO from your coins tab to multiple addresses of your wallet.
That'll create more small UTXO from your larger UTXO but I can't see how you'll benefit with that in terms of privacy since it'll be visible in the blockchain like any other transaction.

[nc50lc]

I see 4 under send tab>Outgoing payments
3 have credit
1 is unpaid because I decided not to use that, should I delete that?

The invoices in the send tab aren't remotely important in terms of coin management.
Those are merely "reminders" and mostly used for transaction/address labeling and description.
If unpaid, there is no UTXO reserved to it, the input will be selected by the wallet once you create the transaction (after using "Right-click->Pay...")

So delete it if you do not need to see a reminder that you haven't sent a transaction before.

Under addresses tab,
I see 2 there in credit,
of those one is green (recieving) the other a different color (change).

Create new addresses and receive bitcoins to each of them.
"Loaded address" aren't created

then how did they get there?

Each of the transactions that you received counts as one.
Also when you send, if there's an excess amount from the input used, it'll be sent to one of your unused 'change address',
thus funded a change address that haven't used to receive bitcoin but technically it's funded via that send transaction as another output.

Note under under send tab there are 3 in credit. Not sure why one has 2 and the other 3.

If the transaction has no change (input's amount is enough for the output and fee), it wont leave a coin to your change address.

[bitcoin talk]

Each of the transactions that you received counts as one.
Also when you send, if there's an excess amount from the input used, it'll be sent to one of your unused 'change address',
thus funded a change address that haven't used to receive bitcoin but technically it's funded via that send transaction as another output.

Your referring to the change address under the Addresses tab of Electrum?
Who created the change addresses? There's quite a few of them there already.

Note under under send tab there are 3 in credit. Not sure why one has 2 and the other 3.

If the transaction has no change (input's amount is enough for the output and fee), it wont leave a coin to your change address.
[/quote]By input you mean what?

Are you trying to say any excess money left over when I send/receive is sent to the change address column under the Addresses tab?
I still am not clear on how to go about create new addresses that I can send btc from within Electrum. Can this be done? i read everything it's not clear to me.

[nc50lc]

-snip-

Your referring to the change address under the Addresses tab of Electrum?
Who created the change addresses? There's quite a few of them there already.

Those are also derived from your seed but with "internal" derivation path, your receiving addresses are derived from "external".

I still am not clear on how to go about create new addresses that I can send btc from within Electrum. Can this be done? i read everything it's not clear to me.

It's not possible.
This is why learning about the "UTXO Model" is essential to understand it.

Your Electrum wallet's balance isn't saved in an account-like form.
It's just the total of the number of UTXO you have in the "Coins" tab, when sending, your wallet is selecting one or more from that list.
Each of those UTXO are tied to an address from your wallet that received bitcoins already, either via inbound transaction of as change of your previous transaction.
New addresses that haven't received bitcoins yet can't be used as sending address.

Are you trying to say any excess money left over when I send/receive is sent to the change address column under the Addresses tab?

Yes, you UTXO should be spent whole since it's not an account, but like a whole $20 Bill; if you pay $15 and used that $20 bill, you'll get a $5 change (in Bitcoin, minus the fee).

[bitcoin talk]

Your Electrum wallet's balance isn't saved in an account-like form.
It's just the total of the number of UTXO you have in the "Coins" tab, when sending, your wallet is selecting one or more from that list.

I can see 2 addresses under Coin tab of Electrum wallet, which means I can send from only those 2, how do I create more to send from under Coin tab?

New addresses that haven't received bitcoins yet can't be used as sending address.

If I receive then that would create the new send address under Coin tab of Electrum wallet?

How do I find out how may utxo I have in electrum?
Ideally how many UTXO's should you have at any one point in time in your Electrum wallet?
Is consolidating UTXO's always a good idea?
What's the difference between transferring and sending when it comes to UTXo's fees?
What is meant by UTXO  transactions are deterministic?
How do you find out when fees are low when it comes to consolidating?







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[nc50lc]

Most of the questions are already covered by the previous replies.

I can see 2 addresses under Coin tab of Electrum wallet, which means I can send from only those 2,  -snip-

You can send from only those 2

Ideally how many UTXO's should you have at any one point in time in your Electrum wallet?
Is consolidating UTXO's always a good idea?

There's no ideal number since it depends on the wallet's use-case, but preferably, I'd go for lower number of coins but with high amount each so consolidation wont be necessary.
That way, Electrum wont have to use two or more UTXO when sending a transaction with high amount.

In case you received a lot transactions with small amounts like 10's of 0.00001BTC each,
all those 10 UTXO will be spent together as inputs if you want to send 0.000091BTC, each input increases the transaction's size significantly.
The higher the transaction's size, the higher the fee will be.

How do you find out when fees are low when it comes to consolidating?

Electrum has a fee estimation algorithm; "mempool" (based from mempool size) or "ETA" (default, based on Bitcoin Core's) slider.
Select mempool and slide down near the cheapest, it'll show that it's high when... it's high, low if it's low.

What's the difference between transferring and sending when it comes to UTXo's fees?
What is meant by UTXO  transactions are deterministic?

I don't know either, is there any difference in "transferring" and "sending"?
I have no idea what you're talking about, perhaps you're mixing-up the earlier replies about "HD wallet" and UTXO.
Please consider reading the articles in this website: learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/

[bitcoin talk]

You can send from only those 2 (addresses)

How do I get more there, I want to increase from 2 to as many as possible so how do I do that? Why just 2?

Electrum has a fee estimation algorithm; "mempool" (based from mempool size) or "ETA" (default, based on Bitcoin Core's) slider.
Select mempool and slide down near the cheapest, it'll show that it's high when... it's high, low if it's low.

I don't see a mempool, which tab is it under in Electrum? I don't see under send tab. Is mempool available on all operating systems so long as you have electrum?

[nc50lc]

Electrum has a fee estimation algorithm; "mempool" (based from mempool size) or "ETA" (default, based on Bitcoin Core's) slider.
Select mempool and slide down near the cheapest, it'll show that it's high when... it's high, low if it's low.

I don't see a mempool, which tab is it under in Electrum? I don't see under send tab. Is mempool available on all operating systems so long as you have electrum?

It's available in all OS.

Since "ETA" is the default, you should've seen it when setting the fee rate, no?
The fee slider will appear once you clicked "Pay", if you see ETA, click on it and you'll see the other two options, mempool and static.

[bitcoin talk]

Since "ETA" is the default, you should've seen it when setting the fee rate, no?
The fee slider will appear once you clicked "Pay", if you see ETA, click on it and you'll see the other two options, mempool and static.

I don't have anyone to pay at the moment so that explains why I didn't see it

[hosseinimr93]

You can send from only those 2 (addresses)

How do I get more there, I want to increase from 2 to as many as possible so how do I do that? Why just 2?

Coins tab displays your coins and the address associated with each of them. The coins you own are associated with two of your addresses and all addresses are empty. That's why you see two address in Coins tab.
Once a new address of your wallet receives fund, you will see the third address in coins tab.

[nc50lc]

You can send from only those 2

How do I get more there, I want to increase from 2 to as many as possible so how do I do that? Why just 2?

Coins tab displays your coins and the address associated with each of them. The coins you own are associated with two of your addresses and all addresses are empty. That's why you see two address in Coins tab.
Once a new address of your wallet receives fund, you will see the third address in coins tab.

I don't know why OP is asking the same question that's been answered multiple times already so I left that question in his last reply.
Or maybe he just missed the previous replies starting from page 1 because of limited free time.

I even gave him an absurd option to increase his available UTXO which is to use pay-to-many, with a note.

@OP The best advice that I can give you is to learn how Bitcoin works (already gave a resource) before asking about how to create more UTXO for privacy purposes (no address reuse).
Because this has been an XY problem where the solution that you're looking for isn't actually helping your original goal.

If you do not have time for research, the solution is: just do not use any of your previously used address to receive bitcoins
and Electrum's coin selection algorithm should select the UTXO(s) that best preserves your privacy, e.g.: use only 1 input as much as possible.
BTW, you don't have any privacy to the server where you're connected to anyways.

[bitcoin talk]

[Once a new address of your wallet receives fund, you will see the third address in coins tab.

And once sent from that third address the other party receiving the funds will see that third address as having sent it?

[Z-tight]

And once sent from that third address the other party receiving the funds will see that third address as having sent it?

I don't totally understand what you are asking here, but if you send BTC, the recipient will surely see the address or addresses that were used as input in the transaction, take note that the BTC blockchain is public and transparent, so info about every tx made can be found on the blockchain. However, if you want to hide your address from the recipient in the tx, you can use a mixer, deposit the funds into a mixer and use the recipients address as your receiving address.

[OcTradism]

And once sent from that third address the other party receiving the funds will see that third address as having sent it?

When you send your coins, you will have to use UTXOs for sending.

There are two possibilities.

If you are sending all coins in UTXOs of one public address, the receiver will see only that address.

If you are sending your coins from UTXOs which belong to different public addresses like 2 or 3 or more, the receiver will see all of those addresses.

Read more there
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/outputs
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/utxo