diff --git a/programs/cleos/main.cpp b/programs/cleos/main.cpp
index 5ab286cf86a..bfceb4b40cc 100644
--- a/programs/cleos/main.cpp
+++ b/programs/cleos/main.cpp
@@ -1309,13 +1309,49 @@ struct get_transaction_id_subcommand {
 
       get_transaction_id->set_callback([&] {
          try {
-            auto trx_var = json_from_file_or_string(trx_to_check);
-            auto trx = trx_var.as<transaction>();
-            transaction_id_type id = trx.id();
-            if( id == transaction().id() ) {
-               std::cerr << "file/string does not represent a transaction" << std::endl;
+            fc::variant trx_var = json_from_file_or_string(trx_to_check);
+            if( trx_var.is_object() ) {
+               fc::variant_object& vo = trx_var.get_object();
+               // if actions.data & actions.hex_data provided, use the hex_data since only currently support unexploded data
+               if( vo.contains("actions") ) {
+                  if( vo["actions"].is_array() ) {
+                     fc::mutable_variant_object mvo = vo;
+                     fc::variants& action_variants = mvo["actions"].get_array();
+                     for( auto& action_v : action_variants ) {
+                        if( !action_v.is_object() ) {
+                           std::cerr << "Empty 'action' in transaction" << endl;
+                           return;
+                        }
+                        fc::variant_object& action_vo = action_v.get_object();
+                        if( action_vo.contains( "data" ) && action_vo.contains( "hex_data" ) ) {
+                           fc::mutable_variant_object maction_vo = action_vo;
+                           maction_vo["data"] = maction_vo["hex_data"];
+                           action_vo = maction_vo;
+                           vo = mvo;
+                        } else if( action_vo.contains( "data" ) ) {
+                           if( !action_vo["data"].is_string() ) {
+                              std::cerr << "get transaction_id only supports un-exploded 'data' (hex form)" << std::endl;
+                              return;
+                           }
+                        }
+                     }
+                  } else {
+                     std::cerr << "transaction json 'actions' is not an array" << std::endl;
+                     return;
+                  }
+               } else {
+                  std::cerr << "transaction json does not include 'actions'" << std::endl;
+                  return;
+               }
+               auto trx = trx_var.as<transaction>();
+               transaction_id_type id = trx.id();
+               if( id == transaction().id() ) {
+                  std::cerr << "file/string does not represent a transaction" << std::endl;
+               } else {
+                  std::cout << string( id ) << std::endl;
+               }
             } else {
-               std::cout << string( id ) << std::endl;
+               std::cerr << "file/string does not represent a transaction" << std::endl;
             }
          } EOS_RETHROW_EXCEPTIONS(transaction_type_exception, "Fail to parse transaction JSON '${data}'", ("data",trx_to_check))
       });