Where does Gnucash Save itself when it closes

[Mary Ann Wallace]

Richard, I was asking myself this question this afternoon as I started 
to work with the new 2.6.6 after downloading it and installing it in 
place of an earlier version I had and discovered it was looking for a 
file to open in my external drive which at the time was not connected to 
the PC.

I am using Windows, so don't know if my response is relevant to what you 
are using, but other readers on this list may also be using Windows and 
asking themselves the same question.  I went through both the Help and 
Guide pdf's and think that a section on file directory locations, how to 
update the name for a more useful file name, and essential files to 
backup if you're not backing up the whole Gnucash directory with all its 
subdirectories - especially for Window PCs - in a future update would be 
welcomed by many of us.

If you do a simple "Save As" (not Save) while you are using the program, 
it may also open up and show you what the file's current name is.

1) When you open Gnucash, it will show you the name of the file on the 
top header in Windows.  My data file is 
gnuxmlaccounts.gnucash.20141103145723.gnucash. (screen shot attached)



2)  When you open a file, this is the screen that comes up showing the 
location of your data file.  My location was the external drive and the 
main folder was ACERXP\Backup\Wallace\My Documents\Gnucash\bin. (screen 
shot attached).  This, I believe, is what L.D. James was referring to 
when he said it was the same way LibreOffice and Microsoft Word work.  
The only shortcoming of this view is that it doesn't show the Drive 
(something I would like to suggest in a future update).  Personally, 
when I discovered that Gnucash was saving to my external drive, I really 
didn't want to keep all the files in that particular location for active 
use since it's a backup of another computer, and plan to investigate 
doing a "Save As" to another location where I have first copied the folders.



3) Finally, here is a screen shot of the BIN folder sorted by date so 
the relevant files appear on top.  Outlined in red is my data file, and 
I am assuming that this is THE critical file that contains everything I 
need should a disaster occur.  Again, I would welcome an addition to the 
Guide/Help pdfs that would enable non-programmers to know which files 
are essential.  If this is the only essential file that by using with a 
new downloaded copy of Gnucash on another computer would pick up where 
one left off, then I want to say that the developers of Gnucash have 
done a fantastic job.  As an accountant, my concern is knowing which 
files I need to backup as a safeguard against corruption or computer 
failure.



I hope that this helps make things a little clearer and that if I have 
misstated anything, that the Gnucash team will correct me.

Mary Ann

On 4/16/2015 6:00 PM, L. D. James wrote:
> On 04/16/2015 05:14 PM, Richard Barmann wrote:
>> I have been using Guncash since 2012 and now it cannot find the file 
>> when I open it up.
>> I am using version 6.5.2 in Xfce. It was doing all right up until a 
>> few days ago. I cannot find anything newer than 2014. all my 2015 
>> entries are unavailable. Is this a problem with Xfce? I am using it 
>> because Kubuntu version 15.04 would not open up . Any help is really 
>> appreciated. I have Quotes and Invoices in 2015 that I need to find.
>> Thank you.
>> Dick Barmann
>> -- You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot 
>> strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about 
>> prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up 
>> by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of 
>> man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage 
>> by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help 
>> people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do 
>> for themselves. .....Abraham Lincoln
>> _______________________________________________
>> gnucash-user mailing list
>> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>> -----
>> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
> The file is saved by the name of the file you are working with in the 
> directory where that file is located.  This is the same way 
> Libreoffice and Microsoft Word saves the files that you are working with.
>
> Gnucash's file extension is "*.gnucash".
>
> You can execute this command from the command prompt and search for 
> all the *.gnucash files on your system:
>
> locate -r ".gnucash$"
>
> This will give you the name and location of all the files that has the 
> *.gnucash extension.
>
> -- L. James
>

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: DataFileAccountGnucash4-16-2015 5-51-40 PM.png
Type: image/png
Size: 23914 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/attachments/20150416/6942bd21/attachment-0003.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: FileOpen4-16-2015 6-12-58 PM.png
Type: image/png
Size: 53911 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/attachments/20150416/6942bd21/attachment-0004.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: FileDirectoryGnucash4-16-2015 9-40-34 PM.png
Type: image/png
Size: 31473 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/attachments/20150416/6942bd21/attachment-0005.png>