Setting up Gnucash for the first time

[Reinke Bonte]

This is valuable information, because obviously a developer would not
stumble over this file dialogue that he has been using for years.

Maybe it would be a good idea, if you could report this as a bug or a
feature request on bugzilla (http://bugzilla.gnome.org). Then you can
make sure that your idea finds its way into a coming version of gnucash.
If this doesn't get reported to bugzilla, the readers of this message
may soon forget about it.

If I remember correctly, there is already something filed regarding
creating directories, maybe you can find it in the gnucash bugzilla
database and add your comments there, if it relates to your experience.
If you can't find it just a file a new bug, but it might get resolved
faster, when you add your comments in the context of very similar bug.

Thank you in advance for your contribution.


Reinke




On Mon, 9 Dec 2002 19:38:22 -0600
Don Miles <dmiles@austin.rr.com> wrote:

> Hello:
> 
> I am a new user of Gnucash and have found it to be a very good piece
> of free software.  I have also used this mailing list to resolve one 
> problem already, and as a source of generally useful information.  
> However, the frustrations expressed by a (would-be) user in a recent 
> thread led me to reflect on my initial experiences with Gnucash.
> 
> I went through the setup steps without difficulty and established a
> set of accounts.  I then clicked on the "X" in the upper right corner
> of the Gnucash window to close it.  I next saw the box informing me
> that changes had been made, and did I want to save them.  I clicked
> "yes" and got somewhat lost at that point.  When the file window
> appears, what is needed is to enter the name of a file in the box at
> the bottom of the window.
> 
> I cannot explain why this last point was not intuitively clear to me. 
> I guess I was thinking that Gnucash would obviously be saving multiple
> 
> files, so it must be asking for the name of a directory to save them 
> in.  Also, if I specify a file in my home directory, then Gnucash will
> 
> commingle its files with those in my home directory, resulting in
> great file management confusion.  Whatever, I selected the create
> directory button, created a new directory and closed the file save
> window.  Gnucash informed me that an error had occurred, and when I
> restarted it, all my newly created accounts were gone.  I had
> specified a directory, not a file, for saving my new data, but Gnucash
> did not tell me that.
> 
> I think I did this twice before I was able to set everything up 
> properly.  I would not consider myself a novice computer user, and I 
> can't help but wonder how many other potential new users have stumbled
> 
> over this same step.  Or maybe I'm just a dumbass?  Can anyone else 
> relate to this experience?
> 
> At any rate, I assume my experience is not unique and not due 
> exclusively to low mental acuity. I recall that when I installed 
> Staroffice, early on, the installation dialogue presented a default 
> directory name for installing the Staroffice files, with an option to 
> change the name if desired, and another to create the directory if it 
> did not already exist.
> 
> It seems this might be a good procedure for Gnucash to adopt for its 
> setup routine.  A set of standard file names would obviate the need
> for a user to specify a file name and insure the Gnucash files are 
> segregated into their own directory for good file management..  The
> new user would begin with a more positive experience in using Gnucash
> for the first time, which could lead to more word-of-mouth
> recommendations and more new users.  Are there any obvious reasons why
> this could not or should not be done?
> 
> TIA,
> 
> Don Miles
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> gnucash-user mailing list
> gnucash-user@lists.gnucash.org
> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user


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