separating data files from backup files

[John Ralls]

On Oct 25, 2011, at 10:57 AM, suk wah bernstein wrote:

> after entering a transaction should i hit 'save' or 'enter'? am i wrong to guess that hitting 'save' will create yet another log/back up file? i have been hitting 'save' and i see this long, long list of back up files growing in the folder Suk Wah that has other files in it.
> 
> i am just a regular, simple user who wants to keep financial affairs in a clean, orderly way. i am not computer literate as i have noticed many of you are in the emails. can someone offer a step by step procedure for me to separate the data and qif files from the back up and log files, including naming, re-naming, moving. i guess what happened was i renamed the folders, dragged the folders in a way that confused gnucash. probably the datafiles are somewhere. i just don't know how to find them. hard to believe that just by renaming a folder and moving some folders to a new one would wipe out data.
> 
> it was relatively painless to reimport and redid one month of data. now that i have almost three months worth of data and recon efforts and a new account (health savings account) set up i really don't want to take a wrong turn and have to reimport again.
> 
> hey, by the way, this is a great user community. i have never been in one. i have been skeptical of the idea. my trusted cousin turns me onto gnucash. i am so grateful to him and to all of you. you are so great. 
> 
> thanks so much.

Suk Wah,

You sent that email to me directly, not to the list. Please remember to use "Reply All" when replying. (I've copied my reply to the list so that everyone else can see it.)

Gnucash has documentation, both a Manual and a Tutorial, which is included in the Gnucash bundle and accessible from the Help menu (the docs will display in your browser). There is also extensive documentation in the Gnucash Wiki, including a large FAQ, at http://www.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ. Please read carefully and thoroughly all of the documentation before you ask any more questions.

Neither the documentation nor this group, however, is the place to learn how to use your computer. You will find tons of information in Apple's help and on the web; there are also many books available on using a Mac, and you can probably find courses at your local Adult Education program or Community College.

Regards,
John Ralls