losing data

[Derek Atkins]

Chris,

On Sun, December 22, 2013 1:58 pm, Chris Bester wrote:
> Hi Maf
>
> Cannot give you a screen shot, but this is what the various toolbars look
> like:
>
> In the top left hand:-
> Ikon- Balance Sheet(equile)Aug2013 gnucash-Members fees-Gnucash- ( This is
> the bar that I am referring to and which I cannot understand.  It appears
> above the following tool bars and menu bars.)          Members fees is the
> account I am working in.
> File  Edit  View  Transactions  Actions  Business  Reports   Tools
> Windows  Help
> Save   Close   Duplicate  Delete   Enter   Cancel etc. - etc.
> Accounts   Assets   Checking Accounts    Expenses  etc. - etc.
>
> Your last sentence do not make sense to me.  Maybe my system is different.
> I do not understand what you mean by, having the wrong data file in use.
>
> Hope you can help.
> Chris
>

Imagine if you were using Word, and every time you saved your Word
document it would create a Backup file in the same directory as your main
Word document, but it changed the name slightly to add a date/time of when
you clicked save.  In other words, imagine if you were editing a file
"foo"; every time you clicked save it would create a backup of "foo"
called "foo.20131222154923" (where those strings of numbers are the
year/month/day/hour/minute/second when the backup was created).  Every
instance of a dated version of the file would be different, because as you
add more data to your file it changes over time, right?

Now imagine that instead of clicking on "foo" you accidentally clicked on
a backup file, "foo.20131222154923".  This would cause the system to open
the backup file instead of your main data file, and lo and behold it would
look like you lost work!

Now imagine that you continue working and add new data!  Yikes, now you
have multiple sets of books with different streams (and now multiple
layers of backup files).

I think this is what Maf (and others) are suggesting:  Instead of opening
your main data file (foo) you've accidentally clicked on a backup file. 
Either that or you accidentally did a disk restore from a backup.

GnuCash doesn't lose data, provided you save it.  It *could* lose data if
you do not, and then shut the system down without saving (or have a power
outage).  But if you save your data, GnuCash wont lose it.  However you
can get yourself into the situation as I insinuated above.

One thing to note is that GnuCash always opens the last data file it used.
 However if you double-click on a GnuCash data file, on SOME platforms it
will open the data file you clicked on (and make *that* the new default)
and on others it will not (e.g. on Mac it will NOT open the file you
clicked on).

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you do a File -> Save As, then
the target (where you save the file) will become the new default.  This
could also cause similar situations if, for example, you tried to create a
backup file via File -> Save As, because now your backup file would become
the default file and get future changes unless you File -> Open the
original.

I hope I have not confused you more, but my guess is that you appear to be
losing data because you are opening the wrong data file (or you opened the
wrong data file in the past when you were making your changes).

Unfortunately GnuCash does NOT have a "merge multiple data files into one"
feature.  There is a "Log Replay" feature but honestly I would not
recommend it because it's very limited in functionality and more often
than not it introduces bad data into your file.

So once you sort out your file issue I would recommend you just hand-enter
your previous data.  And going forward I recommend you don't click on a
gnucash data file but instead open Gnucash from the Start menu (or the
program icon).

Good Luck,

> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant