GnuCash copy of original file was deleted!

[Jeff]

On 9/30/13 9:44 PM, David T. wrote:
> Before you proceed with steps 5 and following, determine whether it's really necessary for you to create separate data files annually. It is entirely possible to create appropriate year-end documentation from the Gnucash data without closing books and starting fresh each year.
>
> David
>
>
> ________________________________
>   From: Michael Hendry <hendry.michael at gmail.com>
> To: crazy_cat <info at freie-bildung.ch>
> Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
> Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013 5:13 PM
> Subject: Re: GnuCash copy of original file was deleted!
>   
>
> On 30 Sep 2013, at 23:04, crazy_cat <info at freie-bildung.ch> wrote:
>
>> Hi - I'm new to go with GnuCash ... I have just done a complete annual
>> booking. So I could take over the account hierarchy for the current year,
>> I've created a copy of the GnuCash file and delete all postings in this
>> second file - assuming that I can then start from new.
>>
>> After I saved the new file - was my original file but empty! Now I've lost a
>> full year booking! Can someone please tell me whether it is possible to
>> somehow make this file again?
>>
>> THANK YOU! I am desperate: (((
> First of all - DON'T PANIC!!!
>
> 1. Find out the folder where your GnuCash files are stored - on my (Mac) computer, this folder holds MDH.gnucash (which is my most recently saved accounts file) along with a large number of files like:
>
> MDH.gnucash.YYYYMMDDhhmmss.gnucash
>
> and
>
> MDH.gnucash.YYYYMMDDhhmmss.gnucash.log
>
> Obviously, your original filename will be different from mine (my initials are "MDH").
>
> 2. Copy this folder to a safe place, and don't touch it again until this is all sorted.
>
> 3. Use GnuCash to open the most recent .gnucash file in your accounts folder prior to this file (ignore the files ending ".log") - it will be something like MDH.gnucash.YYYYMMDDhhmmss.gnucash.
>
> 4. Have  a look at the transactions in this file - if it has the transactions from the last accounting year (that you thought you'd just lost!), all is well - Save this file As something memorable, for example "MDHLastYear.gnucash", and don't touch it again.
>
> 5. Open MDH.gnucash, and use it to record the current year's transactions.
>
> 6. If the file you've opened doesn't hold last year's transactions, close it, and go to its predecessor, and so on.
>
>
> I'm assuming here that there's a good reason for starting a new year with no transactions - is this the case? If you don't have a good reason, why not just continue to record transactions in the original file?
>
> Michael
>
>>
>>
>> --
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Hopefully you can recover your data!

But as an FYI you can also export the accounts without any financial data, so you can 
re-create the same accounts in a new file fairly easily without having to delete all the 
old data that was in it. Look in File > Export > Export Accounts