How to keep windows in two GnuCash files open at the same time

[David Carlson]

On 1/12/2014 1:13 PM, David Carlson wrote:
> On 1/12/2014 11:56 AM, Geert Janssens wrote:
>> On Sunday 12 January 2014 18:39:19 Henning Jacobs wrote:
>>> Hi Porus,
>>>
>>> I had the same problem when I wanted to compare my "old" GnuCash
>>> accounts file with the new one.
>>> In Linux I just started two completely independent GnuCash instances
>>> (executing "gnucash" on command line twice) to be able to open two
>>> files at the same time.
>>>
>>> - Henning
>> You should be able to to exactly the same thing in Windows. But not from within GnuCash 
>> directly. Instead you should open the account files from the windows explorer by double-
>> clicking them. That way you can open two separate files at the same time.
>>
>> Geert
>>
> I have found that it is possible to have two instances running
> simultaneously with different data files in windows, but I have not
> tried adding data.
>
> If I recall correctly, there is some caveat about both files sharing the
> same set of preferences, which may mean that one may overwrite the other
> when the files are closed.  Those would probably be the properties
> accessed by using File => Properties.  Perhaps someone else can
> elaborate about this aspect.
>
> David C

I should have clicked on Help in GnuCash.  I was wrong.  the properties
accessed under File => Properties are unique to each data file. 

Conversely, the preferences accessed under Edit => Preferences are per
user.  Thus they apply to all data files, and so if any of those values
are changed while two instances are running the changes could be lost
when the instances are closed.

If one wants any of those preferences to be different from file to file,
one would have to set up GnuCash in different user accounts or on
different computers, then take care to be logged into the computer under
the preferred user name when opening the program.

David C