Using for GnuCash for multiple companies

[Geert Janssens]

On Friday 04 July 2014 19:52:14 Axel Essbaum wrote:
> On 4 Jul, 2014, at 16:15, jralls at ceridwen.us wrote:
> > > On July 4, 2014 at 5:46 AM Axel Essbaum <axel at essbaum.com> wrote:
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Hello everyone,
> > > 
> > > I've been a GnuCash user for about 5 years, and I'm now using
> > > version 2.4.11 on a Mac (haven't upgraded since everything pretty
> > > much works fine).
> > > 
> > > I am starting a couple of new companies and wondering what
> > > accounting software to use. The question hinges partially on the
> > > need to be able to open both company's accounts at the same time,
> > > but also to be able to have different settings for each,
> > > including date format, currency, fiscal year start and end dates,
> > > etc.
> > > 
> > > One company is in the US and one is in Switzerland and I need to
> > > use different date formats for each, for example.
> > > 
> > > As of GC 2.4.11 it appears that the date format is set in the
> > > GnuCash Preferences and I suspect this will affect both
> > > companies, is that right? Is there a workaround besides using a
> > > separate user account on my computer for each company? Can I
> > > upgrade to 2.6.3 and get around this?
> > > 
> > > Somewhat related: can I run two different versions of GC at the
> > > same time? Meaning, can I run my existing company under 2.4.11
> > > but also install and (concurrently) run 2.6.3 for the new
> > > companies? I'm hesitant to upgrade the existing company from
> > > 2.4.11 for fear of breaking the invoice printing (which was very
> > > fiddly to make work in 2.4.11).> 
> > Since you're on a Mac, you can certainly run two versions of
> > GnuCash; it's even safer with 2.6 than it was with 2.4 as we've
> > gotten rid of the dependency on dbus and so don't need to make a
> > link in /Library to point to the dbus executable. Not only that,
> > but it's because they use different preference systems, so you can
> > change any preference settings on GnuCash 2.6 without affecting
> > your 2.4 setup. Just rename the old one to Gnucash24.app before
> > dragging the new one to wherever you keep it. Before launching
> > GnuCash 2.6 you might want to edit the GNC_DOT_DIR value in
> > Gnucash.app/Contents/MacOS/Gnucash to a different value; that way
> > they'll keep separate history lists, which will make it less likely
> > that you open a file with the wrong version.
> Wow, sounds great John!  But I'm having a bit of trouble getting 2.6
> to open without it trying to open my old 2.4 database.
> 
> What I did:
> 
> Removed an old .gnucash folder from ~
> Renamed ~/Library/App Support/GnuCash to  ~/Library/App
> Support/GnuCash_2.4.11 Renamed Applications/Gnucash to
> /Applications/Gnucash24
> Changed GNC_DOT_DIR value in Gnucash24.app/Contents/MacOS/Gnucash to
> point to ~/Library/App Support/GnuCash_2.4.11 Downloaded and
> installed GC 2.6
> 
> With 2.4.11 running, when I launch 2.6, it complains about not being
> able to get a lock for my 2.4 database.
> 
> Any idea how 2.6 is still knowing about my 2.4 database?
> 
The first time 2.6 is run it will attempt to migrate all your settings from 2.4 to 2.6. That's a one 
time event.

When 2.6 opens you can choose to create a new file. If you save that one, 2.6 should attempt 
to open that instead of your 2.4 file on the next relaunch.

Geert