Win OS reinstall looses Program files including logs - GCM file found

[John Ralls]

> On Feb 2, 2015, at 10:42 AM, Mary Ann Wallace <wallace at naples.net> wrote:
> 
> Thank you for changing the target save folder.
> 
> Is this "fix" available only in a beta or online version?  I'm assuming those of us using v.2.6.3 won't have this available to us. I am running Gnucash v.2.6.3 originally installed on Win 7 Pro 32-bit (X84) laptop and after the data I lost that was in C:\Program Files, I've been debating downloading a new version and starting my 2015 year with that while I run v.2.6.3 on another computer to update it with the 6 months of data lost.  I have hard copies of data, so I don't need consecutive years on the same program.  I can just start with a new balance sheet as of Jan 1 and zero income. But having data files automatically saved to Documents would be a huge relief and make backing up easier.

Since I just pushed the change, it isn’t even in today’s nightly build. It will be in 2.6.6.

However, it’s just the default on a brand-new installation. When GnuCash opens a file it sets the default to where that file is, and File>Save As… will change the location of where your file is saved. Even if you upgrade without relocating your file GnuCash will remember where the file is. So do the following *right now*:

Quit GnuCash if it’s running.

Open Windows Explorer, go to your user documents directory (C:\Users\mary\Documents if your userid is mary) and create a new folder named Accounts.

Navigate to C:\Program Files (X86)\gnucash\bin, and highlight everything that begins with your filename — that will include the file itself, foo.gnucash, the backup files foo.gnucash.2015013015153327.gnucash, and the log files foo.gnucash.2015013015153327.gnucash.log (the numbers are timestamps; I made that one up as an example) and drag the lot of them to that new Accounts folder.

Start GnuCash. It will complain that it can’t find your file. Dismiss the message box and select File>Open. On the left side of the dialog box there’s a speedbar with a button with your name on it. Click it. That will switch you to your home directory, from which you can navigate to Documents\Accounts and find your account file. Select it and click OK.

>From now on GnuCash will open with the last file opened and any new files will default to being saved in the new Accounts folder. That will persist even after you upgrade to a new version of GnuCash.

Then, if you haven’t already done so, get yourself an external disk and some automatic backup software and start using it!

Regards,
John Ralls