Where to save saved data

[Mike or Penny Novack]

On 6/29/2017 8:10 PM, John and Diane wrote:
> Hi
> New to gnucash.
> Notice there are many saved data files on desktop after each use of 
> Gnucash. If I put them in a folder named 'Bookkeeping", the next time 
> I try to use gnucash, I get a message the program can't find the data 
> on the desktop. How do I know what files to leave on the desktop and 
> which ones I can put in a folder and which folder? My desktop is 
> covered in the backups at this moment.
> What is the correct way to save all these many, many files so the 
> program can find the data?
> I only use this for keeping the checkbook and credit card ledgers and 
> reconciling them. Not a business.
> Thank you,
> Diane 

This is more perhaps a question about how you manage data files on your 
computer (all your data files) rather than just about gnucash. Perhaps 
people who rarely use their computer to create data files might leave 
them lying around on the desktop. But (for example) most of us have 
hundreds to thousands of documents on our computer. It would be insane 
trying to find them if just left in a heap. So they are organized into 
suitably named directories (file folders) within some master directories 
(file folders) like "documents", "pictures", etc.

I have a master "gnucash" folder and within that a separate folder for 
each set of books (besides my own, I do the bookkeeping for a few other 
entities). If you have created a folder into which the first time you 
"save as" your gnucash books file, gnucash will put all those recovery 
files, the file lock, etc. into that same folder.

Michael D Novack