[GNC] Cannot change preferences

[Ken Heard]

On 2018-08-17 13:18, Geert Janssens wrote:

> Thanks for the feedback. My request to try with dconf-editor was not meant as
> a workaround, but rather to determine if values can be changed at all.
> 
>>From your explanation I still can't infer this exactly, but I readily admit my 
> instructions were very vague.
> 
> Can you try one more experiment:
> - Make sure you don't have gnucash running
> - Start dconf-editor
> - Change /org/gnucash/general/date-format to 1 (just using your example here,
> any preference change is fine for this test)

I got this far in the instructions above, but then no pup-up button 
popped up.  Did not go any further.

> - Be sure to click on the apply button that pops up
> - Quit dconf-editor and start it again
> - Navigate to /org/gnucash/general/date-format
> 
> => What is it set to now ?

Perhaps a bit of background might be in order.  I spend the months of 
May to September in Canada, and November to March in Thailand.  (October 
and April are migration months, spent partially in either location or 
anywhere in-between.)

I have desktops in both locations. So twice a year all my data files are 
transferred between the two computers.  Among them are of course my 
gnucash data files. Since 2009 when I started using gnucash I have been 
moving those files back and forth without difficulty in using gnucash 
after each move -- until the latest one at the end of last March.

Up until sometime between November 2017 and March 2018 while in Thailand 
I changed the account separator from the colon to the backslash and 
started to use the colon in file names and codes.  On opening gnucash in 
the computer after return to Canada last April I received the message 
asking me either to change the separator back to the colon or delete 
colons from account names and codes.

At the time I assumed that the situation described in the previous 
paragraph was caused be the fact that while all the files in my home 
directory were transferred, key setup files in my user dot directories 
were not.

I consequently thought that all I had to do to fix that situation would 
be to open the preferences in the Canada computer and change the 
separator from colon to backslash. It was at this point that I 
discovered that I no longer had access to the preferences.  In order to 
post transactions I removed all colons from account names and codes, but 
I am still denied ability to change preferences thereby limiting my use 
of gnucash.  So the objective now is to restore to me full use of gnucash.

Regards, Ken