[GNC] How to save Gnucash and Lock file issues

[Colin Law]

On Sun, 2 Dec 2018 at 17:11, Lorrie Laskey <lrlaskey at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> So I need to use "save" instead of "save as"? My "save" option is grayed out.

It will be greyed out until you change something.  Once you change
something then it should be enabled.  If not then that probably means
you did a Save As and selected sqlite as the file type.  If that is
the case then do Save As, select XML, browse to the folder where you
want the file and click the OK, or Save button or whatever it is.
Then close and re-open gnucash, it should re-open the xml file (you
can see the file name in the top bar) and then the Save button should
be back to normal.

Colin

>
> Thanks,
>
> On Sun, Dec 2, 2018 at 8:53 AM Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 2 Dec 2018 at 16:40, Lorrie Laskey <lrlaskey at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi all,
>> >
>> > This message is for two topics. If you respond, please either select one
>> > topic or divide the message by topic to make it easier for me to follow the
>> > messages.
>> >
>> > #1 Saving
>> > I don't understand how to save Gnucash or properly close it, it seems. I
>> > have used Gnucash for years and used the "save" option.
>> >
>> > In the past, I selected "save" but recently ran into "lock file" issue.
>>
>> Save is the right way to do it.  That will save back into whichever
>> file you have open.  Just the same as MS Word or other applications.
>> If you use Save As then it will create a new file with the name you
>> give it (or overwrite any existing file with that name. When you next
>> open GC it will open *that* file not the original.  If you want to
>> open a file other than the last one used then use File Open and browse
>> to it.  While on this subject, I hope you are making a regular backup
>> of your accounts file in case of computer failure.
>>
>> > Next I tried "save as" but then a pop up window appeared asking me to save
>> > it as an xml file.
>>
>> For most users just using the default xml is the right way.  Don't
>> worry about the other options.  If you needed them you would know what
>> they mean.
>>
>> >
>> > #2
>> > Recent "lock file" issues forced me to troubleshoot and find other methods
>> > to open and save. Note that I am the only person using Gnucash, on one
>> > computer. So I don't understand how this file is being generated.
>>
>> If you get the Lock file warning when you open GC that means that GC
>> probably did not close down properly the last time you used it.
>> Either GC or Windows crashed for example, or you did a forced
>> powerdown of the PC rather than a normal shutdown.  It is only a
>> warning, you can just say Open Anyway, provided you have not already
>> got the file open in another GnuCash instance or on another computer.
>> If it happens regularly there is something wrong though.
>>
>> Colin