[GNC] How to save Gnucash and Lock file issues

[David Carlson]

Lorrie,

If, at some time in the past you modified that data file with that (short)
filename by going into Edit  >Preferences > General and selecting 'Retain
log/backup files: Never, then no log or backup files will be generated.

You did not do that because you do see .log files being generated.
However, backup files are not made unless you have entered or changed a
transaction or information in the Accounts page, for example, and the
amount of time set in that preference section has passed.  A quick way to
tell if GnuCash will create a backup is to notice if there is a asterisk
before the filename in the title bar.  If so, the file is 'dirty' and needs
to be saved and possibly backed up.  If you do File > Save before that
amount of time has passed, there will not be a backup with the the long
series of numbers in the filename.  If you do File > Quit when there is an
asterisk in front of the file name, GnuCash will warn you that you have
unsaved data.

That is the long answer.

David C

On Mon, Dec 3, 2018 at 8:17 PM Lorrie Laskey <lrlaskey at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi David,
>
> Here's what I did.
>
>    - I did a "save as" and renamed the file to "finances.gnucash" then
>    closed the file.
>    - Reopened Gnucash which opened the very same file.
>    - Made a change and saved it which created a log file.
>    - Closed the same file and repeated these steps.
>    - No backup file was created . Only the original "finances.gnucash" file
>    remained.
>
> Is something wrong?
>
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 2, 2018 at 6:32 PM David Cousens <davidcousens at bigpond.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Lorrie,
> >
> > At some point instead of opening the main file "finances.gnucash" it
> would
> > appear you have opened a backup copy of the
> > file, which is why it has the form "finances.gnucash.20181202.gnucash".
> >
> > Each time Gnucash is opened, it copies the file "<filename>.gnucash it"
> > has just opened and renames it
> > "<filename>.gnucash.<date-time stamp>.gnucash" . It also creates a
> logfile
> > "<filename>.gnucash.<date-time stamp>.log"
> > which records the changes to the file which occur during the current
> > session.
> >
> > When you exit or when you make changes or use the Save button in GnuCash
> > any changes are saved to "<filename>.gnucash"
> > In your  case <filename>="finances.gnucash.20181202" instead of
> > "finances.gnucash".
> >
> > You can restore this to the normal situation simply by renaming the file
> > you are currently using as the main
> > file, "finances.gnucash.20181202.gnucash",  as "finances.gnucash".
> >
> > See https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-guide/basics-backup1.html
> > for a detailed explanation of this.
> >
> > David Cousens
> >
> >
> > On Sun, 2018-12-02 at 10:14 -0800, Lorrie Laskey wrote:
> > > Hi Colin,
> > >
> > > I understand. Since I don't really need to know the minute and seconds
> > when
> > > a file is saved at this time, I will leave the file name as it is.
> > >
> > > My next topic, for another email, is how to set up a budget. I have
> tried
> > > and watched videos and read documentation but never quite get it to
> work
> > or
> > > understand what it is doing.
> > >
> > > Thanks for  your help this morning.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sun, Dec 2, 2018 at 10:10 AM Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Sun, 2 Dec 2018 at 18:01, Lorrie Laskey <lrlaskey at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi Colin,
> > > > >
> > > > > The "save" option did get focus once I made a change and saved the
> > file.
> > > > >
> > > > > However, the file name doesn't look right. See below. It is using
> the
> > > >
> > > > name that I created when I used "save as" though I used "save" but
> the
> > log
> > > > file name looks right. What is happening? Is this a problem?
> > > > >
> > > > > finances.gnucash.20181202.gnucash
> > > > > finances.gnucash.20181202.gnucash.20181202095503
> > > >
> > > > If you used Save As to save to that file, then that file becomes the
> > > > current file in use so when you later use Save it will save back to
> > > > that file again (and that is the file that will be re-opened
> > > > automatically when you open Gnucash).  Again this is exactly the same
> > > > as will happen with MS Word for example.  Save As means "save the
> file
> > > > with this new name and then keep using the new name".  If you want to
> > > > give it a different name then use Save As just once to save it with
> > > > the name you want and thereafter Save will save back to that file.
> > > >
> > > > Colin
> > > >
> > >
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