Messed up file names

[Derek Atkins]

Hi,

On Thu, January 18, 2018 8:30 pm, Gerald Mathias wrote:
> I guess I did something dumb. I wanted to move my GnuCash to a new
> computer, so I copied over the mygnucash folder. Now the new files come
> out
> with these weird names:
>
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171928.gnucash
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171929.log
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180116114841.log
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180116115105.gnucash
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180116115105.log
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.LCK
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.log
> mygnucash.gnucash.20171229114235.log
>
> I guess November 15 is the date I did the copy. Is there any way to get
> rid
> of that part of the naming process?

STOP RIGHT NOW.  YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.

Basically, you started with a file named mygnucash.gnucash -- your main
data file.

On November 15 at 16:19 you made some changes to the file, which generated
the log file mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.log and a backup file
mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161913.gnucash  (which does not appear in your
listing, but must exist somewhere).

Then on December 29 you made another change, which resulted in the log
file mygnucash.gnucash.20171229114235.log.  There should have also been an
equivalent backup file.

THEN, on January 15 at 17:19, you made a mistake.  Instead of opening your
main data file, mygnucash.gnucash, you opened the BACKUP FILE from
November 15.  This resulted in the log file
mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171929.log and backup
file mygnucash.gnucash.20171115161912.gnucash.20180115171928.gnucash.  The
backup was clearly saved one second before the log.

Then you used the SAME file again on Jan 16 at 11:51.

This means you effectively forked your data.  Anything you entered between
November 15 and January 15 was "lost" in the fork.  It's still out there,
like the December 29 log file.

But this all happened because you opened the wrong file -- you opened up a
backup file instead of your main data file.

> I had also considered starting over, from 2018-01-01 on the new computer.
> Maybe that is the better option? Would simply erasing all the current
> accounts and setting them up anew do the trick?

While that is an option, there is no need to do that.
First, you need to understand how gnucash stores logs and backup files. 
See
https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_What_are_all_these_.gnucash_and_.log_files_filling_up_my_directory.3F
and
https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_Why_is_my_file_name_getting_longer_and_longer.3F

Once you fix your data loss problem (most likely you could do this by
replaying the log files) then you can just rename your file back to your
main data file.  I recommend you just File -> Save As from within GnuCash.

Good Luck!

> Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
> You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.

-derek

-- 
       Derek Atkins                 617-623-3745
       derek at ihtfp.com             www.ihtfp.com
       Computer and Internet Security Consultant