Messed up file names

Sat Jan 20 04:27:39 EST 2018

On 20 January 2018 at 02:24, Gerald Mathias <mathias at hawaii.edu> wrote:

> My thanks to Derek Atkins for some good pointers (and thank you, too, Bert
> Riding). I'm not sure whether I will finally be able to digest the
> suggestions sufficiently.
>
> Derek said, "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)."
>
> Maybe somewhere, but as of today, not in /Finances/mygnucash. I did a
> search and came up empty.
>
> I always open gnucash by clicking its icon in Applications > Office >. I
> use Ubuntu 16.04.) That icon has been there since I installed the program,
> and I don't know yet how to control what it opens. Maybe when I do the
> "Save to" bit, but you suggest I save that for after fixing everything
> else.
>

When you open gnucash by clicking the icon it will open whatever file you
had open last. If you use Save As to save it as a new name then the file
that is open is the the one with the new name, so if you close GC and
reopen it later then it will open the saved as one, not the original.  Also
if you open GC by clicking on a gnucash file or if you open a file by using
File > Open inside GC then that file becomes the current one, so again if
you close GC and reopen it then it will open that file rather than any
other file you previously had open.  It displays the name of the file in
the title bar so you can always see which file you have open.

> I have dozens of normal-name .log and .gnucash files from 16 Oct to 15 Nov,
> then nine double-dates from 31 Dec to 09 Jan. After that, loads of files
> "Date Modified" 14 Jan, single-dated from 20171229 to 20180111, but out of
> order. Includes one simple mygnucash.gnucash. The last three on 14 Jan are
> double-dates, and those 20171115s continue through 19 Jan (today, although
> I haven't actually make any gnucash entries today).
>

> I've been reading how to restore, including the references you provided,
> but I won't try until I can see my way past a "warning" or two.
>

If, by restore, you mean open a different file then use File > Open in GC.
Then once you are happy that you have the current file open use File > Save
As to save it with an appropriate name and then it should re-open that one
in future.  Keep an eye on the name in the title bar if ever you are
concerned about which file you have open.

Colin

>
> On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 4:19 PM, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> >
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