[GNC] Accidentally Created .LNK file and now my entire GnuCash file is overwritten and I can't get back to work

[David T.]

As others explained, the lck and lnk files are created by gnucash to prevent users accidentally opening the data file on multiple machines. They are zero bytes in size and there is no point in trying to open them up. There is no there there. 
 
 
  On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 7:08, GWB<gwb at 2realms.com> wrote:   Hello, Anita, GnuCash User list,

The attachment smime.p7s might be a file format (.p7s) that is unique
to microsoft outlook, so I'm not having any luck opening it.  I use
Macs, but not for gnucash, so perhaps you might try:

1. Using the spotlight feature in Mac to search for all files ending
in .gnucash (spotlight is usually the entry bar at the top right of
the finder window next to the magnifying glass icon).

2. You might also try using the spotlight feature "modified before...
modified after..." if you have a close idea as to when the crash
occurred.

3. Try to remember the time of the crash that caused the problem, and
look for the file that ends in .gnucash closest to the time and date
of the crash.

4. If you find a file in the spotlight list that ends in .gnucash
(like your file LSA Nicosia (s) BE 175.gnucash) with a modification
date and time just before the crash, try opening that from within
gnucash.

You could try to change the name of the .LNK file to something like:

FileName.CRASH-LNK

if you don't want to delete it.  I'm like you: I'm very hesitant to
delete files that might help later.  A .LNK file might not be one of
those, but if you change the name and extension, GnuCash might ignore
it and give you a different menu.

Don't know much about Mac OS after 10.9, but my guess is Mojave
(10.14) still allows you to search for files "ending in" and also
search by "modified before...after...on..."

Here is Apple's basic instructions for spotlight:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/spotlight-mchlp1008/mac

I think this repeats the suggestions already on the list, but it might
help to find the .gnucash file closest to the time of the crash, and
also rename the .LNK file.  If that isn't the solution, you can then
rename the file back to .LNK.

Gordon
On Sun, Nov 4, 2018 at 3:59 PM David Cousens <davidcousens at bigpond.com> wrote:
>
> My bad there Geert.
>
> Maybe the wiki needs a bit of modification to make it clearer to  that it is
> the meta data and not the actual data files as I did read it as the default
> location for the user's gnucash accounting data files and perhaps a note
> distinguishing these from the accounting data files. I don't know if it is
> possible to perhaps explain to users where an accounting data file will be
> created if you run through the new file routine and then hit save in the
> case of a new installation. This is something a novice user could easily do
> before reading the documentation. I have experimented a bit with my current
> installation on Linux Mint  and it will save a new file in the same folder
> as any previously opened file was located, i.e. the file you had to close to
> open a new file. I haven't yet experimented with a clean GNuCash
> installation to see where that would end up, but I expect it would be in the
> user's home directory.
>
> I think have noticed on my system that under some circumstances in some
> applications the file save routine can open in the last location opened or
> saved to by other programs on an initial opening, but I can't be too sure of
> that as I don't take much notice normally and simply change to my preferred
> location.
>
> In any case this did not appear to be Anita's problem as she was in the
> correct folder.
>
> David
>
>
>
> -----
> David Cousens
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