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

[David T.]

Gordon,
It is so much simpler to just delete the files. They only serve as markers to gnucash to let gnucash itself know if the program is already running. 
Renaming the files serves no purpose except to propagate files that aren't meant to last on disk after exiting the program. To suggest otherwise is to assign significance to something that doesn't merit it. 
David

 
 
  On Mon, Nov 5, 2018 at 10:15, GWB<gwb at 2realms.com> wrote:   Yes, but she doesn't want to delete them. GnuCash would not know the
difference between deleting them or renaming them if the extensions
were no longer .LNK or .LCK.  Correct?  I would find the timestamps of
the .LNK and .LCK files, rename them, and try to find the .gnucash
file with the closest timestamp to them (mtime, modified time), and
open that from within gnucash.  Macs let you do this from the finder
without having to learn terminal commands with find and mtime, ctime,
newermt, etc.
On Sun, Nov 4, 2018 at 8:10 PM David T. <sunfish62 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> 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
>