[GNC] Absolute and relative pointers to associated items

[Alan Hopkins]

   Hakon
   This may also be of help:
   [1]https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2019-March/083171.h
   tml
   Cheers
   Hop

   On 19/1/25 12:25, Jim DeLaHunt wrote:

     Håkon:
     You ask a good question, and I fear the documentation does not
     describe the present link path head behaviour of GnuCash well.
     On 2025-01-18 11:50, [2]hakon at finne.net wrote:

     Can someone please explain to me how to associate individual files
     (e.g. pdf copies of receipts) with their respective transactions. I
     wish to have receipts for transactions linked to each bank account
     and each credit card account in their corresponding individual
     folders. I managed to achieve this for several dozen transactions on
     account #1 by at first specifying the folder #1 in question as a
     base path (or head?) and then selecting the files one by one until
     completed. This resulted in relative addresses, and I have verified
     that the file names (but not their paths) are indeed stored in the
     .gnucash file. (I un-g-zipped the file and loaded it in an xml
     reader.) I then proceded to another account #2 and set the new
     appropriate base path to folder #2, expecting to see the first
     several dozen file paths change to absolute addresses. And they did
     - except not to folder #1 but erroneously to folder #2. And at the
     same time, they did not - at least the file names remain untouched
     in the .gnucash file, and neither folder #1 nor folder #2 is visible
     in that file.(Then where?) So in addition to getting the
     associations right (i.e., absolute rather than relative file paths)
     in the first place, it would also help to figure out how to change
     the few dozen first associations already registered, to their
     correct absolute path and remain mapped there. (I do indeed hope
     this is possible.)

     I frequently associate individual files with their respective
     transactions. Normally this is a PDF copy of an invoice or cheque.
     It works well for me.
     The "Path head for Linked Files Relative Paths" preference applies
     to all accounts in a book file. I am not sure if it is stored in the
     book, and can be different for different books, or if it is stored
     in the user preferences, and will be the same for all books. But it
     certainly cannot be different for account #1 than it is for account
     #2.
     I have a folder tree for linked files, within the folder which
     contains my book file. I have a hierarchy of subfolders. In my case,
     it is a subfolder per year, but you could have subfolders "account
     #1/" and "account #2/" if you want. I set my preference to have
     linked file paths relative to the path head, for all transactions,
     and I set the path head to that folder tree for linked files.
     When you change the value of that "Path head for Linked Files
     Relative Paths", a dialogue box appears. I can't find a screen shot
     of it in the documentation, sorry.  I remember that it has two
     checkboxes. Each controls a correction which GnuCash could make or
     not make to existing linked file paths. There is text in the
     dialogue box explaining what each checkbox controls. I suggest you
     read that text very carefully.
     If I recall correctly, one checkbox controls whether GnuCash should
     change existing linked relative paths to be absolute. This might be
     necessary because once you change the path head, the existing
     relative paths will no longer take you to the files. The other check
     box, if I recall correctly, controls whether GnuCash should change
     existing absolute linked paths which travel via the new path head to
     become relative.
     In my workflow, I copy the book file along with the entire folder
     tree of linked files along with it, to a new location. Then I change
     the "Path head for Linked Files Relative Paths" to the new folder of
     linked files location. I know that I am careful to keep both boxes
     unchecked. That is because I want all my linked document file paths
     to be relative, and because I copied all the linked files, the
     relative links will still find the new linked files in the new
     location.
     Does that make things clearer? Best regards,
           —Jim DeLaHunt
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References

   1. https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2019-March/083171.html
   2. mailto:hakon at finne.net
   3. mailto:gnucash-user at gnucash.org
   4. https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user