[GNC] Is it possible to run one GNUcash database with 2 different programs?

[R Losey]

The short answer is that yes, you can do this, as long as you don't run
GnuCash simultaneously on multiple machines.

However, you may want to consider the following things:

1) How secure are files stored in the cloud? Could someone at Dropbox
access them? Do you REALLY want your financial information at the potential
mercy of others?

2) Cloud storage is at the mercy of the cloud - witness the recent AWS
problems. It is far better to store critical data in a place that you have
control of.

If you just want to enter expenses while traveling, you could get a USB
drive, copy your main data  file to it, and use that while traveling to
enter expenses.  Upon return, you'd just copy the gnucash data file back to
you regular location.


On Sat, Oct 25, 2025 at 11:42 PM Megan Tilley <megan.tilley at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I use Dropbox for all my important data.
> I have one instance of GNUcash installed on one machine. This is the
> Version 5.13 and Finance::Quote 1.66.
>
> I am about to go travelling, and my question is: can I run another instance
> of GNUcash on my travel laptop without including F::Q?
> By that, I mean that I install GC without the F::Q addition.
>
> I only want to track my travel expenses and do not need to update my
> investments while travelling, so I thought I could have a second GC
> accessing the 'datafile' synced on Dropbox.
>
> When I return home, my travel laptop is turned off, and I would hope the
> syncing of the travel laptop while travelling would sync with DB, and I
> could then access the updated data on my usual main computer.
>
> Thanks!
> Megan in Sydney
>
> *GnuCash -- **Version: 5.13 -- **Build ID: 5.12+(2025-06-28) -- *
> *Finance::Quote: *1.66  (2025-10-02)
>
> *Windows 10 Home -- **Version: 22H2 -- **OS Build: 19045.5011*
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-- 
_________________________________
Richard Losey
rlosey at gmail.com
Micah 6:8