[GNC] Sharing reports

[Dean Gibson]

Fix corrupted text:

1. Yes, you can easily create "symlinks" in Windows.  You can make 
"local" files or directories  actually exist in OneDrive, so that you 
don't have to copy anything, as you describe.  There are good tutorials 
on the web.

2. I picked OneDrive over GoogleDrive years ago, because the latter got 
totally confused with GnuCash data file updates, while OneDrive handled 
them transparently.  I don't know if Google has since fixed that.

3. As much as I like OneDrive, sometimes when files don't updated across 
machines, there are no "commands" that I am aware to get it to do 
anything faster.  It marches to its own drumbeat, scanning for files 
that need to be downloaded.  Usually the upload to the cloud happens 
quickly, so I sometimes just go to the cloud web page & manually 
download the file.  This happens to me maybe twice a year, which 
mitigates the annoyance.

4. There is a per-file and per-folder menu option to force a download 
(but not an update), but the sole advantage of that is speed for later 
accesses.  Otherwise, OneDrive will download files dynamically on an 
as-needed basis.  I suppose you can click on a file to "unload" it 
(keeping only the reference in the directory), & then force a download.


On 2025-09-11 12:50, Tommy Trussell wrote:
> Can you make a symlink? I think Windows supports it, but it might not be as
> straightforward as on Linux.
>
> I have not done it (though I have considered it for similar reasons!) but I
> would first try creating a symlink (from either the file or the directory
> the saved reports file get stored in), and point the target to the shared
> OneDrive folder. Do the same for the other PC. That way, as far as GnuCash
> is concerned, the shared file or folder hasn't changed, but it gets
> transferred to the shared folder.
>
> Here is one VERY IMPORTANT thing I would watch out for -- you should be
> very careful about saving OR EVEN OPENING GnuCash nearly the same time on
> two different machines with shared files. Adding the shared saved reports
> file(s) increases the chance you might clobber the data. I vaguely recall
> some OneDrive users complaining there may be a significant "lag" between
> saving the file on one PC and the changes propagating through OneDrive to
> the other PC.
>
> I can't advise on the details, but when I use DropBox or Insync, I can
> trigger a resync using the "stop sync" command followed by the "start sync"
> command after saving my files on each machine. If OneDrive has a similar
> command, you might try it and have a look at your shared folder on each.
> You might also have a special command in OneDrive to indicate it should
> locally synchronize those files on your network.
>
>