[GNC] GNUCash 4.14 on MacOS 10.13 very slow to save

[Michael Weber]

Jim—

I let it sit yesterday after adding that one simple transaction, and it was over 12 hours before it finished and returned back.  I now added two more transactions, clicked Save, and it’s churning again.  Letting it sit and finish has done nothing.

My storage location is 100% local, not distributed or shared anywhere.  It’s on my local NVMe drive, which is working fine elsewhere.

I’ve also restarted the machine several times, but still nothing.

I’m thinking I may revert back to a previous version from my last 4.9 run since I do save for 30 days and let it try again.  If that doesn’t work, I’m at a loss.  Perhaps I’ll setup 4.14 on my new laptop arriving today which I will setup with Linux and see what happens.

All—

If anyone else has any recommendations, I’m all ears since I don’t want to have to abandon my data file or be stuck on 4.9!

Best,
Michael Weber

> Hello, Michael:
> 
> On 2026-02-16 07:37, Michael Weber wrote:
> > I have been using GNUCash for many years and had been using 4.9 for quite some time.  In preparing for a computer migration from MacOS to Linux, I decided I would upgrade, taking the migration path suggested of the latest v4 build (4.14) and then migrating to the latest v5 build.
> >
> > I installed the 4.14 version and ran the repair of all my transactions, which was very fast and did not require a save.  I believe everything was fine.
> >
> > However, now when I make any change and click the Save button, saving takes minutes…  a lot of minutes…  and CPU at 100%.  Moments ago, I added one transaction and clicked save, and I’m currently at 24 minutes and counting, and the save has not finished....
> 
> I too have been using GnuCash on macOS for quite some time. I am now on 
> the nearly-current version 5.12, but I was using GnuCash 4.x on macOS 
> while it was the latest version. I do not recall having a problem of 
> very slow saving.
> 
> Some suggestions for troubleshooting, based on my macOS experience.
> 
>  1. Patiently let the current save finish, before taking further
>     troubleshooting steps. If you end up with a file partially saved,
>     that just gives you another obstacle to overcome.
>  2. See if the storage location for your book file might be an issue.
>     Are you storing it on a cloud drive of some sort?  If so, try
>     quitting GnuCash, moving the book file to the home storage volume of
>     your Mac, and then running GnuCash and opening that file from its
>     new location.
>  3. I do have experience of some part or another of the macOS system
>     getting wedged. Quitting the app, and if trouble persists,
>     restarting macOS, are a hassle but clear up many slowdowns.
> 
> I hope this helps.
> 
> I think you are doing well to upgrade first from your previous 4.x 
> version of GnuCash to version 4.14, before upgrading GnuCash to version 
> 5.x.
> 
> Best regards,
>       —Jim DeLaHunt