[GNC] Fwd: All data gone

[Tommy Trussell]

Greetings -- I did not see a reply to David Carlson's question, but I might
have missed the response.

It occurs to me that Jens Jensen is using a Mac, and may not be aware that
when one double-clicks a GnuCash file on a Mac, GnuCash will launch, but
stubbornly attempt to re-open the previously opened file, even if the file
has moved, and regardless of which GnuCash file one double-clicked. It has
been a long-standing issue.

SO on a Macintosh, my understanding is that one must launch GnuCash and
then use the File--> Open command to navigate to the file.

This could explain the "missing" data -- GnuCash might just be looking for
the data in its old location rather than opening whatever file you
double-clicked.

If this could explain your situation, please respond to the list (using
either reply-all or reply-to-list in your email program). Since I have not
used a Mac in recent decades, current Mac-using folks on the list can
advise.


On Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 7:32 AM David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Jens,
> Please reply to the group, not to individuals.
> How can you tell that your data is corrupted?
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Jens Ingemann Jensen <ingemann at mindspring.com>
> Date: Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 11:40 AM
> Subject: Re: [GNC] All data gone
> To: David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>
>
>
> Dear David.
>
>
>
> Thank you for offering to help.
>
>
>
> I have used GnuCash for years without problems and been happy with it as it
> gives me a feeling of control of my finances.
>
>
>
> I have used it on a Mac Intel silicon desktop running MacOS 13.7.8, but
> also wanted to use it on my portable MacBook Pro with Apple silicon running
> MacOS 26.3 and I wonder if that is the reason for my problems.  For
> portability I kept the files on a USB stick, but I had forgotten that
> another USB stick was connected at the back of the computer (out of sight
> out of...) and both of them had current files on them.  The same problem
> showed up whichever stick I tried.  Every time I moved the stick I had to
> close the file, so now there are a whole lot of inaccessible files on the
> sticks.  Trying to open an older file resulted in that one being corrupted
> too, so I stopped that practice.
>
>
>
> I used to be computer literate in the days of Teletypes, paper tape, punch
> cards and DOS, but I have not kept up now that everything is hidden behind
> windows and ikons.  I have a quite limited exrerience with Unux on DEC
> systems (I wrote my thesis on such a system) which the research lab I
> worked in ran those systems, but I know about permissions and the like.
>
>
>
> If you can help me get years of data back I shall be very happy.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Jens
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Carlson <david.carlson.417 at gmail.com>
> Sent: Feb 16, 2026 4:05 PM
> To: Jens Ingemann Jensen <ingemann at mindspring.com>
> Cc: <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
> Subject: Re: [GNC] All data gone
>
>
> Jens,
> Hopefully the transactions aren't actually gone.  Did you verify that you
> opened the correct data file on the correct USB stick when you went back to
> the old computer?
> Also, if both computers are not running the same operating systems there
> may be differences in methods to open files, etc. to be aware of.
>
> On Mon, Feb 16, 2026 at 2:48 PM Jens Ingemann Jensen <
> ingemann at mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> > I wanted to transfer Gnucash to another computer and had the file on a
> USB
> > stick.  When I opened it on the new computer I received the message
> > “expense account is read only”.  I checked and it the “placeholder” box
> was
> > not checked.  I then tried the old computer again but now all the
> > transactions were gone.  Thank you for any help. You can give.
> > T
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>
>
> --
> David Carlson
>
>
>
>
> --
> David Carlson
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