[GNC] Linked location

[Jim DeLaHunt]

On 2026-01-28 20:38, R Losey wrote:
> I have thought about making use of linking things (pictures, emails) to
> GnuCash transactions.
>
> I'm not sure I can use it with my setup: I have GnuCash installed an Win10,
> an a Mac, and on Linux (Ubuntu LTS). I run GruCash from all of these, but
> mostly the Windows and the Mac computer. The GnuCash file is stored on our
> local network, and it might be helpful to also have a folder there where I
> can put receipts, etc.
>
> However, the local network storage is accessed differently from Mac to
> Windows to Linux.
>
> Is the file location stored in the GnuCash  file? If it is, then an
> attachment I add in Windows may not be able to be seen on the Mac, right?
>
> Maybe if the default location is stored in my preferences file (???), AND
> the attachment is relative to that location, then I may be able to make
> this work.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> [Yes, I know I could try it, but (1) perhaps someone on the list has
> already been down this path, and (2) I'm afraid that if the path is not
> valid on a different platform, it may cause problems (crash?) GnuCash].

You might want to start by reading a similar thread in December:

[GNC] GnuCash SQLite: file attachments not recognized across platforms.
<https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2025-December/118983.html>

I wrote at the time:

> I don't know if the GnuCash app makes promises that attachment paths
> work across platforms. I do know:
>
>    * Absolute paths are unlikely to work, because the roots of absolute
>      paths are different on Windows and Linux (e.g. "C:\Users" and
>      "/usr/".  So, using relative paths to attachments is more likely to
>      work.
>    * Windows and Linux use different path separator characters ("\" and
>      "/").
>    * Windows and Linux use different character code conventions to store
>      path names (16-bit UTF-16LE and 8-bit UTF-8).
>
> It is possible that GnuCash code makes an effort to smooth over these
> differences. It is also possible that it makes no particular effort. If
> you are comfortable reading software source code, you could read the
> GnuCash source code to try and find out.
I believe that the GnuCash setting (preference) "Path head for Linked 
Files Relative Paths" is stored within GSettings, not in the book file. 
See <https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Configuration_Locations#GSettings> 
for where GSettings stores data on your platform.

I hope this helps,
     —Jim DeLaHunt