Richard Assuming you are using the XML format files the following link explains the backup and log files ( and Lock file) that may be created in your directory. It is usually a good practice to create the GnuCash file in its own directory so that these files do not get mixed up with other files on your system.
https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-guide/basics-backup1.html. As you can see any file with a date-timestamp attached to the file extension is either a backup or a log file. These can be used to recover your main file if the main file is ever corrupted. You should not open any of these fines normally as you will lose any transactions entered since the backup file you opened was created. A common problem people have is accidentally opening a backup file instead of the main file. In this case you will see backup files with two sets of dataestamps in the file extensions. The file you should open on a daily basis will be called <filename>.gnucash where <filename> is the name you gave it when you created the file, without any date stamps and is the file that GnuCash will open by default if it is the last file used. If GnuCash doesn't open with the file you want to use (the filename without the path appears in the title bar of the main window when it opens. If this is not correct use the File->Open dialog to navigate to the correct file. You can drag the dialog boundaries to expand it and then drag the bar that appears in the column headers to expand the filename colum width so you can see the file extensions clearly. At this point, for safety, you should make a separate backup copy of the folder containg the gnucash data files that you can restore and start from scratch if you have any problems with the following instructions. If you have opened a backup file at some point and you are able to determine the last file opened (In your file manager set it up to see the Date Accessed information. This should allow you to find the most recently opened file.) If your <filename>.gnucash file has the Date Accessed information as the timestamp in the most recent backup file then it is more than likely the last file you opened in GnuCash and you should be able to use it. If it was a backup file that is the most recently opened file, then you will need to open it and check that it has any recently loaded transactions in it. If so, you can rename it as <filename>.gnucash (you will need to rename the original file to <filename>.gnucash.old before doing this. Once you are satisfied that the renamed <filename.gnucash> is correct and has all your data in it, I would move all the existing backup and log files to another directory apart from your main <filename>.gnucash. When you are happy that GnuCash is functioning correctly you will de able to delete this directory but you should retain it until you are really sure you have fixed any problems. David Cousens ----- David Cousens -- Sent from: http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list gnucash-user@gnucash.org To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user If you are using Nabble or Gmane, please see https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Mailing_Lists for more information. ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
