Jens:
Welcome to GnuCash!
On 2026-02-16 09:11, Jens Ingemann Jensen 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....
Oh no! Not being able to see your transactions is very distressing.
For what it's worth, I have used GnuCash for a long time, and it has not
lost my transactions. It is more likely, from my experience, that
perhaps you did not transfer the data you intended to transfer.
It would help to know what version of the GnuCash app you have on the
old computer, and what operating system it has; and the same information
for the new computer.
The FAQ has an entry that might be helpful:
<https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Q:_I_just_got_a_new_computer._What_should_I_copy_over_from_my_old_one.3F>,
which links to
<https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Backup>.
Perhaps read both of those.
GnuCash stores the main book file, with your data, plus a bunch of
backup copies of old data, in the same directory. Check which specific
file you copied over. Its name should end in ".gnucash", and the name
should not include digits which form a date and time.
GnuCash does not operate like most applications, where if you open a
document from the operating system you can count on the application
reading that specific document. Instead, you are better off running the
GnuCash app, then from within GnuCash opening the specific book file you
want to use. Did you do this both on the new computer, and on the old
computer when you were double-checking? For more information, see the
Tutorial, section 2.4.6. *Opening data*
<https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v5/C/gnucash-guide/basics-files1.html#basics-open-data>.
I am hopeful that your data is still present, but that you are looking
in the wrong place the wrong way, so you can't see it yet.
Best regards,
—Jim DeLaHunt
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