George, If you still have the log files from the file that you incorrectly entered data into, you can replay them into your recently restored data file. That may at least get at least some of your data back without having to reenter it. "File->Import->Replay Gnucash.log file" from the menu. I don't know for sure whether GnuCash checks that the filename is the same as the filename it is being imported into, but I suspect not. Someone else may know the answer to that.
On Mon, 2026-10-19 at 12:02 -0400, George Kaplan via gnucash-user wrote: > Thank you for your suggestions. > I finally found an OLD .gnucash file which I was able to open and all > is well and as it should be (except that I'll have to re-enter a lot > of data but I'm retired so, what else do I have to do? 😉 ) > GeorgeKaplan > > > -----Original Message----- > From: gnucash-user > <[email protected]> On Behalf Of > Adrien Monteleone > Sent: Friday, October 16, 2026 9:11 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [GNC] Initial Display on opening GNUcash for Windows > > On 10/16/26 05:59, George Kaplan via gnucash-user wrote: > > Thank you for your reply. > > 1-I open GNU by clicking on the app icon on my desktop. > > > > 2-It opens with only the 'accounts' tab open. > > Does it do this every time when you start it this way, even if you > leave other tabs open? > > Is the name of the book file shown in the title bar the exact same > each time? > > > 3-Data is stored locally. > > > > 4- The title bar shows > > 'GK.gnucashXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.gnucash.XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.gnucash.XXXXXXXXXX > > XXX > > X,gnuc ash.XXXXXXXXXXXX.gnucash - Accounts - GnCash' where X is > > replaced with numerals. > > You have a mess on your hands. How big of one remains to be > determined. > > Those numbers are date/time stamps. At some point, rather than > opening the original book file, you opened a backup, edited and saved > it, then opened a backup of that backup, etc. > > DO NOT simply open what Windows appears to show as the most recent > modified file. Just open the file you *know* to be your book file. > ('GK.gnucash') Even better, simply start GnuCash with the icon and it > will open the last book file used, which as long as you are > consistent and aren't managing multiple entities with their own > books, should always just be your main file. ('GK.gnucash') > > Resolving the 'mess' is going to take some sleuthing on your part. > > First, let's get the .gcm issue out of the way: > > Each book file has its own .gcm which contains things like window > positions, custom column widths, and...a list of tabs that were open > when you last closed. > > By simply looking for what Windows reports as the most recent > modified file, you are likely opening a backup of the last file you > were in. The last file you were in has the .gcm tied to it with that > tab list, the backup does not, so a new one is created upon opening > it, but then instead of opening that file next time, you opened one > of *its* backups without its own .gcm file. (rinse-repeat) > > Changing your file-opening workflow will 'solve' the open tabs > problem. > (In fact, if you find and open the original GK.gnucash file, you'll > probably see those tabs restored that were still open the last time > you closed it, if that book's .gcm file made the migration to the > restored disk. This is I think usually stored in %APPDATA% on > Windows, so if you backed up your profile or User folders, it should > still be there, but not if you backed up and restored individual > personal files independently.) > > Second, let's address the backup mess: > > Look at a full file listing of that directory and make note of each > set of numbers in the file names. (use Detailed List View in > Explorer) > > If each set of numbers except the final one in the 'most recent' file > are all the same, you are probably in luck, sort of. > > e.g., if the files are consistently: > > GK.gnucash.XXXXXXXXXXXXXX.gnucash.YYYYYYYYYYYYYY.gnucash.ZZZZZZZZZZZZ > ZZ.gnucash.NNNNNNNNNNNNNN.gnucash > > Where the 'X', 'Y', & 'Z' date/time stamps are the exact same, then > you > *probably* only need concern yourself with the very last one that has > a unique 'N' stamp as it is the one to contain your most recent > edits. > > You have two choices now, rename this file to GK.gnucash and keep > using it as your book file, or: > > You'll need to triage which file you want to keep, and determine if > transactions were entered into some backups and not others. > > 'Unlucky' would be that those time stamps have multiple branching > points. (same 'X' but different 'Y' or 'Z' stamps, etc.) Unlucky > would also be if the respective 'last modified' dates on those files > don't closely coincide or exactly match the stamp in the file name, > and especially if some of the earlier stamps have modified dates > after those with later stamps. (which means you were entering > transactions into separate files. This is unlikely since you were > always looking for the most 'recent' but that doesn't mean you might > not have clicked on the wrong one.) > > If you'd like to send a screenshot of the Detailed List view of that > directory (might take more than one image for scrolling) feel free. > We can help diagnose how bad the mess is from those. > > > > 5-After installing W11, a fresh install of GNUc, and a restore of > > old > > GNUc data to 'gnucash.dat' directory, with GNUc closed, I opened > > Windows Explorer, navigated to my GNUc data directory and doubled > > clicked on a recent '.gnucash' file. > The cause of the above mess. Just stick to opening the app via the > icon after it is resolved. The process of resolving it may require > double-clicking specific .gnucash files though. > > Once it is resolved, if you REALLY want to open by double-clicking > the filename, be sure to NEVER open a file with a date/time stamp and > always open the one with the original file name. > > Regards, > Adrien > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. -- David Cousens _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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