George, I'm joining in late here, but you could always take the most recent file that has correct data in it, and save it as a new base data file. Then follow the guidance others have offered on not getting into trouble again.
Depending on the circumstances, it could save you a lot of duplicative data entry... David T. On October 21, 2026 4:36:00 PM GMT+05:30, George Kaplan via gnucash-user <[email protected]> wrote: >Thanx David C. & Patrick J. for your suggestions. 😊 >GeorgeKaplan > >-----Original Message----- >From: gnucash-user <[email protected]> On >Behalf Of George Kaplan via gnucash-user >Sent: Monday, October 19, 2026 12:02 PM >To: [email protected]; [email protected] >Subject: Re: [GNC] Initial Display on opening GNUcash for Windows > >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.XXXXXXXXXXXXX >> 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.ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.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. > >_______________________________________________ >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. 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