Sometimes you may need to move your financial data and settings to another machine.
Typical use cases are when you buy a new computer or if you want to use the same settings over two different operating
systems in a dual boot configuration.
Migrating financial data is a as simple as copying
.gnucash
files with a file manager if you know where they are saved. If you cant remember where a file is stored
but you can open it directly within , save it in the desired path from within
.
All other files in the folder are either backups or log files. It wont do any harm to copy them too, but its not likely to do any good, either.
Preferences are stored in three different locations: one for preferences,
one for reports, and one for online banking settings. Preferences are managed by
gsettings
, reports are managed by
itself, and online banking is managed by
aqbanking
. If you do not use online banking,
then you will not have this folder on your machine.
Where the preferences are stored varies
depending on your operating system (see Table 2.2, “Application Settings Locations”, Table 2.3, “Saved Reports Locations”, and
Table 2.4, “Online Banking Settings Locations”). To back up and transfer your entire installation, you must copy
these preferences as well.
Table 2.2. Application Settings Locations
Operating system | folder |
---|---|
Unix | preferences are stored in dconf .
You can use the commands dconf dump /org/gnucash/ on the old machine
and dconf load /org/gnucash/ on the new machine to migrate your preferences. |
Mac OSX | ~/Library/Preferences/gnucash.plist |
Windows | The preferences are stored in the Windows registryHKEY_CURRENT_USER/software/GSettings |
Table 2.3. Saved Reports Locations
Operating system | folder |
---|---|
Unix | ~/.gnucash |
Mac OSX | ~/Library/Application Support/gnucash |
Windows | Documents and Settings/Username/.gnucash or
Users/Username/.gnucash |
Table 2.4. Online Banking Settings Locations
Operating system | folder |
---|---|
Unix | ~/.aqbanking |
Mac OSX | ~/.aqbanking |
Windows | Documents and Settings/Username/.aqbanking |
![]() | Note |
---|---|
On Unix and Mac OSX, these folders will generally not display in the file manager. You must set the file manager to show hidden files and folders to see them. |
![]() | Tip |
---|---|
On Unix and Mac OSX, the ~ symbol means the
|