Open and save a file

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To open a file, choose the Open command from the File menu, or use the corresponding icon in the Toolbar.

Opening a file

Data on the disk is loaded into memory, where it can be processed.

  • Accounting files can be opened in Banana Accounting if they are on the local computer or if they are accessible through a network.
    If they have been sent by email, you need to move them to a computer folder before opening.
  • Only one user at a time can edit a file.
    If you edit a protected file or a file already in use by other users, you will need to save the file with different name in order to save your changes.
  • If the file is protected by a password, the password dialogue is displayed.
  • The Banana Accounting program, notifies you that you have opened a read-only file in the following cases:
    • the file is located on a non-writable disk (CD-ROM)
    • the file is located on a temporary non-writable folder
    • the file is protected or the user doesn't have rights to edit it
    • the file has already been opened by another user
    • the file has already been opened by the same user but in another session

 How to look for *.ac2 files

If you don't remember in which directory your accounting files are located, you can use the search Windows Explorer or the Mac finder search tool.

Find your accounting file on a Windows computer

Banana Accounting files have an .ac2 extension. The Windows search tool will vary depending on your Windows version.

  • Windows 10: click on the Search icon on the Applications bar and enter "ac2" or your file name and click on the Documents arrow.
  • From the Explorer File Manager enter the "*.ac2" extension or your file name and let Windows look for it.
  • When in Banana Accounting, click on the File menu > Open, enter the "*.ac2" extension in the top right search box of the dialog window and then click on the look in the whole PC icon, or select the directory where you want Windows to look for your file.

Find your accounting file on a Mac computer

  • In Banana Accounting, in the opening dialog File menu > Open, enter "ac2" or a word that is part of the file name in the top right Search box. With the icons, select where you want to look for your file (in the entire computer or in selected folders).
  • Open the Finder and enter "ac2" or  a word belonging to the file name in the search box.
  • Right click on the Finder icon, then click on Search, and then enter "ac2" or a word belonging to the file name.

 Saving a file

With the Save or Save as... command, data is saved onto the hard disk. Pre-existing disk data are replaced with the new ones.

  • A single file can be saved by only one user at a time.
    The file can be saved by the user and only if it is not also being used by other users
  • Files can be saved anywhere.
    You can enter the file name and destination when saving it for the first time or when using the Save as command from the File menu
    As a first option, Banana Accounting will suggest the Documents folder as destination folder for the .ac2 files, but this can be changed with the Browse button.
  • If you are managing different accounting files, we suggest you create a separate folder for each company and for each accounting year.
  • Each file can be password protected.

Automatic saving

Banana Accounting automatically creates and saves your work in a temporary file that ends with ".autosave" . When you save a file or you exit the program, this temporary file is deleted. In case your computer should crash or turn off in the middle of your work, it would be possible to recover your data by opening this file.

When the program is reopened after a crash, it will check that the temporary autosave file was not deleted, a message appears, Recover autosave file, asking whether you want to retrieve the file.

In the Program Options of the Tools menu, it is possible to setup how frequently Banana Accounting should execute this autosave.

 

Accounting files (*.ac2)

  • Files created with Banana Accounting have an ".ac2" extension, regardless of the operating system being used.
  • The .ac2 file format is specific for Banana. When saving, all data are compacted and saved in bulk.
  • Ac2 files are compatible between different operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux)
    You can save a file with Windows, then open it and edit it on a Mac, and then reopen in it a Linux or Windows computer.
  • Each file can be sent as an email attachment, edited on different operating system and resent to the sender.
  • Accounting files are completely separated from the software Banana Accounting itself, that has an .exe extension for Windows,
  • The installation files for Mac have a .dmg extension and a .deb, .rmp .run or .tgz extension for Linux.

Copying or moving files

Banana Accounting can save files on any drive recognized by the operating system as a rewritable disk.
From non-rewritable drives (CD or DVD) Banana Accounting can only read files.

*.ac2 files can be moved:

  • From one folder to another
    • Use Windows Explorer (Windows) or Finder (Mac) to look for the folder where the files have been saved.
    • Copy and move them to the new destination folder (once pasted, if necessary, they can be deleted from the original folder).
  • From one computer to another
    • Save the files on a USB memory stick and transfer them on the new computer:
      • Open in Banana Accounting the file to be moved
      • From the File menu > Save As command, choose as destination the memory stick
      • You can also copy it by opening Windows Explorer and dragging the accounting file to the memory stick drive.
    •  Send the file as an email attachment to the new computer
       

Deleting or renaming files

Banana Accounting does not have a feature for deleting or renaming files. In order to do this you must use the relative function of the operating system (Windows Explorer or Finder in Mac).
 

Saving files on DropBox, Google Drive and other Cloud systems

Banana Accounting Plus is a NoCloud (or non Cloud) programme: it is installed and works locally. 

Files created with Banana Accounting Plus, as well as all related documents belong exclusively to you and you can save them wherever you want, including on systems such as DropBox and Google Drive that keep files synchronized with Cloud storage services. More info...
Banana Accounting overwrites the *.ac2 files and deletes the *.ac2.bak file. In the list of deleted files you can find the previous versions of the *.ac2.bak file.

Visualization of changes

Banana Accounting, Android version, works directly with the Dropbox server. If you make changes on the PC, normally you have to wait a few seconds before seeing the changes on the server and then on the Banana Accounting file.

To ensure that the file is correctly synchronized with the server on your computer, the file must be marked with a green check.
If you do not see the synchronization symbols (green, red, blue), you must update the Dropbox application installed on your computer.

Another way to check the synchronization status from your computer is to click on the Dropbox symbol in the bottom bar:

File synchronization on Dropbox or Goole Drive

Furthermore, on Android, synchronization does not occur while you are working with the application. You must therefore close and reopen it.

Warning:

Banana Accounting cannot notice if you open and edit files on several computers at the same time. It may therefore happen that one person deletes data or another person adds new data. Only the last copy of the file that has been saved is kept.
You must therefore take care to avoid working on the same file at the same time.


Related resources:

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