GnuCash Data Files

In normal operation, GnuCash saves your data in normal data files, which can be located in any directory you have permissions for. They are self-contained and can be moved, copied, and backed-up to tape, floppies, or any other medium you choose. They can be saved using any name, and any file extension you choose, but, traditionally the developers and users have used the extension ".xac", or "gml2" to distinguish the new XML format files from the old 1.4 binary file format.

The GnuCash file format has changed between the 1.4 and 1.6 releases. The new version uses XML (making it much easier to write independent tools to manipulate GnuCash files) and supports storing much more meta-information, amongst many other benefits. GnuCash 1.6 can read files from older versions, but older versions cannotread GnuCash 1.6 files. We suggest that GnuCash users who wish to share data upgrade to 1.6.

Gnucash cannot directly open data files from any other accounting package. It can, however, import QIF files that Quicken, Microsoft Money, and several other packages use an export format with the QIF importer. GnuCash does not have the ability to export QIFs at present, though such functionality would be highly desirable - if anybody with some coding skills wants to work on it, please contact the developers.