Let me report when I see this behaviour.

If I use a text editor on elog.cfg directly, while elog is running, then when I save the file, the new elog.cfg is in place,

but the running elog is still running with the old configuration.  You have to restart elog for it to read the new config file and

use the new settings.

This does not apply if you edit elog.cfg via the "config" option in the menu command, where elog will read the new elog.cfg

just after it has been saved.

The reason I sometimes edit the file directly is if I want to create a new logbook, but with all the configuration of another logbook,

and it's quickest to cut-and-paste,  change the heading, create a new directory and restart elog.

This may be completely off what is being reported.