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Moneydance data file growing quickly

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hudsonrs55

01 Oct, 2025 11:07 PM

I've been using Moneydance for many years now and have about 20 years of data in my file.
I've never seen the data file get much over 1 gig in size, however lately the data file has grown to 6 gig. I ran the Toolbox extension under the Advanced Options menu to Shrink Dataset size which brought the file down to just under 3 gig, however 3 days later it's back up to 5 gig. Any idea what has caused this change.

1. 1 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 02 Oct, 2025 06:18 AM

   

   I have a suspicion.

   Please run toolbox. Analyse dataset and objects. Upload that output here as a .txt file.

   Also grab help/show console. Save that to a txt file and upload that here too.

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2. 2 Posted by hudsonrs55 on 03 Oct, 2025 12:14 AM

   

   Sorry, not clear on where to upload the files.

   Scott

   • smime.p7s 1.35 KB
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3. 3 Posted by dwg on 03 Oct, 2025 12:29 AM

   

   Use your web browser to upload them to the thread:

   https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/problems/113196-moneydance-data-file-growing-quickly.

   There is an Attach File button beneath the Reply box.

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4. 4 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 04 Oct, 2025 02:26 PM

   

   ??

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5. 5 Posted by hudsonrs55 on 04 Oct, 2025 05:33 PM

   

   sorry for the delay

   • Show_Console_hudsons 16.2 KB
   • toolbox_output_hudsons.txt 29.8 KB
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6. 6 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 04 Oct, 2025 08:43 PM

   

   Your dataset should only be 400MB and 311MB of that is attachments. It’s currently 5.5GB.

   Without attachments it would only be about 90MB

   You have lots of PDFs. Many are 0.5 to 2MB. Some like this one are 9MB
   HD-Mar-2014.pdf

   However, this is not your problem. These two files need deleting.
   

   /Users/Scott/Documents/Money Dance/hudsons.moneydance/safe/tiksync/in/78de0141-2c4b-4ce5-9be1-a7ca1793c411.mdtxn
   /Users/Scott/Documents/Money Dance/hudsons.moneydance/safe/tiksync/in/8df9a010-e3ab-408a-bd12-b9f3bae7b1d3.mdtxn
   

   Are you using sync? I assume not. If not, run toolbox. Shrink dataset. 1 Days. Say yes to all pop up questions. Ie purge in/out.

   Then rerun analyse dataset and objects and send that output here.

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7. 7 Posted by hudsonrs55 on 05 Oct, 2025 01:11 AM

   

   this seems to have worked. Thanks for your help.

   • toolbox_output_hudsons_10-04.txt 29.3 KB
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8. 8 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 05 Oct, 2025 06:21 AM

   

   Yup 👍

   Toolbox 🧰 +1 😃

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9. 9 Posted by hudsonrs55 on 05 Oct, 2025 12:27 PM

   

   Any thoughts on what may have caused this. Is there something I should be watching out for. I do use the sync feature with the iphone app. but had turned it off due to the issue

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10. 10 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 05 Oct, 2025 05:28 PM

    

    Yup. But to be honest not worth trying to explain. Probably a slow sync with Dropbox connection causing a large file. Sync is fine, but Dropbox folders is best.

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11. 11 Posted by dwg on 05 Oct, 2025 10:02 PM

    

    In other words it is not really something you can influence, it is outside of your control, if it happens it happens and the best you can do is no what action to take.

    We are dealing with syncing over a public network, there is no guaranteed level of service for the network so anything can happen.

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12. 12 Posted by hudsonrs55 on 05 Oct, 2025 10:16 PM

    

    Thanks for all your help on this I've learned a lot on managing the datafile. Appreciate the explanation I've used one of the other KB docs "Delete moneydance data from icloud"to remove a large MD file from iCloud. Will enable the sync again and go from there.

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13. Maddy closed this discussion on 06 Oct, 2025 01:02 PM.