syncing and transactions - do only new transactions get copied?
My question is - does syncing only pick up transactions added since the shared folder has been updated? If there is a problem with dropbox, or in my case pcloud then do transactions not get synced, ever for the time while the file sharing is not working? I just want to understand how the sync works.
This is what happened ..
I had an issue with running Moneydance on 2 computers, some accounts were not in line. What I hadn't realised was that Pcloud had stopped running on one computer. I fixed that issue and expected that as synncing was now working that all my accounts would be brought into line automatically but it turned out that only transactions added from the point onwards appeared on both computers, any transactions added while the shared folder was not updated, never appeared.
(I use Pcloud because Dropbox dropped support for linux a while back, although they have since restored it.)
I resolved the problem following the advice on https://infinitekind.tenderapp.com/discussions/problems/69216-missing-transactionssyncing-problems .
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Support Staff 1 Posted by Maddy on 23 Mar, 2023 12:59 PM
Hi Patrick,
We are sorry to hear about the problem you have encountered.
In order to determine what might be causing the problem, please can you provide the information below:
Which version and build of Moneydance are you using? To check, open Moneydance and select Help --> About Moneydance
Did you have to restore from a backup for some reason? This would interrupt the sync relationship.
Is your data file stored in the default location?
Please note: if you are syncing your data with a mobile device, or another system - you should NOT move your data file to a shared folder location, like Dropbox, iCloud etc. The file should remain on your local system if your data is being synced or shared, as outlined here.
When you navigate to File->Syncing which sync method do you have selected? Shared Folder?
Finally, on which device is your most recent data showing?
--
Maddy, Infinite Kind Support
2 Posted by patrickchamberl... on 23 Mar, 2023 01:43 PM
- Moneydance version 2022.6 (4097) on both computers
- data file on default location on both computers
- File->Syncing method 'shared folder' on both computers .. but as I said the file sharing service on one computer stopped running for a period of time.
- Both computers had the very most recent data, added after I fixed the issue with file sharing service .. the issue was that data added while the file sharing service wasn't running were never synced and both computers were missing each others data.
So to recap, sync is working fine now, but both computers had a gap in their data which was never synced,
The easiest way to resolve this was to pick the computer that had most data, turn off syncing on both computers, to delete data on the 2nd computer , turn sync back on and open the synced file as new on the 2nd computer. All's well again.
I just want to understand how the sync works in case this happens again. It can easily happen that I don't notice that the file sharing service isn't running. This is the disadvantage of not putting the data file in a shared location, I would know if I tried to open Moneydance that the file sharing service wasn't running.
3 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 23 Mar, 2023 06:22 PM
Ok. So in short, syncing should always catch up. It doesn’t matter if your cloud folder is off for a while. When things are changed, then a little .txn file is created in the out directory. Whenever your sync folder is available then MD will copy these txn files to the shared folder. It’s up to your cloud service to sync your shared folder to the cloud. Then on the other end, the reverse happens.
I suspect your sync setup was ‘old’ and things weren’t clean. Best fix is a sync rebuild, which you have now done.
4 Posted by patrickchamberl... on 23 Mar, 2023 07:55 PM
OK thanks for the explanation, that was how I expected it to work.
I suspect the issue was with PCloud - it was complaining that its mount point was not empty, so it wasn't running normally. Not sure what the root cause was.
5 Posted by dwg on 23 Mar, 2023 09:29 PM
Underlying syncing problems tend to have a domino effect. Moneydance is somewhat more complex that you simple syncing of things like photos. The software has to work out what files it has and has not and where it is up to in applying those files to the local data set, if there is a glitch somewhere it tends to get out of alignment, and syncing doesn't happen.
As Stuart said the best solution is a sync rebuild.
With syncing in the environment we have it is not perfect. There is no guaranteed service uptime, limited recovery if the underlying service has a problem etc, we are using what are really using are convenience services. It is very different to syncing in the business world where you have dedicated links, Quality of Service agreements and industrial grade system.
6 Posted by patrickchamberl... on 24 Mar, 2023 09:43 AM
Yes .. I think the best way to avoid problems is simply to check that my cloud service is running normally before starting Moneydance. It's what I do with other apps.
The difference with Moneydance is that each PC uses its own local data file, so there's no warning that the sync isn't working, or in this case that the sync location isn't available.
Thanks for all the information. Very useful.
Maddy closed this discussion on 24 Mar, 2023 11:19 AM.