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Moving data file

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paul

Dec 28, 2023 @ 09:54 AM

I have moved my .moneydance folder to another locations.

I browse to that location and select .moneydance.

But no data shows, is as if I am looking at blank data file.
The paths appears to becorrect.

• Screenshot_2023-12-28_095427.png 67.1 KB

1. 1 Posted by dwg on Dec 28, 2023 @ 10:25 AM

   

   There must be a .moneydance folder accessible in your login folder, Moneydance will not look in any other location for this folder, within this folder must be the configuration data.

   You can move the data files, i.e. the folders under the documents sub-folder to another location.

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2. 2 Posted by derekkent23 on Dec 28, 2023 @ 11:47 AM

   

   I am not support staff, just a user.
   Hi Paul

   Your screen shot shows a Data Set opened from a location on OneDrive.

   You should NEVER locate your Data Set in OneDrive or any other clouds server. Doing so can lead to Data Set corruption due to the way Moneydance save and retrieves data. Always locate your Data Set on your hard drive preferably in the default location under Moneydance HELP – SHOW DOCUMENT FOLDER.

   Install the extension Toolbox from under EXTENSIONS – MANAGE EXTENSIONS and run Toolbox. Then click Find My Dataset(s) and Backups and follow the on screen instruction. If you find your data set use Moneydance – WINDOW – WELCOME TO MONEYDANCE – OPEN OTHERS and navigate to your .Moneydance Data Set.

   If you still cant find your Data Set try to find your Moneydance backup file .moneydancearchive looking under HELP – SHOW BACKUP FOLDER, then use FILE – RESTORE FROM BACKUP.

   If you can’t see your backup use Toolbox to find your Moneydance back up file.

   Hope this helps.

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3. 3 Posted by paul on Dec 28, 2023 @ 12:07 PM

   

   Thank you all for replying.

   I was aware of the OneDrive issue, but as the files are always held locally, I assumed it wasn't a problem.

   What constitutes the data files?

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4. 4 Posted by dwg on Dec 28, 2023 @ 12:34 PM

   

   With many of the cloud solutions while there are copies of the file in a local folder the client software that drives these solutions are manipulating the files between this local folder and the server with no co-ordination with software like Moneydance this can cause data corruption if the service is moving/copying data while Moneydance is writing data.

   Moneydance does not use a single file for data it is based on the concept of Managed data, so your data is represented by a library of folders and files. In the default setup each of your data "files" is represented by a folder underneath the Moneydance documents folder. Within this folder there will be a lot of sub-folders and files all of these files and folders from the folder underneath Documents down represents your data 'file', this top level folder under documents is also the name of your data 'file'.

   There are practical reasons for using such a structure, it allows us to hold attachments separately from the transaction data, some database vendors like everything to be held in one database, but that is more to their advantage. This structure also allows syncing between systems to be more efficient and use less bandwidth as the software can easily perform incremental syncing.

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5. 5 Posted by derekkent23 on Dec 28, 2023 @ 12:41 PM

   

   I am not support staff, just a user.
   Hi Paul

   If you locate your Data Set in OneDrive even though the OneDrive folder is on your hard drive it can corrupt your Data Set. This is due to the interaction of how Moneydance save and retrieves data and how OneDrive sync to its cloud server.

   Don’t do it.

   Your Moneydance Data Set is a folder containing other folders and files which Moneydance is continuously reading and writing to, OneDrive cant keep up and can get out of sync, which can result in corruption.

   You can use OneDrive as the location for your Moneydance created backup file, to protect you from hard dive failure, as this is one file, in fact a compressed Data Set.

   Hope this helps.

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6. System closed this discussion on Mar 28, 2024 @ 12:50 PM.