Viewing Backup Files WITHOUT Restoring Them
I recently noticed that one of my account balances no longer matches the bank's statement, even going back to last year. The difference is a specific amount, such that I believe that I may have accidentally deleted an old transaction from Moneydance. I want to look into my backup files to see if I can identify a deleted transaction, but I do not want to restore a backup to be my current file, as that would lose any new transactions (potentially many months worth). How can I simply look at the contents of backup files without restoring them?
Comments are currently closed for this discussion. You can start a new one.
Keyboard shortcuts
Generic
| ? | Show this help |
|---|---|
| ESC | Blurs the current field |
Comment Form
| r | Focus the comment reply box |
|---|---|
| ^ + ↩ | Submit the comment |
You can use Command ⌘ instead of Control ^ on Mac
1 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 19 May, 2025 11:50 AM
Restoring a backup file will NOT change or overwrite your list dataset! It will create a new dataset with a different name that you can open and look at/change/whatever. When finished, simply file/open your original live dataset.
Note: When using File/Restore from Backup, UNTICK retain sync settings - this is important!
2 Posted by dwg on 19 May, 2025 11:51 AM
You cannot, the backup must be restored in order to be opened.
The backups have been designed so they do NOT overwrite the current file. It creates a completely new account set with a different name, the name of the backup file.
Support Staff 3 Posted by Maddy on 19 May, 2025 01:07 PM
Hi Steve,
We are sorry to hear about the problem you have encountered.
I can see you’ve received some replies from our knowledgeable Moneydance customers.
To add to this useful information I thought it's worth mentioning that if your reconciled balance changed, that must mean that one of the following happened:
1) Your account's starting balance changed
2) One or more cleared transactions were either deleted, had their amount modified, or added
3) One or more transactions were marked (or unmarked) as cleared
Any one of the above would affect the reconciled/cleared balance of an account and could have caused the difference. Moneydance does display an extra confirmation/warning window when you try to do either 1 or 2 in the account's register.
If you had the Mark transactions as cleared when confirmed enabled, in the Network section of the Preferences window, and you performed a download and confirmed transactions with that setting enabled, then those confirmed transactions would have been marked as cleared, affecting the reconciled balance.
In order to correct the problem, you'd need to reverse the root cause of the change in the reconciled balance.
You could also get the reconciled balance back to the correct value by simply entering an adjustment, either to the account's starting balance or by entering an adjustment transaction and marking it as cleared.
Finally, the Adjust Account Balance function adds an adjustment amount into the account (if needed)
You can find this under the Accounts menu in the header.
It’s an adjustment, similar to 'opening balance', which does NOT appear as a transaction. Under the covers, it basically adds to the opening balance.
It adjusts the balance from the beginning of time, as far as the account is concerned.
To do an adjustment as at a specific date, you should create a category, you could call it something like Adjustment Entries.
Then, enter a transaction to the account on the specific day for the amount you need using this created category.
Please keep us posted on your progress, Thank you!
--
Maddy, Infinite Kind Support
4 Posted by Steve on 19 May, 2025 02:01 PM
Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm reasonably sure the account starting balance would not have changed by the amount in question. And the issue does not appear to be related to a cleared vs. uncleared transaction.
The ideal way to do what I want would be by having my current file open in one window and a backup file open in another window, but as far as I can tell that's not possible (or is it?).
I'll try some things and see if I can figure out what happened. Worst case is I'll have to add an adjustment.
5 Posted by dwg on 19 May, 2025 10:41 PM
You cannot have two account sets open simultaneously.
6 Posted by Steve on 21 May, 2025 02:00 AM
Thanks again for everyone's assistance. By going back and forth comparing my current file with an archived backup, I was eventually able to find the discrepancy. I had a previous FSA balance that was unspent last year, and therefore wiped out as the employer gets that money. When that happened, in Moneydance it was recorded as a change to a split in a prior paycheck. I had to make a manual adjustment to the FSA account balance, and now everything comes out correct.
Support Staff 7 Posted by Maddy on 21 May, 2025 11:11 AM
Thank you for reporting back, Steve
We are pleased to hear that you were able to fix the problem.
I'll close this discussion for now, but please don't hesitate to get back in touch, if you need further assistance.
--
Maddy, Infinite Kind Support
Maddy closed this discussion on 21 May, 2025 11:11 AM.