REDUCING FILE SIZE
Hi,
I use Moneydance synced between my desktop, laptop and iPhone. I now have data for many years. How do I archive older records so that my devices do not need to sync so much data? Ideally, I would archive any transaction older than, say, 36 month.
JAB
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1 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 27 May, 2023 08:55 AM
You can’t. But file size is not normally a problem for MD. Do you actually have a size/speed issue?
There are some tricks tho’.
Do this, install/run toolbox extension. Click ‘analyse dataset and objects’ button. Post the output here.
2 Posted by dwg on 27 May, 2023 09:00 AM
I'm a fellow user.
The archiving feature was removed in one of the Moneydance 2015 releases. It was found to be particularly problematic especially where Investment accounts were involved where you cannot arbitrarily archive before a certain date since those investments can still be active. You cannot just exclude investment accounts either since they often involve transfers between accounts and with Moneydance being built on double entry accounting principles if you remove one side of the transaction you must remove the other side.
Many people think that archiving old data will improve performance, experience has shown that this is not the case with modern computer systems. Trying to reduce the storage used i.e. reduce file sizes, is also an often stated aim. Because of data integrity we know this is not a good idea, however it is suggested to use the Toolbox extension which can remove redundant data and can also perform tasks like pruning old share price data and thus reduce file sizes without the loss of user level data.
In general it is recommended to use the filters provided in Moneydance to limit the amount of data viewed and to use reports with date ranges if you want to see specific data. Views or in Moneydance terms Filters are the way that Databases restrict the amount of data showing without removing data since once removed it is no longer usable in any way.
For no longer used accounts you can also mark them as inactive and remove remove them from displays and various drop downs, so the data is still there but you are not seeing it.
3 Posted by Jeremy Astill-B... on 27 May, 2023 01:05 PM
Many thanks. So perhaps I am looking for problems which aren’t in fact problems?
On balance, I am going to go with not fixing something which isn’t broken!
All the best.
JAB
4 Posted by Jeremy Astill-B... on 27 May, 2023 01:08 PM
I am sort of the view that I am looking for a problem which I don’t have, so am inclined not to fix something which isn’t broken! But see below as requested. If no obvious problem, I will let this lie. All the best. JAB
DATASET FILE ANALYSIS
====================
Dataset path: /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Documents/Jeremy Astill-Brown-20210813-2046.moneydance
Dataset size: 6.2MB
- settings file size: 3.0KB
- key file size: 0.1KB
- tiksync folder size: 3.4MB (with 128 files)
(note trunk file size: 2.8MB)
- attachments size: 0.0MB (in 0 attachments)
- archive size: 2.8MB (in 17 files)
---------------------------------------------
Valid files size: 6.2MB (in 147 files)
Non-core file(s) size: 0.0MB (in 0 files)
LARGE (core) file(s) > 0.5MB....:
- 1.0MB Mod: 2022-07-11 /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Documents/Jeremy Astill-Brown-20210813-2046.moneydance/safe/archive/202205.mdtxnarchive
- 0.8MB Mod: 2021-10-27 /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Documents/Jeremy Astill-Brown-20210813-2046.moneydance/safe/archive/202108.mdtxnarchive
- 2.8MB Mod: 2023-05-27 /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Documents/Jeremy Astill-Brown-20210813-2046.moneydance/safe/tiksync/trunk
DATABASE OBJECT COUNT (count) (est.size KBs):
------------------------------------------------------
Object: csnap 13 2.8
Object: reminder 20 14.5
Object: secsubtypes 1 0.2
Object: txn 5383 2691.6
Object: olsvc 1 0.1
Object: oltxns 15 1.3
Object: curr 47 14.6
Object: acct 77 28.0
Object: misc 2 0.2
==========
TOTAL: 5559 2753.4
QUICK SEARCH FOR OTHER DATASETS:
---------------------------------
Dataset: Mod: 2019-11-22 /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Documents/Emilia.moneydance
Dataset: Mod: 2021-08-13 /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Documents/Jeremy Astill-Brown.moneydance
Dataset: Mod: 2017-10-02 /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/Containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Documents/Personal Finances.moneydance
BACKUP FILES
-------------
SYNC FOLDERS FOUND:
---------------------
Sync Folder: 2023-05-09 /Users/jeremyastill-brown1/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox/.moneydancesync/d9911341-831b-42c7-a6d9-3472d715f760
(for a more extensive search please use Toolbox - Find my Datasets and Backups button
<END>
5 Posted by Stuart Beesley ... on 27 May, 2023 01:49 PM
6MB and 128 files. You have no problem to worry about.
6 Posted by Jeremy Astill-B... on 27 May, 2023 03:44 PM
Many thanks. JAB
Ethan closed this discussion on 28 May, 2023 11:35 PM.