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Bob McCarter's Avatar

Bob McCarter

Dec 16, 2017 @ 04:59 PM

I've been using MD for some time on my laptop (MacBook Pro). All working well. I think I have it set up to store the file locally and create a back up on Dropbox. I am able to sync transactions entered into MD on my iPhone fine.

I just purchased an iMac and went to put the MD application on it, to be able to use MD on both laptop, desktop and iPhone. On the iMac, I opened a file on Dropbox kept in a folder at com.infintekind.MonsydanceOSX>Data>Documents>file.name. This seemed to have caused some glitch, so I quit MD on my iMac and opened it on the MacBook. Now there are duplicates of transactions, accounts that I inactivated have shown up in the sidebar again, incorrect balances...

I located and opened a backup file from 2 days ago. There aren't so many transactions that I can't recreate it to the correct status. But,

1) how do I then make this corrected file my proper "good" file and use from now forward,
2) what is the proper way to use MD on 2 computers + iPhone? or is there a proper way to do that without encountering issues?

I appreciate any guidance!

Bob

  1. 1 Posted by derekkent23 on Dec 17, 2017 @ 09:50 AM

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    I am not support staff, just a user.

    When you setup syncing between you two computers what syncing method did you select when following http://help.infinitekind.com/kb/syncing-and-sharing-data/syncing-wi...
    What version/build are you running on each of your computers, see under HELP – ABOUT MONEYDANCE. For example I am running 2017.6(1657).
    Is your iPhone running version 2.8 of the APP?
    With this information support or other will be able to construct an answer to help you.

    Hope this helps.

  2. 2 Posted by ROBERT W MCCART... on Dec 17, 2017 @ 02:44 PM

    ROBERT W MCCARTER's Avatar

    I didn’t set up syncing between the computers. On my MB Pro, where I had MD originally installed, I am using v2017.4. If I remember, on that computer the MD file is stored locally on my MB Pro with backups on DropBox. Then, the iOS app reads / writes to the DB backup. And it worked fine.

    On my new iMac, I downloaded the most recent version of MD from the infinite kind website, which is the 2017.6 you mention. I opened what I think is the backup file on DropBox, at the file path I mentioned in my post; folder at com.infintekind.MonsydanceOSX>Data>Documents>file.name. However, the back up files created each time I close MD on my MB Pro, don’t seem to reside here (and I’m not sure about that either).

    I’m not sure where to find the version data on the iOS app, it doesn’t seem to be found in settings there, but its the most recent as there are no updates to the app waiting in the App Store.

    Thanks, Derek, anything you can do to straighten me out is appreciated.

    Bob

  3. 3 Posted by ROBERT W MCCART... on Dec 17, 2017 @ 02:58 PM

    ROBERT W MCCARTER's Avatar

    Opening MD on my MB Pro, and under Preferences>Backup, I find the backups are kept at this file path

    /users/myname/Library/containers/com.infinitekind.MoneydanceOSX/Data/Library/Application Support/Moneydance/archive/backups - not on Dropbox

    Which makes me wonder where the iOS app is reading its data

    When I installed MD 2017 on the MB Pro, all of this was according to the recommendations within the MD app

  4. 4 Posted by sth on Dec 17, 2017 @ 04:32 PM

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    The recommendations are to NEVER put your main data file on a network synchronized drive. Not in dropbox, iCloud, shared folder, etc.

  5. 5 Posted by derekkent23 on Dec 18, 2017 @ 09:58 AM

    derekkent23's Avatar

    I am not support staff, just a user.

    Make sure you have the latest build, at time of posting 2017.6(1656), on both computers. Download from https://infinitekind.com/download-moneydance-personal-finance-software
    Below is an overview of sharing data between two computers. You don’t need to know this to set up syncing but if you encounter problem then an understanding of the process helps.
    Before version 2017 you could place your data set in Dropbox and open the same data set on your two computers, provided you opened only one at a time. Opening on both computer at the same time could lead to data corruption.

    Moneydance 2017 has an inbuilt sync engine which allows you to work on the same data set on two computers and on mobile devices at different or even at the same time.

    When syncing with 2017 you have a primary and a secondary computer. The data set is stored in the default location on the hard drive of your primary computer. See under HELP – SHOW DOCUMENT FOLDER. Your data set is a folder not a file. It contains other folders and files. The data set folder is named yourdatasetname.moneydance. In later build of 2017 you are prompted to allow Moneydance to automatically move your data set to the default location if Moneydance detects you have your data set in Dropbox or another cloud server. If you don’t allow your data to be moved it may become corrupted! DON’T STORE YOUR DATA SET IN DROPBOX or any other shared drive.

    Your second computer does not have the same data set as the primary computer. Its data set is created from data synced via Dropbox folder “.moneydancsync” created automatically by the primary computer. The folder “.moneydancesync” may be hidden, so if you are looking for it set whatever your file explorer is called to show hidden File/Folders. The data set has the same naming convention as the primary data set and is stored in the default location on the secondary computer’s hard drive, but it’s not a duplicate of the primary data set. They are not interchangeable. In normal operation Moneydance on your devices reads and writes to the Dropbox folder “.moneydancesync”, creating small transaction files (mdtxn files) in such a way that there should never be any conflicts (at least not to any important files). Filenames are unique and the data is encrypted using your sync key (“Encryption Passphrase”). All changes are recorded in this folder and if any of the changes cause conflicts then they are resolved by checking timestamps that are internal to the file (i.e. not the file modification date). Moneydance 2017 has an automatic daily backup which you can set up under FILE – PREFERENCES - BACKUPS and a manual backup “Export Backup” which you can perform at any time. You can set these backups to use Dropbox in case you have a hard drive failure. If you set a password under FILE – PASSWORDS these files will be encrypted. Don’t rely on external methods alone for backups. When Moneydance makes a backup and you use FILE - RESTORE FROM BACKUP as part of the process it sets syncing method to “Don’t Sync”. This allows you to start syncing afresh. In a backup of your data set made by other means syncing will still be ON. This could mean if the reason you wanted to revert to a backup was something to do with syncing you could be back in problems as it syncs with the data in the Dropbox ”.moneydancesync” folder.
    When you sync your phone it does not have a data set of its own, it reads and writes to the “.moneydancesync” folder in Dropdox.
    Under setting disconnect your Moneydance phone APP. Any un-synced transactions will be lost. This article describes how to set up syncing between two computers. http://help.infinitekind.com/kb/syncing-and-sharing-data/syncing-wi...
    With no more than one computer running Moneydance set up syncing to your mobile devices. See http://help.infinitekind.com/kb/syncing-and-sharing-data/syncing-wi...
    I would recommend not having more than two devices running Moneydance at one time. My set up is two computers and one phone. I found if I have all three devices running Moneydance at the same time I could occasionally get syncing errors, be warned. I reported this the Sean the lead software developer but as far as I know, no fix yet.
    You can set up as many devices as you like for syncing, but only run Moneydance on two devices at a time. For, example if you have Moneydance running on one computer and a phone shut down Moneydance on one of these before opening Moneydance on another device.

    Hope this helps.

  6. 6 Posted by ROBERT W MCCART... on Dec 18, 2017 @ 01:51 PM

    ROBERT W MCCARTER's Avatar

    Very helpful, Derek. Thank you for taking the time to explain all of that.

    I actually was able to get it all set up as described in the MD help files yesterday and all appears to be working properly. Just took a fair amount of time as I started with a back up that was about 2 weeks old and had to enter 2 weeks’ worth of transactions.

    Reading your very informative explanation here did bring up 2 questions:

    1) after doing all that work yesterday, I actually think I should change the “primary” computer from my laptop to my desktop. Doing a quick search I ran across a reference to topic 37805 where you, apparently explained how to do this. (They should pay you!). however, searching for “37805” did not bring up the desired thread. I’ll bet you can provide a link to it ; )

    2) you noted and I’ve read in MD help files to “not rely on external methods alone for backups”. What, then is the preferred back up method? I think MD back ups are now stored on the main computer drive, which is dangerous - if the drive goes down the MD file and back ups are lost. Where should I be backing MD up if not to the cloud?

    Thanks again, Derek, you’ve been most helpful.

    Bob

  7. 7 Posted by derekkent23 on Dec 18, 2017 @ 04:05 PM

    derekkent23's Avatar

    I am not support staff, just a user.

    I can’t find that thread either, possibly it has been made private,

    In any event do a FILE - EXPORT BACKUP from your primary computer. Copy this backup to the computer you want to be your primary computer. In your new primary computer click FILE – RESTORE FROM BACKUP to set up a new data file. Check that all looks OK. Click on HELP – SHOW DOCUMENT FOLDER to open a file finder at this location, Close Moneydance. Delete your old data set. Rename the new data set as required. Open Moneydance and select you new data set in the righthand side of the Welcome to Moneydance window. Disconnect you phone from syncing. Delete the “.moneydancesync” folder in Dropbox. Delete the data set in what was your old primary and now is your second computer. Now you can follow the syncing setup procedure as before.
    As explained in my post 5 above the best place for a backup manual or automatic is in Dropbox.

    Hope this helps.

  8. 8 Posted by ROBERT W MCCART... on Dec 18, 2017 @ 04:18 PM

    ROBERT W MCCARTER's Avatar

    Thank you, again, Derek.

  9. System closed this discussion on Mar 19, 2018 @ 04:20 PM.

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