Archive - Sharing data via two computers using Dropbox

This is an archived document. Please refer to the more recent knowledge base articles on this page

Using Moneydance 2017 and Moneydance 2019, you should not move your data file to Dropbox. Instead, follow the steps in this article to use the internal sync engine.

What should I know before moving my data?

You should make sure you're running the same version of Moneydance on both systems. You can check the version number within the Moneydance menu --> About Moneydance.

If you obtained Moneydance from the Mac Apple Store, unfortunately, you will not be able to do the below steps due to limitations imposed by Apple regarding the 'sandboxing' of Apps. We are working on an integrated sync mechanism that will allow you to desktop-to-desktop syncing in future releases of Moneydance.

How can I share my data using Dropbox?

To share your data set between two computers running Moneydance, you need to move your data set to a folder that's shared by the two computers. We recommend using your Dropbox

First, make sure that you have a copy of Moneydance 2012.2, Moneydance 2014 or Moneydance 2015 . To find out what version you have go to either Moneydance —> About Moneydance on OSX, or Help —> About Moneydance on other platforms.

To move a data set, the simplest way to accomplish this is to open the data set that you want to move (if it isn't opened already) by going to File —> Open and select it in Moneydance to verify that it is, indeed, the data set that you want to move to Dropbox.

After opening it, if you're using a Mac, right click (or Ctrl + click) the Moneydance title bar, then select the folder directly below your data set to open the folder that contains your data set in Finder.
Alternatively, if your files are saved in the default location, you can access them within Help —> Show Documents Folder.

After doing that, Finder will open and the data set you want to move will be selected (note: in some instances, the data set will have a folder icon instead of the Moneydance icon).
Switch back to the Moneydance window and close Moneydance completely. Then drag and drop the selected data set in the Finder window to your Dropbox folder location.

If you're using Windows or Linux, the location of the data set will also be in the Moneydance title bar, so you can use Windows Explorer (or your preferred Linux file manager) to browse to the location of your data set and find the 'yourfilename'.moneydance file. Alternatively, if your files are saved in the default location, you can also access them within Help —> Show Documents Folder.
Then close Moneydance fully, and move the data set to the Dropbox location.

When you next open Moneydance, you'll be brought to the Welcome screen, which will allow you to re-open the data set. Click the Open Other button at the bottom of the Welcome screen and navigate to the Dropbox location, then select the yourfilename.moneydance data set and open it.

Please note - You should not open your data on more than one system at a time to avoid data corruption. Please ensure you close the data on one system, before opening on another.

Can I use wifi sync rather than Dropbox? -

Wifi Sync is no longer offered for Moneydance 2015, you can still find it in the extension manager for the 2014 version and earlier.

We recommend switching to Dropbox syncing as it's more stable, robust, and there are unfortunately some issues with Wifi syncing that we can't fix due to certain network configurations over which we have no control. As well, Dropbox syncing is end-to-end encrypted, meaning that all your data is encrypted between your Moneydance application and your Moneydance iOS app, with none of it being unencrypted on your Dropbox folder. For these reasons, we've stopped maintaining the Wifi syncing functionality and are unable to fix most problems with it.

Can I follow these instructions to sync my data with a mobile device?

To sync Moneydance with your mobile device, you should follow the instructions in this article.