Moneydance looses transactions when switching data files.
Moneydance looses transactions when switching data files.
1 Open Moneydance DataFile 1.
2 Edit a transaction.
3 Wait for autosave.
4 Add some new transactions. These will be lost.
5 Before next autosave, switch to DataFile 2. File / Open Recent /
DataFile 2
6 Close MoneyDance.
7 Reopen MoneyDance by double-clicking DataFile 1.
8 See error message "Your autosave file is newer than your data
file. Would you like to use the autosave instead?"
9 Click Yes, choosing the "newer" file.
Changes entered in step 4 lost.
I also want to suggest that this error message is terribly distressing, difficult to understand and it’s hard to know what's the right thing to do:
"Your autosave file is newer than your data file. Would you like to use the autosave instead?"
Moneydance 2010r2 (735)
Windows XP service pack 3
2 Posted by David Eisler on 02 May, 2010 02:45 PM
I thought I should add that the setting "Save On Every Quit" is check marked.
3 Posted by ljb on 04 May, 2010 12:32 AM
This has come up before (see for example this post) but I (and others) were unable to reproduce it. I just tried your exact steps, using version 735, a couple of times. It did save at step 5 when I switched files, it did not prompt to load the autosave, and I did not lose my new transactions.
I'm not saying you are wrong. I think there really is some sequence that can cause it not to save or ask to save, but it apparently isn't easily repeated. Are you really able to reproduce this each time? It's likely going to be impossible for them to fix this unless we can reproduce it on demand.
Support Staff 4 Posted by Raimund Buchholz on 04 May, 2010 09:48 AM
Hi David,
probably that message
might lead to the wrong direction - have you ever tried to open that old data file to see if those 'lost' transaction entries are in place?
I get this message about newer autosaved files too sometimes when switching files - but I'm ignoring this as I manually save my data file on every close...
Raimund
5 Posted by dave.moneydance on 04 May, 2010 05:24 PM
I made this little video to show how to reproduce the problem.
6 Posted by ljb on 04 May, 2010 09:48 PM
I see it, but I still can't reproduce it.
At about 1min 11sec in, when you switch to the new file, MD shows a * in the window title, so it knows the file has been changed. Since you have Save on every quit turned on, it should save the file without asking you, remove the backup ^1.md, then open the new file. It isn't removing the backup and it isn't saving.
I wonder what would happen if you turned off Save on every quit. Would it ask you to save or not, when you switched files?
@Raimund: If it succeeded in saving his second change to the data file, but failed to remove the backup, he would not get the message (because the backup would be older). You should not normally get this message when switching files. I think you should only get this message if (1) MD or your PC crashed with a file open, or (2) make a change, wait for autosave, and then quit without saving - MD won't remove the backup, which will be newer than the data file.
Support Staff 7 Posted by Raimund Buchholz on 04 May, 2010 11:24 PM
I'm unable to fully reproduce...
but I believe I know what happens as MD gives me that 'autosave file is newer' message every time I'm switching data files in a certain way:
now MD throws a kind of error message, showing list of backup files
those backup files contain a date in their name, they are the daily backup files
and those files are older than the corresponding data file MD-file_1 (as you saved manually before quitting MD!)
-> the message MD shows is obviously wrong, caused by switching to another data file while the automatically opened is not fully loaded
Btw. there are two kinds of backup files,
the ones with a date in their name - created every day when you open a data file for the first time, stored in the given backup folder
and those with a ^ at the end - containing newly entered data and refreshed every x minutes, stored in the same folder as the data file
This leads me to the conclusion that MD always shows this kind of false error message when switching data files while others are not fully loaded - starting MD via double-click on a data file may interfere with autoloading the last used data file, in our case double-click on MD-file_1 while MD-file_2 was the last file worked on (and would be the one to be shown if MD was started by it's icon)
@David
could you verify that your data file 1 does not get saved on exit (switching files) by opening that file disregarding any kind of 'error message', please.
This sounds like there may a second problem involved
Raimund
8 Posted by dave.moneydance on 05 May, 2010 08:49 PM
Good job, I switched to 2010r3 (748) and this problem appears to have been fixed. Every time I switch between data files, the autosave file is cleared.
Sorry, I'm no longer able to test the older version.
Support Staff 9 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 08 May, 2010 04:42 PM
David,
I'm glad to hear the newer build has fixed this issue, I'll mark this issue as resolved. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
Angie Rauscher closed this discussion on 08 May, 2010 04:42 PM.
Raimund Buchholz re-opened this discussion on 13 May, 2010 12:56 PM
Support Staff 10 Posted by Raimund Buchholz on 13 May, 2010 12:56 PM
seems also to happen with build 748
http://help.infinitekind.com/discussions/bugs/158-moneydance-can-lo...
Support Staff 11 Posted by Raimund Buchholz on 13 May, 2010 01:03 PM
Dave Eisler
May 13, 2010 @ 01:31 PM via web
Here's a way Moneydance 2010r3 (748) can loose transactions.
1 Open Moneydance data file A.
2 Add a transaction.
3 Wait for autosave.
4 Add some new transactions. These will be lost.
5 Before the next autosave, double-click data file A.
Why would you do this? I did it to try to update / refresh the Moneydance homepage.
6 See error message "Your autosave file is newer than your data file. Would you like to use the autosave instead?"
7 Click Yes, choosing the "newer" file.
Changes entered in step 4 lost.
For a step by step demo, see the attached video.
I guess I'm sensitive to this problem cuz I know I somehow lost a bunch of transactions when using version 735.
Moneydance 2010r3 (748)
Windows XP service pack 3
12 Posted by dave.moneydance on 16 May, 2010 01:08 AM
In this new scenario, there's only one data file. No switching.
Are you able to reproduce it?
I guess I have to spell out that the real problem is this lousy error message. It'd be much better for Moneydance to figure out what to do itself. Moneydance leaves the choice up to the user, who doesn't understand what went wrong and doesn't know what to do. Moneydance should not let customers fail like this. It would be safe for Moneydance to assume customers do not want to loose data. If a choice has to be made by the user, the options and consequences should be more clear.
Support Staff 13 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 07 Jul, 2010 08:01 PM
I have not been able to reproduce this bug in build 751. If you are not using the most recent version (2010r3 build 751), please update to that version. You can download the update here. Please let me know if the issue persists and we will look into other solutions. Please include exactly how you are going through the process when you produce this error, as I have not been able to reproduce this issue when using a single data file. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
14 Posted by dave.moneydance on 08 Jul, 2010 05:12 PM
I installed 751 and, yes, the problem persists. See attached video.
Support Staff 15 Posted by Ben Spencer on 10 Jul, 2010 06:28 PM
Hi David
I now understand the problem. Many thanks for the video that was extremely helpful.
The problem is caused by a know bug. I have attached the bug ticket to this discussion. The cause of the problem is that the currently opened file does not save when opening an existing md file by double clicking it. Even though File>Preferences>general "save on every quit" is checked.
Selecting File>"Open recent" does save the currently open file. Double clicking a file should have the same behaviour as selecting File>"Open recent"
Fixing this ticket would resolve the issue described in your video as when you click on A.md moneydance would ask you if you wanted to save the currently open file. If you clicked yes Moneydance would then save the file before opening A.md which would now be newer than the auto save.
I am sorry for the trouble this has caused you. I recommend using File->Open Recent to switch between files until the issue is resolved.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
16 Posted by dave.moneydance on 13 Jul, 2010 06:31 AM
Thanks for figuring out what goes wrong! I hope it leads to no more lost transactions in Moneydance.
17 Posted by Tracey on 02 Sep, 2011 06:25 PM
I have read through this but I'm not sure if I understand what to do. I keyed a month's worth of receipts and now when I open money dance, I get this error "autsave file is newer than the data file". I feel like if I click to open the autosave file, I will lose the latest entries, but if I click the data file, I'm not sure what will happen. Don't want to lose this info. Please advise.
Support Staff 18 Posted by Jon Hoover on 02 Sep, 2011 07:11 PM
Hi Tracey,
There are a few different things that might cause that message to appear. The problem the people in this thread were having was that they double-clicked to open a new file and Moneydance did not automatically save the old file as it opened a new one. Was this the circumstance that you had done?
Moneydance is reliable in knowing which data is newer, if it is recommending that you open the autosave file I would advise you to do this as it will most likely have your more recent data.
Please let us know if you have any more questions.
Sincerely,
Jon Hoover, Moneydance Support
19 Posted by dave.moneydance on 02 Sep, 2011 08:15 PM
Good luck Tracey! I've tested both options and found no mater which you choose, you sometimes lose data :-(
It seems Moneydance does not know which is newer, and even if it does, it doesn't tell the user. Moneydance gives you an unclear choice and no recommendation.
20 Posted by Griner Tracey on 03 Sep, 2011 04:22 AM
It was reliable. thank you! was nervous about losing that last info entered as it took a couple hours! blessings....
21 Posted by Griner Tracey on 03 Sep, 2011 04:24 AM
I chose to go with the autosave data and all was there...thankfully!
Support Staff 22 Posted by Ben Spencer on 03 Sep, 2011 05:30 AM
If Moneydance tells you there is a newer auto save file you should always say yes to opening it unless you explicitly didn't want to save the last time you closed the program.
Ben Spencer
Moneydance Support