Moving Dance form one Mac 10.5 to Another Mac 10.6
David Husk
I need to move MoneyDance to a new computer. I have no desire to spend weeks setting it up again. What files do I need to move and where are they located?
I tried just moving the folder but apparently have have lost some preferences since the graphs are no longer showing up correctly and the software starts differently. As an aside why aren't the preference and the entire program self contained in the same folder since everyone will need to move MoneyDance eventually.
Thanks
2 Posted by -Kevin N. on 13 May, 2012 07:56 PM
Hi David,
Depending on which version of Moneydance you are using
You can download the 2011 version here:
http://moneydance.com/other
You can download the 2010 version here:
http://moneydance.com/download/2010
You can download the 2008 version here:
http://moneydance.com/download/2008
My limited knowledge of the Mac OS tells me that you should unzip Moneydance.zip to your Applications folder. [corrections?]
Your data file will have a .md extension. Such as Mymoney.md. Any other similarly named files with dates appended to them are backup data files. Such as Mymoney.md-2011-05-13. You should copy the .md data file to your new machine. Copying the backup data files is up to you. As to where they reside, you may be able to glean this information from the title bar when you run moneydance. If not, do a Search / Spotlight? of your computer for *.md. The star * is a wildcard and should help to find any file name with a .md extension.
To preserve your former Preferences, copy config.dict to your new machine. It should reside in the .moneydance folder under your user folder. If memory serves, .moneydance is a hidden folder and will need to be made visable.
As to why Preferences are not contained in the program. Different users on a single machine can have separate Preferences.
HTH -Kevin N.
3 Posted by David Husk on 14 May, 2012 04:06 PM
Thanks for the reply on the Mac moving apps mainly involves drag and drop.
I've moved over MD and the database but apparently there are some additional files that need to come over. They are probably in the libraries somewhere. I just need to know their name(s).
Thanks
4 Posted by -Kevin N. on 14 May, 2012 04:28 PM
Hi David,
config.dict that I memtioned in my prior post will be one of them. Your extensions can either be copied over to the new machine or just redownloaded from the Extensions Menu. Moneydance's Extensions have a .mxt file extension.
What in particular is happening that makes you believe that you are missing files?
-Kevin N.
5 Posted by David Husk on 14 May, 2012 05:09 PM
I made all of the files on the Mac visible yesterday.
I'll search for config.dat and .mxt.
As to what is happening:
1) The imported stock graph data is missing. ( It was moved over with the MD folder)
2) MD came up in default configuration (but all of my accounts are there, except for the graphical data)
And of course I had to reenter the license (expected)
So yes I can fix all of this. I just don't want to spend the time. All of the database programs I've moved so far have been dirt simple. In one case I just had to move one folder and everything worked. So this should be doable. I just need to find the files.
cheers
6 Posted by -Kevin N. on 14 May, 2012 05:45 PM
Hi David,
Just to clarify...
That's config.dict not dat. OK?
-Kevin N.
7 Posted by David Husk on 15 May, 2012 03:16 PM
Well for the Mac it turns out there is only MD and the database + backups + /Library/Preferences/com.moneydance.Moneydance.plist
It is not clear if one needs to move the last file.
The extensions did not come over so I re-added them.
Some views changed which may be caused by moving from a PowerPC G5 OSX 10.5 to Intel OSX 10.6 java
Otherwise all is well.
Cheers
8 Posted by -Kevin N. on 15 May, 2012 03:33 PM
Hi David,
Thank you for the update. Apparently the file list for the Mac OS is different than that of Windows. I appologize for any confusion. I must confess that I am Mac illiterate.
I'm glad to hear that you're now up and running.
-Kevin N.
9 Posted by james f on 15 May, 2012 05:27 PM
On the Mac, there is still a hidden folder named .moneydance . Look to the following articles to find .moneydance on your system.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2350
http://kb.iu.edu/data/ajyj.html
http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/3104/os-x-show-hidden-files-and-fold...
http://osxdaily.com/2009/02/25/show-hidden-files-in-os-x/
http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/31/go-to-folder-useful-mac-os-x-keyboar...
10 Posted by -Kevin N. on 15 May, 2012 06:10 PM
Hi james f.
I had mentioned the hidden .moneydance folder in my post # 2.
Is there a config.dict file in the .moneydance folder with the Mac version of Moneydance?
Can you speculate as to what the Moneydance.plist file is that the OP mentions in his post # 7? It sounds like it could be a preferences list but with the Windows version of MD, the Preferences are stored in config.dict.
-Kevin N.