From your earlier post I assume that you have MacOS or Linux.
I so, you can do following.
Manager files are located in directory ~/.local/share/Manager/
Say you have following directory structure for your non-for-profit businesses:
Non-profit 1 ~/Documents/Work/NFP1/
Non-profit 2 ~/Documents/Work/NFP2/
Non-profit 3 ~/Documents/Work/NFP3/
Now, in dir ~/.local/share/Manager/ you have *.manager files for each business (with random names). Lets say random1.manager for nfp1 business, random2.manager for nfp2 business, and, lo and behold, random3.manager for nfp3 business. You should figure out which file is for which business by yourself - I might suggest to make backup and compare size, or hash.
Then you move those files to respective directories, so random1.manager goes to ~/Documents/Work/NFP1/ and so on. Rename those *manager files to something recognizable. Lets pretend that random1.manager file became non-for-profit_business1.manager Please note initial random names.
Now you need to create so called sym links in ~/.local/share/Manager/. Using NFP1 business as an example.
Effectively you are saying to the OS that when accessing file with a name ~/.local/share/Manager/random1.manager, ~/Documents/Work/NFP1/non-for-profit_business1.manager should be opened instead.
I am using this scheme (to keep each business in its own directory). But I am using 17.3.20 now. My guess that this should work in latest release.
Donât be so sure. And even if it works now, there is no guarantee for the future. The developer is still working on related changes and cannot be expected to accommodate unknown workarounds by users.
The reason businesses cannot be saved in the application data folder under plain-language names is that some file systems allow only Latin alphabet names. So Manager generates the random filename of Latin characters and saves the business name somewhere else. To see which filename is associated with the business you are working in, look at the lower right corner of the screen (a very recent addition).
Why did this work last week, but not this week. Some users never moved their files from the application data folder and were no doubt using plain language names. Also I see no logical reason why a friendly username would work in c:\my manager\friendly name but not in appdata folder? The OS either supports it or it doesnât.
Iâm not sure, but thatâs how @lubos explained it to me. I suspect the problem comes with server edition installations. Remember, as desktop users we are hangers-on and will always be subordinate to needs of the paying customers.
In terms of evolving this feature for real world scenarios, what I currently do for budgeting is export a Profit & Loss from Manager into Microsoft Excel where I produce a single page âBudget Reviewâ spreadsheet. This âBudget Reviewâ spreadsheet (see portion below) has 3 parts: Monthly Comparison (left); Year-to-Date Comparison (middle); and Remainder-of-Year Comparison (right).
I donât understand. Is it still possible to have the manager-file in Google-Drive with this new version, or not ? I think this was a very nice feature of the latest update that I wouldnât like to miss anymore
Yes, you can put the Manager file folder where ever you like.
If you had your files in Google-Drive then they should still be there as a Manager update doesnât move your file folder. If you check under About Manager you should see your Application Data path.
My experience was that on upgrading to the new version, Manager files reverted to the old files and were put in the old folder.
Now when I try to select Google Drive for my files I get the error message "Your selected location â/Users/Clive/Google Driveâ does not contain any data.
Copy all files from your current location â/Users/Clive/Financial Stuff/Manager Filesâ to your selected location, then try again."
When I copy the files over and try to select under preferences then I continue to get the error message. So I have to leave them in the old folder.
The recent upgrade did revert the file names to the old format but shouldnât have shifted them.
Mine were in Dropbox prior to all recent upgrades and still are without any actions reguired.
Your â/Users/Clive/Financial Stuff/Manager Filesâ is a user created folder and is not the default Manager folder which would have been â/Users/Clive/Appdata/Local/Managerâ when first installed.
Changing the Application Data path, seems finicky at times but try this with Manager closed.
Move (not copy) the business files to the new location so no files remain in the old location.
Open Manger and no businesses should be listed.
Go to About Manager and click Application Data âChangeâ button and navigate to new location.
If business names appear - close Manager so as to save the new settings.
Nope - that toe-crossing doesnt work unfortunately.
My Manager files were originally in the â/Users/Clive/Financial Stuff/Manager Filesâ folder which I created.
Upon upgrading, I had the new files going to, and being updated in, Google Drive. On installing version 17.5.18 the files reverted to old alphanumeric files but appear back into the original folder (ie not the Google Drive).
I just tried your step 1 and 2 and when I reopened Manager the business were still there - but there was no data al all - completely blank businesses.
Iâve put the files back in the â/Users/Clive/Financial Stuff/Manager Filesâ folder and its back to normal.
Shame I cant change application path to Google Drive
I had the same experience as Clive incl. the same errormessages. Manager works with files in the AppData folder, but says that GoogleDrive doesnât contain any data. Even if the file is present in GoogleDrive. So I downgraded again to the previous version for the time being and it works fine.
So it appears that you did manage to re-locate the manager files from the default once upon a time.
That suggests that you still have a â000 . . . 000â file in the default location which is storing a list of the business file names. After getting to here did you attempt step 3 above - click change.
Anyhow I have just done the following with success - starting with Manager closed
Have all the business files in the desired location folder - in my case a folder within Dropbox.
Navigate to â/Users/(user name)/Appdata/Local/Managerâ folder and delete all files within.
Start Manger:
a) The open page should have ânoâ businesses listed
b) Click on About Manager and the Application Data path should show the default location - â/Users/(user name)/Appdata/Local/Managerâ.
c) Click on âChangeâ and navigate to and select the desired location folder and click âOkâ.
d) Now all the business should be listed
The default location folder should now look like this
The first two files were created when Manager was opened the last when Manager was closed.
Notes:
The â000 . . 000â file will also be created within your desired location and will be the active one.
The âdata / sizeâ files remain in the default location, not required to be in the desired location.
More toe crossing
PS: Both @clive & @Silma are trying to use Google Drive - perhaps thatâs where there is an issue.
@clive perhaps you could test that - have your business files in both locations - Google Drive & â/Users/Clive/Financial Stuff/Manager Filesâ. Start at step 2 above but for step 3c select the Google Drive location first and if no success, then select the âfinancial stuffâ location next.
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to write all these steps down. However, I cant do step 2 (Navigate to â/Users/(user name)/Appdata/Local/Managerâ folder and delete all files within.) because I cant find that folder on my Mac.
I had already tried copying, moving files into both desired locations. The issue is simply that I cannot change the application path - even to another location that has nothing to do with Google Drive.
I now have the main business back up and running but have lost the other 2
Is it possible to revert back to the previous version - the one with meaningful names?
For Macs I understand that its a hidden folder but it can be revealed.
Perhaps the whole Application Data path situation is only a Mac issue.
Have others succeeded in modifying the Application Data path on a Mac?
Either, go to Add Business + Import Business and navigate to your Application Path location then select the required business, use the proper name if available (or use a backup file)
Or, search your hard drive for .manager files (note the dot) and note the file path, then use that with Add Business + Import Business
Note: If you have Import Backup instead of Import Business then use that,
With regards to budgeting and also profit and Loss reports.
Would it be possible to change the program so that total income and total expenses shows as a line across the page as in your example budget or for profit and loss statement. When I do the budget, the total income and total expenses shows as total income and the only the total income figure itself is in a line above and line below. Your example makes it easier to see total income/expenses on a pdf report.
I could change it so that it works like yours, but then it messes up the summary page as I donât want the total income and total expenses in a box all on its own.
Second issue with budgeting:
I have already raised the issue of description fields, but it might need more detail. I was just looking at my budget today and I canât work out how I arrived at the budget figure for the IT Support so having a notes section would be very useful.so people can put in a breakdown of what the figure entails so they donât have to go over the figures to find out how they calculated that figure.
Drilldown
Having the ability to drill down for both actual and budgeted amounts would be very useful. So maybe the budgeted figures will need to be in the form of accounting entries rather than a notes section
