Back up and Business name change

How can I back up without having to change Business name.

when i back up the file obviously have to change file name from last back up.
By using Business name with a change so as not to copy over last backup, but then it changes Business name on invoices etc to include whatever i have called my last backup.this is printed on all invoices etc.

What is the point of multiple backups? When you back up a business, you are saving a copy of all transactions ever entered. With that data, you can create a report for any point in time or span of time. So, while it is important to back up frequently on a separate drive, there is no need to save previous backups. It is perfectly acceptable to replace the previous backup.

yes i see right

I think it’s still better not to override backups. Disk space is cheap and plentiful.

When you restore business from backup and it has different name than you desire, there is Rename link next to business name when you open the business.

Or you can go to Settings → Business Details and enter business name there. Then it will show on invoices no matter what is the name of the business file.

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No question that disk space has become cheap. I’m curious to know your thinking about why not overwrite backups. What information do you gain, or what risk do you mitigate? The only reason I can think of is to have an older version of the database in case you want to regress to an older version of the application.

Or something bad could happen to your most recent backup, it’s always good to have as many backups as possible.

To me, this suggests multiple copies of the most current backup in different locations rather than keeping older backups. I would rather not create potential confusion in a data recovery situation by having backups of different ages and potentially different formats. You would also have problems if you corrected errors (such as during bank reconciliation). If you imported an older backup, you would be reintroducing those errors.

But normally you don’t restore from backup unless you lost your original data. Losing a few days worth of work is better than losing your entire accounting history.

True. And I guess we could debate data recovery and archiving philosophies forever. As for me, I not only am rigorous with my electronic backups, I keep old paper receipts if they document a business expense, usually for at least 7 years after the business is wrapped up. Painful as it might be, I could recreate my accounting records if necessary. But of course, you then have to be concerned about physical safety of the paper. :wink:

Then how about appending a date/time string to the default filename for backups? Currently, the default filename is always {Business name}.manager. If that is accepted, the new backup overwrites the old one. If the default filename could be {Business name}-{date}-{time}.manager (e.g. Acme Widgets-20160408-134402.manager), then the old backup would not be overwritten.

And also how about having Manager remember the file path (or allow the user to set a default backup directory) so the user does not have to navigate to the desired backup directory every time?

Anything that can make backups easier will encourage users to backup more often. Automatic backups would also be nice, with user-configurable options like location and frequency.

@jon while an excellent suggestion you would still have the same problem as @m1sty222 stated in their initial post, namely, importing a backup “changes the Business name on invoices etc. to whatever I have called my last backup” unless you also do what @lubos recommended “go to Settings → Business Details and enter business name there. Then it will show on invoices no matter what is the name of the business file.”

Also, with your suggestion you could have a “number of backups” control, if you nominate 3 then on the 4th backup the oldest would be deleted

My suggestion would be to use a cloud facility - Dropbox or OneDrive (win10) - for your live Manger files, this way if your computer suddenly drops dead, reconnecting to Dropbox/OneDrive would have all your files re-instated without needing to do backup re-installs.

@tut wrote “I keep old paper receipts … I could recreate my accounting records if necessary”. If they are credit card printer receipts good luck, the ink on them generally fads and become unreadable by 6 mths.

Yes, but that wasn’t a problem in the days of carbon paper. :wink: Actually, I, too, have now moved on to scans and remote, electronic backups. I should purge those old records. :sob: