Changing Application Data location

21

You could have just copied the path from About Manager and pasted it into the Go to Folder dialog box. No need to make hidden files visible.

Yes, you do, because you created the new folder on gDrive.

Sorry, but this is unlikely to be a Manager bug. Other Mac users keep their files on gDrive and do not report problems. And this forum is the place to report bugs. If the moderators decide your problem looks like a bug, one of them will change it to the Bugs category. Two of us (@Brucanna and myself) are already part of this discussion.

@lubos is the developer and he is already part of this discussion. But he’s in Australia, so there is about a 15 hour time zone difference between you and him.

One other possibility occurs to me. I have no idea if this could be the cause, but perhaps you have buried the new application data folder too deep in the directory. Try moving your new Manager folder, with all files, to a higher level in the directory. This will shorten the path name length.

22

@Tut

I already had hidden files visible for other reasons, didn’t do it specially for Manager.

Yes, I created the new folder in gDrive but the selection of it in Manager is done via a standard file open dialog and I can’t type in a path name. That’s what I meant by having no control over the path name. I guess I should have said “the format of the path name”.

I have tried using a Manager folder at a higher level of the directory structure, on my desktop actually, and got the same error.

My opinion that this is a bug is based on what I see in the error message I get. As you can see in the screenshot I posted, the path in the message is incorrect. It should include “/Manager” at the end since that’s the folder I selected in the OSX Open dialog I get when I click the Change button but instead it displays the path to the enclosing folder, Accounts. It’s possible that’s an error in constructing the error message but, as a software developer with some 30+ years of experience, it seems that should be enough evidence for the developer to at least take a look at the code.

I would really like to use Manager, from what I’ve seen it’s far better than any of the other free accounting software packages I’ve used. I’m still completely open to trying any other ways to solve this issue if anyone has any, and/or to provide any relevant information about my Mac that may help isolate the problem.

Thanks,
Pete

23

I’m a Mac user and used to keep files on Google Drive. But as I have been saying for about 3 weeks now, it no longer works. It is a bug

24

@csmb, so what you are saying, when you change the directory to Users/Dad/Google Drive/CSMB Home/Accounts/Manager, Manager omits /Manager and thinks you have selected Users/Dad/Google Drive/CSMB Home/Accounts only?

I suspect this has nothing to do with Google Drive but it doesn’t mean Manager is at fault either.

When you click Change Folder button, can you show screenshot how you are selecting Manager folder on Google Drive? Maybe you are not selecting Manager folder, that’s why it’s omitted? I just find it weird some users can reproduce this issue and some can’t. Maybe the difference among users is OS X version? @Tut, are you also on OSX 10.0?

25

I’m on 10.12.3

26

Thanks for chiming in. Yes, what you describe is exactly what is happening. I agree it has nothing to do with Google Drive since I have tried it with a folder on my desktop and get the same error.

Here’s a screenshot of the Open Dialog with the Manager folder selected. It also shows that there are Manager files in the folder. You’ll find a screenshot of the error message earlier in the thread.

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27

It seems like you have wrong dialog box. I’m not using Mac so this is just a guess.

You should see folder dialog box which means no files should be visible at all. Let’s try this experiment:

When Manager folder is selected as per your screenshot, go and select some file within Manager folder. E.g. size and then click Open. See if that fixes the issue.

28

I’m on macOS 10.12.5.

I just did some experimentation with interesting results:

I first copied all my application data to a new folder named Manager on my desktop. When I tried to change the application data path to that folder, I got this error:

However, when I closed Manager and relaunched, the application data path had, in fact, been changed to that folder and all worked fine.

I then tried to change back to the default location, where the original files had remained undisturbed. At that point, I got the same error message @csmb reported earlier, telling me the selected location did not contain any data. I went through some major acrobatics trying to get back to the default location. Knowing I had backups, I uninstalled the program and deleted the Manager folder on my desktop. Then I downloaded a clean, new copy of the program, installed it, and was dismayed to see it create another Manager folder on my desktop. No matter what I did to purge my computer of all vestiges of the program I could find, the program kept creating a Manager folder on my desktop and populating it with a new 00000000000000000000000000000000.manager file. It absolutely would not let me select the old default folder as the application data folder. It was like there was a “ghost in the machine” that wouldn’t give up on that desktop location, even though the installation was clean. I was perplexed as to how that desktop location was being remembered.

The only way I was able to wrest back control was to delete the 00000000000000000000000000000000.manager file in the default location, launch the program, and import all the businesses (from the same folder). As I did that, the program generated new accounting files for each business, perhaps because the new download of v17.6.45 required a conversion from the older data files, which were from v17.6.42. Eventually I was able to get all businesses restored and all obsolete data files purged.

So something is going on. Note that this did not involve any change in data path to an external drive, either physical or cloud.

Also, although I set Finder to show all hidden files, the default .local/Share/Manager folder would not show in the browsing window after clicking on Change. I had to toggle that individually using Option + Shift + ., even though the hidden files showed in all other Finder windows. I don’t know if this is related or not.

29

@lubos I think files are still shown in the Open folder dialog, they are just greyed out/disabled as in my screenshot.

@tut I assume you clicked a file within the Manager folder when you got that error message? Reason for asking is I did that and got the same error message. Quit and re-opened Manager and the correct gDrive folder was opened and listed as the Application data folder!!! I’m a happy camper. I don’t need to switch back to the default folder so didn’t try that to see if that resulted in the same problems you had.

I think it’s fair to say that there is something strange going on within Manager. Even though I’m now up and running, I’m happy to do whatever else is needed to help resolve the issue for other users who might run into it.

30

What was “selected location”? Did the path contain Manager folder or was it omitted?

So the dialog doesn’t let you select any file whatsoever, is that correct?

31

@lubos Well now you got me thinking. I know I got the same error message as @tut and I THOUGHT I had selected a file with the Manager folder but now when I try to do that, it won’t let me select a file as they are disabled. I THINK what I did was double click on a file with the Manager folder rather than select it and click the Open button.

I wonder if the issue has something to do with having hidden files visible? I always have that set and it’s fairly unusual for Mac users to do that so perhaps that’s why things work for other folks.

32

Don’t think so.

But you said files are “disabled”, can you still double-click on the file?

33

They are disabled yes, but double clicking triggers the Open button although I don;t know what is passed back to as the folder name in that case. Sorry, I should paid more attention.

34

I see. So when you click Open button on folder, it works. If you double-click on the file within the folder, it fails?

35

When I clicked the Open button with the folder selected, that’s when I got the original error message that started this thread. I don’t think I ever tried double-clicking the folder but almost certain I double clicked a file in the folder when I got the error reported by @tut, which, after a restart showed the correct folder.

36

OK, so double-clicking file works. Double-clicking folder or clicking Open button on folder doesn’t work. Is that correct? I will need to reproduce myself.

37

I confess I didn’t notice. Reading some of @csmb’s posts, it seems he may have been trying to select a file, rather than a folder. In my case, I selected the .local/Share/Manager folder itself, not a file within it. This was the same folder originally created as the default data application folder by the program. I had never deleted it, moved it, or renamed it, even during the temporary period when data folders could be elsewhere (because that folder was still needed for the “administrative” files).

So I think what you are asking is whether my path was truncated like @csmb’s was. And the answer is, I don’t know. And I’m reasonably certain I clicked the Open button, rather than double-click the folder.[quote=“csmb, post:29, topic:10178”]
@lubos I think files are still shown in the Open folder dialog, they are just greyed out/disabled as in my screenshot.
[/quote]

Yes, this was the case for me.

No, I only selected the Manager folder in both cases: when I moved to the desktop and got the first funky error I showed a screen shot of and when I moved back to the default location and got the “no data” error.

38

I’m about to log off for the evening but will check in again in the morning.

39

In case it helps, on Windows, Manager will close and the re-open on its own to complete the change of the Application Data folder

40

Yup