I have an existing business that was running Manager on windows 7. Power supply on that computer broke so turned old computer C drive into an external hard drive (now G). Now have windows 10 on new computer and loaded a current version of MgrIO. I Cannot find business accounting files. Tried G:\users[name]\app data\local\manager that I found in another forum. Also tried G:\users[name]\appdata\roaming\manager\ thinking I might find files there. Any Help would be greatly appreciated
the file location you have mentioned is the default application data folder used by Manager. if you had changed the application data folder in the past, you should be looking in that folder.
try a search for files with .manager extension.
Thanks Sharpdrivetek I tried windows search command ext: .manager and found
about 8 files. one was the 00000 file and 2 are previous backups from end
of 2015 and beginning 2016 the remaining are basically old files from when
I started using the program. None of the files contain the business names
and None of the files reflect any activity in 2016 or 2017. Any other
advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Can you post a screenshot of those 8 files found using search including their details - name/size/date etc.
This is what I have located and by checking my customer list I can tell all of them are very old and show only 2 customers
I can see from the previous post you have not read the Guide I linked to explaining what it is different files. (There would be a small gray circle with a number in it if you or anyone else had.)
Clearly, all these files were created or modified on 12/31/2017. If you have opened them all and determined they are obsolete, as you say, then your actual data was being stored somewhere else. This would only happen if you proactively changed the application data path at some point in the past. Manager never deletes data files, it just leaves obsolete ones in place. Even if you Remove a business from your list, its file remains in the application data folder.
Your statement that business names were not contained in the files wasn’t quite clear. Did you mean in their file names? If so, that is expected. File names for businesses are just hexadecimal strings. If you meant the businesses do not appear on the Businesses page, that probably just confirms what you said elsewhere, that the files are obsolete.
So to recover your data, you need to find out where you were storing it before your crash. Did you move it to the cloud? Did you set up a separate data folder? Unless the physical drive it was on has crashed, it is there somewhere.
Sorry Tut I actually DID read your link in detail, not sure why you think
not?? I understood some of what is in the link, and better understood why
the files are listed as alpha numeric. I also read previous posts on the
forum before I posted myself. I have no clue about gray circle etc. the
link I opened was from my email if that matters… anyway I am not very
savvy with changing file directories or whatever. If this happened it was
not by me doing it intentionally. I simply used the “M” in my task bar to
open the program, opened the business, and did my accounting like creating
customers, invoicing etc. seemed like it worked very well for 2 years. Not
sure what you mean by files being created or modified on 12/31/17. I think
I mentioned in my original post that the computer that broke was due to no
power it was running windows 7 so the hard drive was physically removed,
put in a case and the computer tech copied all of the files to my new
computer which is windows 10 and labeled the folders old desk top & old
downloads and placed the folders on the new computer desktop so I could
access the files. On 12/31 I tried to search the extension ext:.manager
after finding that in your forum. I have found that when you do this the
file shows this as the date. The snippet I posted are the files I found.
Not sure if this matters but I had to download a new version of Manager IO
on the new computer running windows 10.
To clarify, every .manager file when opened the business name is the series
of letters/numbers on the file found not the business name. When I open
them, most show my first 2 customers which was early 2016 in that part of
the program. Some of them show nothing at all like blank company ledgers. 2
are back ups from earlier dates in 2016. Just shows the importance of
regular backups. I really appreciate your help. Do you know of a way that I
can search the old drive for just “application data files”? and if so, a
way I can make the Manager IO program a temp default to open them? That way
I could isolate these files and I assume if Manager IO cannot open them
they would be for another program right? I make a living designing homes so
I know very little about this stuff.
Thanks again, Rick
For the reason I explained.
That’s probably it. The only reason I sent the link was I thought it might help you understand what you are seeing. And the information will be useful as you/we try to help you find your accounting data.
Your screen shot shows that date for all files. So, depending on how you have your view set up, that’s either the date you created the files or modified them. If, as you say, a mere search changes the date, that’s news to me and one more reason not to use Windows. 
That won’t matter. All versions of Manager can open older business data files. The reverse is not true.
No. Without getting too technical, the ability to open Manager data files directly is fairly new. It used to be that files could only be opened by adding the business to the Businesses page and opening from there. Whether these old files can be opened directly or not, I don’t know, and you weren’t specific about how you opened them to discover most of your customers aren’t there. In general, however, through most of the program’s history, you could not open any data file directly, only call it from the main program.
You also said something puzzling. Backup files have never been named with alphanumeric hash. They have always had names matching the business being backed up. For the last year or so, they have had a date appended to the plain text name so you could tell when it was made. The fact that all our files are just 32-character hexadecimal names means they aren’t backups. They were created as businesses at some point, or are housekeeping files the program has used over the years. They could also be relic versions of business files made obsolete by program updates, because the program sometimes needs to modify data structures when new features are added. (This is why you cannot open newer data files with older versions of the program.)
But all that is background. Let’s try to find the missing data:
-
The first step is to estimate when the last time you updated the program was so we know approximately what version you were dealing with.
-
The second step is to go to launch Manager and go to the Preferences tab at the top of the window. Click on it and find the data path listed in blue under Application Data. Copy that and paste it into Windows Explorer to navigate to that folder. This is the folder where Manager is now storing your data. Take a screen shot of that folder and post it here. Also, tell us what the data path said. Then we’ll see where to go.
Can you navigate to G:\users[name]\appdata\roaming\manager\ and double click on the file 
then this “could/might” open your previous version of Manager, if this happens then what is the information under: “About” - Version and Application Data.
NOTE: you may get a warning message about the data files being opened by a later version.
Yes, under File Explorer 
navigate to "G:\users[name]\app data\local\manager" and post a snippet of all the files shown, not just .manager files and don’t open any so that the dates wont be affected.
Thank you, I really appreciate your patience, like I said I have little
knowledge when it comes to this stuff.
To answer your questions,
- The last time I entered info. in Manager IO was August 2017. My office
was destroyed (3’ of water/ flood) and house was damaged by Hurricane Irma
in early Sept. and we have been doing clean up and repairs since.
old computer evacuated with me so flood did not cause power on failure that
started this mess. - I followed you instructions and looked up and copy/pasted the M IO
preference into my PC/ search at top right and it searched for approx. 1 hr
and continued to search and nothing came up. I did it again, and had to
leave the office, when I came back the window was closed (strange?) - I then searched the bottom left pane in windows 10 general search bar
and it located the files as shown in “Snippet A”.
The alph/num files when I open in IO are as follows:
Files beginning with-
000000- blank ledger
2e…- Assets $2013 (2) clients
3c…- Same as 2e
4e…-blank ledger
1269…-Assets $6500 (2) clients
a66…-Same as 2e
bde…-blank ledger
e9b…Same as 1269
f16… Sames as 2e
size- different file type
When I did not see the (2) back up files I mentioned earlier, I opened
Manager IO and found them see “Snippet B”,
When opened:
KD Manager backup - same as 2e
KD mgr 010 - same as 2e
Key Details backup -same as 1269
Lastly I opened Manager IO clicked on preferences, then right clicked on
the data file location, properties and took a snippet “Snippet C”.
Thinking maybe that could give you something to go by.
Again, I really appreciate your time and help with this. Manager IO is a
perfect program for a small business like mine. Easy to learn, use and
meets my small business needs perfectly.
Thanks
Rick
First, a little Forum protocol: there is no need to quote the entire message you want to respond to. Possibly, that is happening because you are responding from email. Logging on to the forum works much, much better for this sort of troubleshooting. If you have to respond from email, delete the message you are responding to rather than forwarding it. That really clogs up the forum. I have edited your last two posts to get rid of the gigantic quotes and leave only your screen shots.
Now to the problem. My first two comments relate to the numbered questions I asked, so I will number them, too.
-
I wasn’t clear enough. When I asked when your last update was, I did not mean when did you last make an entry. I meant when did you download and install the software?
-
When I asked you to paste the application data path into Windows Explorer, I was trying to direct you to navigate to the current actual folder. All you have done is look at properties of what’s on the Preferences screen. You will have to actually copy the data path, paste it into the Windows Explorer window, and go to that folder. I’m interested in the contents of that folder, because this is the place Manager is now storing your data. The good news is that, whatever you may or may not have done before, the program is now using the default location. So things you do from here on will be in the right place.
I have no idea how all those listed businesses found their way into your application data folder (or wherever they actually reside). But that doesn’t matter right now. To simplify things, launch Manager and open each of the businesses listed in blue under the Businesses tab. If the business is not up to date as of your most recent entries, use the Remove Business button to remove it. This does NOT actually delete the business and its records. It just removes it from the list. The entire file and all data for that version of the business will remain safely in the application data folder (the path listed under Preferences). These excess, obsolete, or unneeded files can be ignored or dealt with later.
If one of those businesses turns out to be your most recently updated version, regardless of what it might be named when you open it, click Rename next to whatever name shows and rename it the way you actually want it to be listed.
Continue examining and removing any out of date versions. If, by chance, you come up with two versions that seem to be up to date, rename them different things, such as Key Details 1 and Key Details 2. Later, you can examine them closely to determine if they are, in fact, actually identical, then remove one or the other.
Get back to me and report on the results of these steps.
Sorry about that, I have been using my email to reply.
Okay- #1 My last update was when I installed IO on the new computer running windows 10. Prior to that I really am not sure. I installed the original program end of 2015 beginning of 2016. I do not think I ever logged into Manager for an update, so if it doesn’t do it automatically then I never updated.
#2 - When I copy the File name C:\Users\keyde\AppData\Local\Manager into My PC and search ( I think this is Windows 10 explorer) the computer shows its searching and searching and does not stop. When I paste into the windows 10 general search I get the list of alpha numeric files we keep finding. When I click on the properties of these files they are the C:\Users\keyde\AppData\Local\Manager. I made a snippet showing the properties of one of the files for you to look at., but I do not know how to get it to show directly on the forum page (sorry). Note this file does not show the backups but at the bottom is a different looking file named “size”
I think all those alph/numeric ended up showing as businesses because to see them I think I imported them I think ( I was kinda hacking when I was reading earlier posts about .manager files before I posted my question) Unfortunately all of them are old and duplicates of the same. I listed them in my last post explaining this one was the same or blank etc.
I am going to remove all of the businesses from the new download now. That should give me an empty Manager IO. If you want to see that snippet let me know how.
Thanks
Okay all Businesses are removed so Manager IO is empty
Manager does not update automatically unless you are on the cloud edition, which you are not. This is actually better than it might have been, because your update jumped past some changes to file naming that would have been even more confusing. Your estimated date is good enough to tell me what I wanted to know, which is that all business data files are going to be hexadecimal hash rather than plain English. That helps.
This isn’t a file name, it is the path to a folder. And what I’m asking for isn’t a search. I’m asking you to actually navigate to the folder specified. I was operating off old memories of Windows 7. What you need to do in Windows 10 is copy the path name and paste it into the Quick Access frame in File Explorer (what used to be Windows Explorer). Make sure you delete any quote marks that come across in the copy/paste operation. Click the go to arrow and you should see a listing of what is in that folder. This is what I want a screen shot of. You can also type the path name directly into File Explorer. The reason you cannot navigate there by clicking through various windows is that the folder is probably hidden. Don’t ask me to explain that, please.
It appears that you have missed or skipped over my post above - #10
This is where I was also going to lead you next, @rbgdevelopment. What @Brucanna suggested in his earlier post was intended to look at what could hopefully be the folder where your data is. But then you went off in a different direction talking about searches. And it was becoming clear you had played with some files already. So I first wanted to simplify things for you and explain the difference between searches and navigating to a folder.
What has most likely happened is that your “good” data was in the previous default location. That would have been on the C drive of your old machine. Now that the drive has been rescued and installed into a different box, the old default folder is most likely on the G drive.
The recovery technique will be to use the Add Business button, navigating to the G drive location to select and import businesses, one at a time. Whichever has the recent data is the file you will want to rename within the program (although it might come up with that name after you import it, depending on exact versions). Other files in that folder will all be eventually removed from the Businesses list and then deleted.
Okay, Thank you Tut & Brucanna I think we are on to something. I plugged in external drive which has a G: OS and F: Recovery. I Opened Mgr IO and tried to import using G;\Users\Rick (old computer)\AppData\Roaming\Manager - Not authorized to open. Then tried \Local and same. Then when I was going to make a snipppet to show you I did the same but accidentally put in G:\Users\Rick\AppData w/o anything else and a window appeared saying Not authorized but had a continue button which opened a Manager and a list of files (made snippet) appeared one is dated November of 2017 that could be a great thing. I was hesitant to do more so I just made a snip and closed out so I could finish this post. I am guessing that the continue button allowed the new Mgr IO to open the old G drive files because they are listed. I really hope one of those is my company info. Please advise Thanks Rick