We are using the desktop version of Manager that stores the data file locally. We asked our accounts person to take the laptop the software is located on home and work from home. She reconciled the accounts and returned the laptop to the office and we have used the software since it’s been returned.
However, we have realised that the reconciliation that was completed is missing from the current file we are working on. We think she might have worked from a different file (perhaps a file saved to desktop), but we have recently cleaned the desktop/cleared the recycle bin, so we are unable to check if the file she worked on was perhaps saved there. All our backups are of the un-reconciled file.
We are attempting to recover our deleted files, but is there any other way to find and restore the file that our accounts person worked on?
Ask them to show you on the computer they worked on while doing the reconciliation. If the manager business was imported it maybe there. If they worked off a pen drive it maybe there.
The first step should be a detailed questioning of your accounts person to determine exactly what she did. How did she open the program and the business for this “reconciliation.” Did she make any backups? If so, how and where? You say she took home the laptop on which the software is located. But were you storing your application data at the default location? If so, it will still be there unless someone took active steps to delete it from the application data folder. Even if someone removed the business, Manager does not delete the file, but only removes it from the list of businesses on the Businesses page. This Guide may give you additional insight into the nature of what the program stores and where: https://www.manager.io/guides/8394. You should follow the guidance to determine exactly what every file in the application data folder is. Perhaps something was backed up, re-imported, then removed. In other words, your missing work might be right there in the application data folder. The good news is that, unless someone knows what they are doing, it is fairly hard to find the hidden data folder and actually delete a business data file. Many non-expert users would be unable to do it, even maliciously.
Not from within Manager. If someone makes a backup and works on it, the changes remain in that backup file. They are never synched to your normal business data file. If someone deletes that file, it is gone unless some forensic wizard can recover it for you from the computer’s drive. But start with the hidden application data folder.
Thank you Patch and Tut for your help! We got lucky and our accounts person made a back-up file and had it at home. It’s all good now. Thank you very much.
Manual version control it the price you pay when using the free desktop system on more than one computer.
A method I have found useful is to ensure only on copy of the Manager data file exists at one time without a date appended to the end.
To explain, assume your Manager business is called “MyBusiness”, and todays date is 16 May 2020. To use the Manager data file on another computer
Backup MyBusiness. This will create a file in your backup location called “MyBusiness (2020-05-16).manager”
In Manager, rename “MyBusiness” to “MyBusiness (2020-05-16)”, indicating the copy of MyBusiness on this computer may not be the latest
Import “MyBusiness (2020-05-16).manager” into Manager on the new master computer then rename it “MyBusiness” (or if running from the data file directly, rename it “MyBusiness.manager”
Repeat the above process when moving back to the original computer
@Patch - if you use a “free” cloud service like Dropbox or OneDrive etc, you don’t have any need to do this complicated process - Backup, Rename and Import process - as the live file “MyBusiness” is always the latest on each computer after start up and data sync.
Well that’s how I and many other users have been doing it for years.