Old backups, what version of manager made them?

1

Is there a way to determine what version of manager a backup was made with?

I don’t want to open them in the current version as I don’t want to “change” anything. I need to be able to see the information I used to generate those old reports.

Opening old backups in the current version is showing me converted/corrected data. I need to see the uncorrected data.

2

You could look at the date of the backup and compare it the the current versions of Manager on that date. Always working from a copy of your backup.

3

The date when the backup is made doesn’t suggest the version of the app. I could be using 2 years old version and make a backup today :slight_smile:

4

I think you got a point there. Maybe there should be a warning in the new editions about the last possible edition’s backups that can be imported without compatibility problem?

5

I don’t believe you will see that, @Mark. The compatibility philosophy has been to convert older file structures whenever necessary and regard any touch by a newer version as rendering the file incompatible with older versions. The developer has shown no interest in keeping obsolete versions of the program in service. Instead, he concentrates on maintaining accounting continuity to the maximum extent possible. The biggest departure from that has been the wholesale deprecation of custom reports from the old query builder. But the underlying accounting was preserved. There have also been recent corrections of inventory costing and tax reporting that have caused frustration.

6

I’ve modified my procedures such that I now zip up all the data in the data folder and name it with a version (e.g. manager-data-20-6-39.zip) and rename the installer (Manager-20-6-39.msi) each time I upgrade. (I also keep all versions that I download on a NAS so I have it handy if required)

I now also have a dummy version running in my Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) which I swap out and import the required files into when necessary.

You can get various earlier versions directly from Github. Releases · Manager-io/Manager.msi · GitHub for Windows, or Releases · Manager-io/Manager.zip · GitHub for the standard zip install.