Your Data File Overview - Part 1

Creating and changing data files
Backing up and restoring data files
Optimizing data files
Verifying data files
See also Your Data File Overview - Part 2

An important task in the course of your regular work in MYOB AccountEdge is managing the information, or data, you enter in the MYOB system. Your business’s financial records will remain accurate and useful to you only if you take a few moments occasionally to be sure you’re properly working with your AccountEdge data.

This overview explains the concepts you should know to work with your AccountEdge data, including information about data files, which are the methods by which AccountEdge stores your data.

Creating and changing data files

When you make entries in AccountEdge, that information is stored within one file, called a data file. This file allows you to work with your company’s financial information without expending a lot of time and effort with your computer’s file storage system.

If you track accounting for more than one company, you must use more than one data file.

You can use AccountEdge to keep accounting records for more than one company. If you do so, one data file will exist for each company. A data file is created immediately when you create a new company; if you’ve already begun using AccountEdge, you might remember that you created a data file for your company using the New Data File Assistant.

Creating data files

Before you can begin using AccountEdge, you must create a data file to store your company’s business information. When you create a new data file, you’ll use the AccountEdge New Data File Assistant to simplify the process. The New Data File Assistant asks you a few important questions about your company and creates your data file.

After you’ve created a new data file, you can use the AccountEdge Easy Setup Assistant, which will assist you in entering the beginning financial information for your company.

Click below for a step-by-step procedure:

To create a data file while MYOB AccountEdge is running

To create a data file when MYOB AccountEdge isn’t running

Changing the names of data files

You can change the names of data files at any time.

Warning: Changing the name of a data file may cause problems for other users

If you’re using AccountEdge on a network, don’t forget that other users might need to access the data file whose name you plan to change. With this in mind, there are two things you should remember:

If others are using the data file, you should wait until they’ve closed the data file before you attempt to rename it. Renaming a data file while others are using it could damage the data file.

If necessary, remember to inform other users of the data file’s name change. They’ll need to know the new name of the data file if they want to open it in the future.

Click below for a step-by-step procedure:

To change the name of your data file
Changing the location of data files on your computer

You can move your AccountEdge data file to another location on your network at any time.

Warning: Moving a data file might cause problems for other users

 If you’re using AccountEdge on a network, don’t forget that other users might need to access the data file you plan to move. You may need to change access and sharing settings for the new location to ensure that all your coworkers can continue to work with your data file.

Also, if you move a data file, the custom reports and forms that you’ve created for the data file will no longer be available unless you also move the reports to the new location. We suggest that you copy the current CUSTOM and FORMS folder that exists in the location where the data file is currently stored and paste the folder into the new location.

Click below for a step-by-step procedure:

To move a data file

Backing up and restoring data files

As reliable as computers are these days, they can’t be fully trusted to provide you with trouble-free recordkeeping. As is the case with all machines, computers are capable of failure. In addition, interruptions in your power supply can seriously damage the hardware and software you use to keep track of your business. In short, you need to ensure the information you enter using your computer is safe; without this security, all the information you’ve ever entered could disappear in a moment, never to be recovered.

As a result, we strongly recommend that you preserve your AccountEdge information in another location regularly—and very often. The process of preserving your information in another location is called making a backup. The “other location” where you preserve your information is a file called a backup.

You can use the AccountEdge Backup command to automatically create a backup of your data file, and the Restore command to use a backup file you previously created. Before we discuss how to use the Backup and Restore commands, however, please read the following information about backups.

Some facts about backups
  • A backup typically takes the form of a disk, removable hard disk or tape backup system, depending upon the size of the information that’s being preserved. You can get information about these systems from most computer manuals, as well as the person who sold you your MYOB package.

  • If your data file is too large to fit on a diskette, additional hardware and software packages exist on the market today that will help you store large amounts of data.

Some facts about making backups
  • The process of making a backup of your AccountEdge data file is usually as easy as copying the data file to another location—a standard task that’s quickly performed on any computer.

  • The time you spend making backups of your data file pales in comparison to the amount of time you may need to spend reentering data lost as a result of a damaged data file.

  • If you use the Backup command, you’ll back up your data file only. Any custom forms, reports, spreadsheets and letter templates you’ve created won’t be backed up because they aren’t stored in your data file. You don’t have to back up custom information as often as your data file, but you should keep a copy of your FORMS, CUSTOM, SPREADSHEETS, GRAPHICS and LETTERS folders in another location. These folders are in the location where you installed AccountEdge.

  • If you don’t want to use the AccountEdge Backup and Restore commands, other software programs are available that automate the entire process of making backups—not only for your AccountEdge data file, but for your entire hard disk, as well. If you don’t want to take the time to make backups yourself, consider purchasing such a product.

    (If you decide to use another software program for making backups, be sure to use the MYOB AccountEdge data verification feature to ensure your data file isn’t damaged before you back it up. If you use a backup program other than the AccountEdge backup program, you won’t receive automatic reminders to verify your data, so it’s very important that you remember to perform this important task regularly. See Verifying data files to learn more about using the data verification feature.) .

  • The MYOB AccountEdge Backup command creates a backup of the data file you’re currently using, and compresses it to a smaller, more manageable size.

  • Making a backup requires single-user access to the data file; in other words, only one person can use this data file when this task is being performed. If other people are using the data file, they must close the data file -- either by exiting AccountEdge or by opening a different data file -- before you can continue. To see which users currently have the data file open, choose Active Workstations from the File menu.

We also recommend that you make multiple backups of your AccountEdge data file -- that is, more than one copy of your data file -- and store them at different locations. The purpose of multiple backups is simple: Backups can fail as easily as computers can. If you’ve made one backup of your data file and a computer problem damages the data file on your hard disk, your sole insurance is the backed-up file. If the diskette containing the backed-up file is damaged, as well, you’re in just as much trouble as you would be without any backup at all.

Warning: We usually can’t help if you don’t have a backup

 Not everyone makes backups of their AccountEdge data file, and we at MYOB often hear from these people as they attempt to recover from damaged data files. As much as we’d like to help, the most common way to regain lost data—if a backup doesn’t exist—is to reenter the lost data, which may take hours, days or even weeks. Since you don’t have time to waste, we suggest that you strongly consider making a commitment to making regular backups of your data file.

Click below for a step-by-step procedure:

To make a backup

Following a system of making backups

It’s important that you follow a system of making and storing your backups properly so you’re always covered in event of an emergency. Here are some suggestions for making backups:

  • Make a backup each time you exit AccountEdge. To make this easy to remember, mark the Prompt for Data Backup When Closing selection in the Security section of the Preferences window. Then, each time you exit AccountEdge, an alert message will appear, asking whether you want to create a backup of your data file.

  • Store your backups in places other than the hard disk where your company’s data file exists. If that hard disk is damaged, a backup file could become as damaged as any other file on that computer. We recommend that as soon as you make a backup, copy that backup to a diskette or to a network location.

  • Keep more than one backup from different time periods, such as days or weeks. Say, for example, you use AccountEdge every day; you might keep five backup disks—one for each business day of the week. At the end of each day, you’d copy your backup onto the appropriate day’s diskette. The next week, you’d copy Monday’s backup onto the diskette that contained the previous Monday’s backup, and so on for the rest of the week. (Be sure to delete the previous week’s backup from the diskette first.)

    You might decide to follow another routine—say, keeping 10 backup disks and reusing them every other week, instead of every week. The important thing is to develop a regular routine and to follow through with it. This will ensure that you’ll always have a reliable backup from a recent time period.

  • After you’ve made all entries for an accounting period—which typically happens a few days into the next accounting period—make an official “end-of-the-month” backup and store it in a safe place. We suggest you label this backup clearly with the name of the month. At the end of the 12-month fiscal year, you should have 12 monthly backups.

  • We recommend that you periodically restore a backup you’ve made and open the backed-up data file as a safety measure to ensure that the backups you’re creating will be usable if you ever need them. Backups can and sometimes do fail when they’re restored. These failures can be traced to problems with the backup media (disks, tape cartridges and the like), including exposure to magnetism, excessive heat or moisture. Problems with your computer’s hard disk can damage AccountEdge itself so that the Restore program no longer works properly; this is a rare occurrence, but it can happen. In addition, restoring a backup can help you to identify errors you may have made in the backup process and fix them.

Restoring backed-up data files

The MYOB AccountEdge Restore command closes the data file you’re currently using, decompresses an AccountEdge backup file so you can use it, and opens the decompressed file.

If you want, you can use other software programsto decompress a backup instead of the Restore command. Many other popular decompression programs will restore your backup files, as well

Restoring backed-up data files requires single-user access to the data file; in other words, only one person can use this data file when this task is being performed. If other people are using the data file, they must close the data file -- either by exiting AccountEdge or by opening a different data file -- before you can continue. To see which users currently have the data file open, choose Active Workstations from the File menu.

Click below for a step-by-step procedure:

To restore a backup

Optimizing data files

Over time, your AccountEdge data file will grow considerably in size. As you enter transactions, then remove or purge them, the file will have unused areas that once contained the transactions you’ve gotten rid of. These unused areas can affect the efficiency with which AccountEdge works with the data file, and they consume space on your hard disk that can be used for other purposes. We recommend that you use the MYOB Data Optimization Assistant to remove the unused areas in the data file and keep your accounting software running in top form.

The Data Optimization Assistant should be used whenever you remove many transactions or other records from your data file. In particular, it should be used after you complete any of these tasks:

  • Starting a new fiscal year

  • Starting a new payroll year

  • Purging sales, purchases and journal entries

In addition, you may want to use the Data Optimization Assistant on a regular basis if the transactions you enter are changeable and you make frequent changes to transactions after they’ve been entered.

Click below for a step-by-step procedure:

To optimize a data file

Verifying data files

As often mentioned, one of the most proactive things you can do for your business is to spend a few minutes each day to create a daily backup of your company’s data file. By doing so, you’ll keep yourself out of trouble if an unexpected calamity occurs, such as total computer failure or a damaging lightning storm.

Another tool you can use to keep your accounting information safe is the AccountEdge data verification feature. By checking your data file for errors, data verification can catch minor inconsistencies in your company’s data file before they cause serious problems.

Note: What errors does the data verification feature look for?

 Generally speaking, the AccountEdge data verification feature scans everything inside your data file—from the transaction entries you’ve made into the MYOB system to the computer code that makes up the basic foundation of any MYOB AccountEdge data file.

You can verify your data file at any time. To make data verification a daily routine, the verification process can also occur at the same time as the process of making a backup.

Idea: Use the Data Optimization Assistant to keep your data file in top form

 You may want to use the MYOB AccountEdge Data Optimization Assistant on a regular basis to keep your data file operating at its peak. The Data Optimization Assistant can ensure that the file is operating efficiently, and it may resolve minor problems with the data file, as well. For more information about using the Data Optimization Assistant, see To optimize a data file .

Click below for a step-by-step procedure:

To verify your data file

To verify your data file during the backup process

Your Data File Overview - Part 1