Settings keep resetting

[dana]

Hi Mark,

I purchased FMP last week. I also had switched to 'cloud mode' a few days before entering my data. And I practised doing a backup and moving the data to another computer to check that would work.

Now some unusual things are happening
- When I create a new investment, sometimes the default folder is somewhere else e.g. the desktop
- Some settings aren't saved between sessions when I reboot. Like I changed all my currency settings and moved a lot of securities between currencies... and it all reset when I rebooted.
- Some investments aren't stored in the portfolio. But the files are in the hard disk somewhere, and when I open the investment into the portfolio it seems OK.

Can you please explain what's happening - where are the settings stored? Is it in the portfolio file? I want the make sure it's always using the same portfolio file/settings. And also, how can I make sure the investments are always stored in the same folder?

I want to keep in cloud mode because when it's set up, I'm going to transfer to another computer for one of our analysts to use.

Best wishes

Dana

[Mark]

Hi Dana,

Besides turning on portable/cloud mode, you also want to make sure you have installed FM to the cloud and are storing all your data files on your cloud drive. For details on doing this, please see:

http://fundmanagersoftware.com/help/portable.html

You want to also make sure you are always starting FM from the cloud, and opening the data from the cloud. You don't want to start FM from your local computer if you want everything on the cloud. Check your shortcut properties you're using to start FM. Also, once you have FM open, check the location of your portfolio file (*.mm4) and all your investments (*.dat). You can easily do this in the Portfolio Editor window, by using "View / List Columns..." to turn on "Location". You can use "File / File Operations / Set Data Location..." to move/set the location for all your open files, plus the default folder for new investments to the data drive on your cloud folder.

Settings like your currency options, and what investments are in your sub-portfolios are all stored in your *.mm4 portfolio file (which you would want to be saved on your cloud drive). You can try making some settings, saving your portfolio, and then verifying that this *.mm4 file is updated.

Your global preferences are stored on the cloud drive in a file called fmprefs.txt. This file will be located in the same folder as your Fm.exe program file.

All your investments are stored in *.dat, one for each investment. All of these files should all be stored in your cloud folder. See the above link for an example, and specific instructions.

Hopefully this helps you figure out the problem, if you still have questions, please let me know.

[dana]

I see. I think the core of it was that I kept switching between the cloud and local versions in my testing. I switched cloud mode off on my local version and it is working as normal again. I may have been somewhat cavalier and taking a 'try to figure it out, then read the manual' approach...

The weirdest part, that I didn't mention in my original post, was that some reports were crashing every time I tried to delete or modify them, and now they're working again. I guess this is because of where reports are supposed to be stored either in cloud or normal mode.

Thanks!

[Mark]

Hi Dana,

The program shouldn't ever crash. If you are able to reproduce a situation where it crashes while you're using the latest version (currently 12.6) please let me know.