dat file storage

[jnewton]

Mark:
I'm continuing to learn FM. I just noticed that everytime a new investment is entered it creates a dat file. the folder it stores the dat file sems to be the last folder that was accessed by the program. So I have dat files spread out over several different folders. I want to keep these files organized and in the same folder. What is the default folder and can I just move all dat files to the same folder? Will any get overwritten if I have multiple investments?

[Mark]

Hi jnewton,

The original default location is "My Documents \ Fund Manager". You set this either when you manually create a new investment, or when you import/retrieve there is an option to "Automatically Create New Investments As Needed". Next to this option is an "Options..." button, where you can select the folder for the new investments.

You should not change the location of these investments outside of Fund Manager, as Fund Manager will not be able to find them. It is not always the easiest to move the location if you have many investments. Here are several different ways you can do it:

1) From within the Portfolio Editor, select the investment, and choose "File / Save Investment As...", and assign it a name/location.

2) Alternatively, you can close the investment, move the investment file outside of Fund Manager, and then re-open it with "File / Open Investment(s)...".

3) You could also exit FM, move the investment files outside of FM, and re-start FM. You will get a notice about missing investments. At this point you have the option to point FM to look for that file in another folder. This method only works if you did not rename the file itself, but just moved the location. This doesn't work if you have the same named investment file in multiple folders now, as you would have to rename the file when you move it, to prevent overwriting an existing investment.

You could do #3 for all your investments that don't have a filename conflict, and then do #1 or #2 for the rest. You might also find it helpful to add the "Location" field to your Portfolio Editor, or create a report with the "Path and filename" field. You can sort by this field, to find any that aren't in the same folder.

[jnewton]

Thanks Mark.
It looks like the vast majority of the files are in two different folders, both with Fund Manager directories. I think I saw somewhere that FM 9 and FM 10 use different directories. which would explain the difference. Easy to deal with/manage. Thanks again

[jnewton]

Mark:
The problem seems to only involve about 15 files. Seems that #1 above is the simplest solution. If there is already a file in the default folder I assume I just rename the file by adding a number and then save. Correct? Thanks

[Mark]

Hi jnewton.

If there is already a file in the default folder I assume I just rename the file by adding a number and then save. Correct?

Correct. Rename the one you are moving with "File / Save Investment As..." to any unique name, so that you aren't overwriting an existing investment.

As an aside, FM 9 and 10 should have had the same default location (My Documents \ Fund Manager)...