Frequently Asked Questions
I have just turned on synchronisation on another device and it is taking a long time, why?
Last Updated 7 years ago
When you enter information into Bookkeeping4 Pro edition it records a transaction log of everything that you do.
These transaction logs are used for synchronisation between devices.
When you turn on sync all of the transaction logs that are not on Dropbox are sent to there.
Once a transaction log is on Dropbox it is also downloaded onto other devices that also have sync enabled and then applied on those devices.
Depending on how much you have done on the device will depend how many transaction logs there are however their can be thousands if you have done a lot of work.
The amount of time it takes to transfer to Dropbox is dependent upon how fast your connection to Dropbox is, how fast Dropbox is, and how many transaction logs need to be transferred.
There is an entire section of the user guide that explains the synchronisation capability. It explains how it works and also how you use it.
It is very worthwhile to read the user guide before using the synchronisation capability. The user guide is at http://bookkeeping.warby.com/Docs/User_Guide/
The user guide is also on the Bookkeeping4 program in the help section.
If you have been doing a lot of "playing" then you might want to reset your devices and synchronisation so that all of those transaction logs are discarded and you start from scratch.
These transaction logs are used for synchronisation between devices.
When you turn on sync all of the transaction logs that are not on Dropbox are sent to there.
Once a transaction log is on Dropbox it is also downloaded onto other devices that also have sync enabled and then applied on those devices.
Depending on how much you have done on the device will depend how many transaction logs there are however their can be thousands if you have done a lot of work.
The amount of time it takes to transfer to Dropbox is dependent upon how fast your connection to Dropbox is, how fast Dropbox is, and how many transaction logs need to be transferred.
There is an entire section of the user guide that explains the synchronisation capability. It explains how it works and also how you use it.
It is very worthwhile to read the user guide before using the synchronisation capability. The user guide is at http://bookkeeping.warby.com/Docs/User_Guide/
The user guide is also on the Bookkeeping4 program in the help section.
If you have been doing a lot of "playing" then you might want to reset your devices and synchronisation so that all of those transaction logs are discarded and you start from scratch.
Make sure that you have backups of each of your books somewhere safe (e.g. email them to yourself or store them on Dropbox) before doing a complete reset of your devices and synchronisation.
To reset everything to scratch do the following:
1. Take a backup of each book and put in a safe place.
2. On each device do the following:
1.1 Open App Settings > Advanced
1.2 Turn ON "Reset Outbound Sync"
1.3 Turn ON "Reset Database"
1.4 Turn ON "Reset Inbound Sync"
1.5 Turn ON "Close Program" (Note at that point all data in Bookkeeping4 on the device will be wiped including all transaction logs)
3. Go to Dropbox and delete the /Bookkeeping4/Sync/TranLog folder
(This will remove all transaction logs from the synchronisation process)
4. On ONE device start Bookkeeping4
5. Open Sync Settings screen and Turn ON "Sync with Dropbox"
6. Open the Mail program on your device, open the mail message with the backup file, and tell mail to open the backup file attachment with Bookkeeping4 (This will start a restore of the book into Bookkeeping4)
7. Wait for the restore to complete
8. Open the book so that it is on the main menu.
9. Press the "Sync Now" button to make sure everything has been sent to Dropbox.
10. On the OTHER device start Bookkeeping4
11. Open Sync Settings screen and Turn ON "Sync with Dropbox"
12. Press the back button to return to the books list screen and then press the "Sync Now" button to initiate sync.
13. Wait until sync is complete and the book that was restored on the other device should now also reside on this device.
14. Press the "Sync Now" button once more just to make sure everything from Dropbox has been processed
It is highly recommend that you read through the user guide and especially the sections about synchronisation. There is some pages in the "Initial Set Up Tasks" section and more in the "Synchronisation" section.
The best thing is normally to leave sync turned on. By default sync only works over a WiFi connection.
You can enable sync over the Cell/Mobile network if you want. However you should always use WiFi if you are doing large data tasks like restoring or synchronising a restored book from Dropbox.
Also please note that sync only occurs while you have the bookkeeping4 program open.
This saves you from accidentally using network while the program is not open.
It also prevents the device from slowing down when doing other things since the sync process is quite intensive with lots of database activity.
To reset everything to scratch do the following:
1. Take a backup of each book and put in a safe place.
2. On each device do the following:
1.1 Open App Settings > Advanced
1.2 Turn ON "Reset Outbound Sync"
1.3 Turn ON "Reset Database"
1.4 Turn ON "Reset Inbound Sync"
1.5 Turn ON "Close Program" (Note at that point all data in Bookkeeping4 on the device will be wiped including all transaction logs)
3. Go to Dropbox and delete the /Bookkeeping4/Sync/TranLog folder
(This will remove all transaction logs from the synchronisation process)
4. On ONE device start Bookkeeping4
5. Open Sync Settings screen and Turn ON "Sync with Dropbox"
6. Open the Mail program on your device, open the mail message with the backup file, and tell mail to open the backup file attachment with Bookkeeping4 (This will start a restore of the book into Bookkeeping4)
7. Wait for the restore to complete
8. Open the book so that it is on the main menu.
9. Press the "Sync Now" button to make sure everything has been sent to Dropbox.
10. On the OTHER device start Bookkeeping4
11. Open Sync Settings screen and Turn ON "Sync with Dropbox"
12. Press the back button to return to the books list screen and then press the "Sync Now" button to initiate sync.
13. Wait until sync is complete and the book that was restored on the other device should now also reside on this device.
14. Press the "Sync Now" button once more just to make sure everything from Dropbox has been processed
It is highly recommend that you read through the user guide and especially the sections about synchronisation. There is some pages in the "Initial Set Up Tasks" section and more in the "Synchronisation" section.
The best thing is normally to leave sync turned on. By default sync only works over a WiFi connection.
You can enable sync over the Cell/Mobile network if you want. However you should always use WiFi if you are doing large data tasks like restoring or synchronising a restored book from Dropbox.
Also please note that sync only occurs while you have the bookkeeping4 program open.
This saves you from accidentally using network while the program is not open.
It also prevents the device from slowing down when doing other things since the sync process is quite intensive with lots of database activity.