This article will help you understand causes for deleted data files in EasyACCT.
Why are General Ledger files lost?
The most common cause of losing General Ledger transaction files is closing the year on 12/31/2024 meaning you closed the year-end twice.
What to know about closing the year in EasyACCT:
- EasyACCT only retains two years of transactions: the current year and prior year.
- Closing the year in EasyACCT rolls the prior transactions off to make room for the new year.
- If closed a second time, the prior year transactions roll off again (prematurely), leaving you with no transaction files at all.
- These deleted files are permanently deleted and can't be recovered.
- If you closed the year twice, the only option is to restore a backup. If there's no backup, you must re-enter transactions.
Understanding why files are deleted
- Each company in EasyACCT may have hundreds of individual files that are created when you enter data in a section of each module.
- You can manually delete these files.
- EasyACCT has a backup utility that takes all the individual files for a company and compresses them into a single file.
- The backup file created can be restored or kept as an archive.
- An automatic backup is made once a year whenever you install a new program and access a company for the first time in that program year.
- Files deleted manually through Windows Explorer go to the Recycle Bin.
- Files deleted through other processes, virus scans and the like, are rarely found in the Recycle Bin.
EasyACCT saves most data instantly in the background. This constant process may appear to be potential virus activity to some antivirus programs.
All antivirus programs have settings that tell them what to do with files that are suspicious or infected. If the settings are very restrictive, the antivirus software may delete all suspicious files.
Understanding how leaving a company open may remove files
- EasyACCT doesn't automatically close a company file—you must close files by going back to the home page or company selection screen.
- If a company file is left in an open status for too long, there may be file loss, especially if the data is on a server.
- Server processes, such as file copying and backup procedures, or virus and disc scans, are automatically set to perform at certain times and don't check to see if any EasyACCT company is open.
- Servers have RAM limitations, just like the workstations.
- If a server process is set to take priority over other processes, and there's a shortage of RAM to do the job, an open file that isn't part of the server process may be bumped out to make room for the process.
- Automatic server backup programs may access a file at the same time it's open on a workstation, which can create a locked file.
- Power surges and outages are common, and can erase open files without a trace.
- The program doesn't arbitrarily or periodically delete files.
