Restoring from Backup
This article solely relates to the new version of MoneyWell (that is available from the App Store and released in March 2023) and is entirely not relevant to any of the previous versions, MoneyWell 3, MoneyWell 2 or the MoneyWell 1.
If you are using MoneyWell 2 or MoneyWell 3, please read this article instead, Restoring from Backup
Backing up your data is very important. MoneyWell 2023 does create its own snapshots of your data, but this is not a substitute for your own backup system.
Ideally you should have a backup on an external drive incase the drive in your machine fails, as well as a remote backup, preferably out of your house, to guard against the loss of your data due to theft, fire or some other disaster.
Please see our article, Backing Up MoneyWell, for more information on making adequate backups of your MoneyWell data.
Restoring from a Snapshot
With that said, if you do want to attempt to recover a backup which MoneyWell has made, you can follow these instructions:
- Open MoneyWell and close any Budgets that may have opened
- Head to the Menu bar and then Help -> Show Backups Folder
- This will open a Finder Window containing all the snapshots that MoneyWell has created
- The snapshots are saved as ".mwarchive" files. With the naming structure of "BudgetName@_@UUID@_@TimeCode.mwarchive"
- Find the .mwarchive file with the correct "BudgetName" and which is also closest to the last known time when MoneyWell was good/accurate/up-to-date
- Once you have located the correct .mwarchive file. Double-click it. This will open a prompt to check that you would like to import this archive
- Click "Import Archive", this will open the newly imported budget in MoneyWell
- If required you can then rename the Budget by going to MoneyWell -> File -> Rename Budget...
If the file isn't the right one (too old, too new etc.) you may need to repeat the process a few times to locate the correct one.
A restored file will be set up as a "Local" budget, so you'll then need to enable sync by going to File -> Enable Budget Sync. You'll then need to download the newly created budget on any other devices you're syncing with.
Restoring from other Backup
The process for restoring from a manual backup is much the same as above but much simpler.
- Locate the .mwarchive file that you have backed up and wish to restore from. This could be on an external drive, cloud service, etc.
- Copy the .mwarchive file to the Mac you wish to restore to
Double Click the .mwarchive file, this will open a prompt to check that you would like to import this archive
- Click "Import Archive", this will open the newly imported budget in MoneyWell
- If required you can then rename the Budget by going to MoneyWell -> File -> Rename Budget...
A restored file will be set up as a "Local" budget, so you'll then need to enable sync by going to File -> Enable Budget Sync. You'll then need to download the newly created budget on any other devices you're syncing with.
Test your Backup
A final point to remember: Once you've got your backup system set-up, congratulate yourself, and then set a reminder in your calendar for a few weeks time to do a test restore of some data from each of your backup systems. Possibly more devastating than losing data because you didn't have a backup would be to lost data despite having a backup system because you haven't checked that it's working.
As always, if you have any questions regarding restoring from a backup as it pertains to MoneyWell data, please contact us.
You can find more information on making a backup from our help article, Backing Up MoneyWell.