Recovering PocketMoney data from iTunes backup files

[tennisbear]

Wow, that's kinda nasty, Romad. My first day on the forums and I'm here looking for a viable solution to my issue, my data might be lost forever. I've been a loyal paying customer for years. And I'm being ridiculed because I can't afford to upgrade to attempt to get back my lost data. Very nice. Why did I bother even coming here.

[Feathers]

I'm a paying customer too but the PM I paid for provides two methods of backing up my data to avoid this kind of problem.

I don't think anyone intends ridicule. Given your hardware situation, however, we are perhaps surprised that you've chosen to rely on a backup mechanism that you couldn't guarantee would work and then repeatedly state that you're "a paying customer" as if that moves responsibility for this from Apple (for screwing up the upgrade) onto PM which, as I've said, provides backup facilities that you must have chosen not to use.

Hopefully someone has a solution but it looks like you're in uncharted territory for many.

[romad]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to ridicule you, but just pointing out that you aren't the only one who has "suffered" the sting of so-called "obsolete technology". I thought I was doing it in a kind of ironic fashion, but I see it didn't come across that way. Again, I apologize.

[tennisbear]

I'm a paying customer too but the PM I paid for provides two methods of backing up my data to avoid this kind of problem.

I don't think anyone intends ridicule. Given your hardware situation, however, we are perhaps surprised that you've chosen to rely on a backup mechanism that you couldn't guarantee would work and then repeatedly state that you're "a paying customer" as if that moves responsibility for this from Apple (for screwing up the upgrade) onto PM which, as I've said, provides backup facilities that you must have chosen not to use.

Hopefully someone has a solution but it looks like you're in uncharted territory for many.

No, it seems pretty clear that ridicule was intended. I've seen this kind of attitude throughout my life (4th decade now) in the tech world and I'm always hoping that it'll get better over time. Sadly it does not.

I have a solution: downloading the data from my bank and uploading it into PM. However, if there's an app that my bank has for such access I'll probably transition to that. Anyway, I really wanted to make sure that that previous poster - the one who also couldn't launch the GUI tool - understood that the problem was probably a pre-Intel CPU issue.

If I ran tech support for PM I would create a tech note explaining which solutions worked for which platforms, because this happens with PM more than it should. And as a developer I would also solve this problem so that it never happened again - blaming Apple is not a good enough excuse, sorry. I engineered much more complicated solutions than this one back in college, and that was back in the punch card/slide rules days.

What's surprising to me is that PM is the only app I've used in which I lose my data. I suppose it's the only one in which I've ever cared about the local data being stored on my device.

Have the in-app backup options changed so that they can be set up periodically - not just with a manual push?

[Feathers]

Have the in-app backup options changed so that they can be set up periodically - not just with a manual push?

No, it's still manual which I guess can deter some people.

I'm not sure when I last emailed myself a backup (must do it now...)

[c53204]

Why not simply backup your files using syncdocs and/or email your files to yourself as a backup. There are plenty of options without using iTunes to restore.

[HardyMacia]

I'm not sure how I missed all of these posts in this thread from July. In the next version 3.1.2 I've enabled the iTunes file transfer option so you can access the files in PM from iTunes. You won't need any backup extractor or syncdocs or web browser. You'll be able to plug your iPhone into desktop and and see the PM folder on your iPhone from iTunes.. You'll then be able to drag and drop some of your files back and forth - so you'll be able to grab the PocketMoneyDB.sql file, and you'll be able to add .qif files to PM if you want to import them.

[iPhoneFanaticSteve]

I too would like to transfer my Quicken QIF to my iPhone. But I'm finding it a little tricky.

Download the QIF file to your desktop. Drag it to the SyncDocs window, where it should display immediately. Open PM on your iPhone and go to "WiFi transfers", then click "import from desktop". Follow the prompts on your iPhone

I'm using PocketMoney Desktop v.1.0.4 on Vista. I don't see any SynDocs window that I can drag the QIF file to.

Also, using my iPhone 3GS v.4.2.1, I open PM and tap WiFi Transfers... > Import from desktop... and here's what I get:

A browser pops up (is this Bonjour?) and the title on the page says "local", then below in the first space, is the following greyed-out statement "Searching for SyncDocs services". There is a back arrow on the title bar labeled "Domains" and when I tap it, I see a list of domains (amazing! but I don't know what a domain is.) Under the subtitle "Bonjour" is the domain "local".

It appears to me that Bonjour (whatever that is) can not see SyncDocs on my desktop.

Here's some other facts:

PocketMoney Desktop is open and SyncServer is running.
PocketMoney Sync between my iPhone and PocketMoney Desktop is working flawlessly.
iTunes is open on my desktop (just in case).
Bonjour is checked as an exception on my Windows Firewall.
Exporting QIF to Desktop yields the same result as above "Searching for SynDocs Services", but sending the QIF to my desktop via email, works fine.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Steve

[romad]

Did you download and install SyncDocs from Sourceforge?

[iPhoneFanaticSteve]

Did you download and install SyncDocs from Sourceforge?

aha! Thank you. I knew it had to be something simple.

Somehow when I followed this link (http://www.catamount.com/SyncDocs.html) in the user manual, I never capitalized the "S" and the "D" in SyncDocs, so when I got an error, I presumed this was obsolete, and that it must have been integrated into PocketMoney Desktop, or something. I thought that all the postings about this in the forum were obsolete. Ha!

Awesome. Thanks again.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/syncdocs/

[romad]

Good to hear you have it solved. While Hardy has PocketMoney Sync available for syncing between devices or to PMD, there are still situations where SyncDocs is needed such as QIF import. Therefore I keep a copy on my iMac.

[Feathers]

Good to hear you have it solved. While Hardy has PocketMoney Sync available for syncing between devices or to PMD, there are still situations where SyncDocs is needed such as QIF import. Therefore I keep a copy on my iMac.

Does the newer browser method not work on the Mac then? I thought SyncDocs was optional now.

[romad]

Good to hear you have it solved. While Hardy has PocketMoney Sync available for syncing between devices or to PMD, there are still situations where SyncDocs is needed such as QIF import. Therefore I keep a copy on my iMac.

Does the newer browser method not work on the Mac then? I thought SyncDocs was optional now.

I don't see that option in PMiOS on my iPhone. I have WiFi, Email, PocketMoney Sync as the options. When I tap on WiFi and select one of the actions, PM starts looking for SyncDocs. When I tap on Email, I'm told it isn't supported on "this device". I use PocketMoney Sync for syncing between PMiOS on my iPhone & iPad, and PMD on my iMac.

[Feathers]

That's because you're looking in the wrong place

Presumably, SyncDocs is what you've selected in the 'Data Transfers' options screen under 'Transfer Mode'. I use the Web Browser option there which then ripples through to the data transfer options. (OK, I actually use the email option more often although I haven't tried to restore from an email yet)

[romad]

Ah, I remember now. I found SyncDocs easier to use.

I haven't tried the iTunes option, as I don't understand how to use it. I can see the files that are ON the iDevice, but I can't see how to move files TO the iDevice.