sage instant account

[LisaJJones]

I have had my year done by the accountant and he has restored all data onto my laptop and version of sage i have however tried logging on today - first time since the restore and it is bringing up a older version of date error message and not letting me open sage - any ideas?

[johndon68]

One possibility is that the copy of Sage your accountant has run the year end on is later that yours - you need to get in touch with him and make sure that he used the same version.

So, for example, if you are using Instant Accounts v15, he must use either Instant v15 or Sage 50 v2009(15). If you are using v15 and the accountant has had the data in v16 then your copy will not be able to read it correctly.

John

[LisaJJones]

Thanks you for your reply
I believe my version is newer than his version but its quite strange as was able to view everything immediately after he restored it just not able to re open ?

[johndon68]

If your version is newer then he would not have been able to use the data at all in an earlier version.

When you try to go in to Sage now, what exactly happens?

John

[LisaJJones]

Its says - the data last used was on a later version do you wish to update - if i click yes its sayd i already have the most update version and if i say no it closes everything and doesnt open sage !!

[johndon68]

What version of Instant and you using and what version of Windows are you using?

John

[LisaJJones]

I Have version 16 and windows 7

[johndon68]

Go to the folder c:\programdata\sage\accounts\2010\company.000 and, in there, you will find a file called WATERMARK.XML - delete this file and you'll be able to get back into the program.

Note, by default, the ProgramData folder is hidden so, if you can't see it, go to Organize -> Folder and Search Options -> View and make sure the option to view hidden files and folders is selected.

John

[LisaJJones]

John

you are a star

thank you so much very much appreciated my accountant has not left me much time to get my VAT return done so really needed to access today

thanks Again
lisa:)

[stugster]

Have you thought about using Solar Accounts? :)

[weebly_one]

This is error you get if your accountant restores your Instant Accounts into Sage 50 - it is not a version error normally, but a difference in the actual software used.

You used to be able to restore Instant backups in Sage 50 then take a backup from Sage 50 and open that in Instant again with no problems, but they introduced better security in V16 to try and prevent this happening, this is obviously something quite common done by accountants so they don;t have to run Instant and Sage 50.

JohnDon is obviously in the know and has told you the trick to overcome it! (They will tell you on support if you weedle it out of them!)

[johndon68]

It's not a security issue as such.

The file WATERMARK.XML is part of the auto update facility in Sage, it's been there since at least v2008 and basically tells Sage if it should be looking for an update or not.

Problem is, it forms part of the backup of data so if Instant data does go into Sage 50, you get the WATERMARK file from Sage 50 which contains details of Sage 50 upgrades which are not part of Instant. However, as Instant & 50 share the same code base, the update routine kicks in an expects to find updates.

By deleting the file, you force the program to recreate it based on the version currently running thereby solving the problem...

John

[weebly_one]

Thanks John - as a user not a developer I don't really understand fully what goes on behind the scenes - I just knew you used to be able to do it and can't now.

[johndon68]

I still do it all the time, trick is to delete the WATERMARK.XML file immediately prior to backing it up to return to the client :D

John

[mrmatt]

Searched google for a solution and found this so thought I might as well ask here!

Recently bought Sage V16 - Previously had a really old version of sage that i was just using to get to grips with it, but when trying to create a new company in v16, it says
"Data has been found from a previous version. This will now be converted to the current version.
Do you want to convert this data?"
If I click no, the program ends.. Could anyone tell me how to remove the previous data?

Regards
Matt

[weebly_one]

Say yes to upgrading old data andthen you can blow away the data you were experimenting with afterwards.

Once the data is converted and you are in sage - go to file - maintenance - rebuild- once you are there press the F1 key to bring up the help with the details on which bits you want to blow away and start again - you can wipe it clean and start from scratch.

[mrmatt]

Say yes to upgrading old data andthen you can blow away the data you were experimenting with afterwards.

Once the data is converted and you are in sage - go to file - maintenance - rebuild- once you are there press the F1 key to bring up the help with the details on which bits you want to blow away and start again - you can wipe it clean and start from scratch.

Excellent thanks very much! :)

[ben nevis]

Was trying to do as above and restore a Sage Instant back up file .004 into Sage line 50 2011. I have deleted as recommended the watermark file but with no success. Has anything changed since this solution was posted? Error message is "This data is from a unsupported version of the program. It is not possible to convert this data directly." How is it possible to convert the data?

[johndon68]

Sage 50 v2011 can upgrade data from v11 of Sage 50 and Instant upwards so it would suggest that the data is from an earlier version of Instant. To upgrade the data, it would have to go through an intermediate version first. So, for example, it could be restored in to v11 of Sage 50 and then on to v2011.

An extension of .004 is also a little unusual - back in the days of backing up onto floppy disk that would have been disk 4 of the backup...

John

[ben nevis]

Thank you. Data is from Sage Version 10 and the 004 is because it was the 4th back up that day and the extension was overwritten. Will progress based on what you say.

[johndon68]

v10 can, I believe, be restored into any version up to 2010 and, from there, into 2011.

John