MYOB Backups
Hi
I've noticed that the latest version of MYOB 2026.5 no longer has the facility for a local backup.
This is problematic for some of my clients as they want to have their own backups on their lo...
Forum Discussion
Pray tell me what that will achieve, and getting lawyers and legal involved in this argument isn't going to fix the problems - lawyers and legal just spend your money and huge amounts of time with no guarantee of the outcome you thought you wanted.
MYOB have been appraised of the problems through this forum and I believe they are listening - fixing the problem is not synonymous with wishing things be rolled back to the old software - as has been explained in numerous posts buy MYOB, myself and others - this is just not possible - this is just because software has a shelf life and is then deprecated .... that is the nature of a lot of things we use .... .too old to keep going; unfortunately MYOB got caught in that problem ..... Microsoft has deprecated the database on which offline files ran and as such they cannot be used going forward.
A class action won't change that unless you want to have a go at Microsoft! - good luck on that one!! - got a very big bank account and funds.
What MYOB is possibly guilty of is a messy rollout of how it manages things without the ability to back up locally - an alternative solution and timing.
I think we all need to take deep breath and realise MYOB know the mess they have created and have, indirectly acknowledged they haven't considered all the requirements we users used the back up to local for.
Our best option and fastest way forward is to keep them honest by pushing for an alternative solution as fast as possible ....... on which they are working.
We are all angry at the mess this has caused but threatening legal is simply that wrong way to get their attention.
The Doc
The_Doc
Our records should be kept for 5-7 years, so this new change has now made MYOB non-compliant - other programs have this as a minimum and they give there subscriber the option to download prior to deleting.
Another question we should be concerned about and that is "What if any previous employee comes back after 20 years making claims against your company for whatever disease has arrived, you no longer have those records to show the dates they were actually employed by you?." This is real!
So far this conversation has been going on in the community for months now, we have seen more MYOB updates since this all began and yet MYOB have not fixed this problem.
I do not see how Microsoft has anything to do with the choice of us backing up our own data on our own local systems just like we could months ago.
I thinking you are mixing requirements for backup between the supplier and user here - as it stands - a backup by MYOB, now, is for a subscriber - and if that subscriber has just opened a new MYOB file today the data won't go back 5 -7 years - but if that subscriber has had the MYOB file open and running for 10 years then auto-back up by MYOB will capture all that data.
What is on that file is not MYOB's responsibility except that they need to enable someone to get at that data should they need to in 20 years - and there lies the problem.... in that you have identified a problem and MYOB has acknowledged this limitation to the rollout of the new 2026.6.
If I as a subscriber chose to close my account with MYOB - what happens now - it contains 10 years of data - and I have older files on my laptop and in deep storage that can be opened with AR SE run locally and the datafile staying variant 2026.5 or earlier - data can be retrieved.
However let us say - I subscribe for another 10 years and we are now in 2028.5 - and I stop subscribing - and suddenly - ATO asks questions on data 7 years ago on an employee - how do we access.
If you stopped subscribing but didn't ask MYBO through support for a copy of your file - then after 6 months - MYOB says they don't retain backups - so MYOB don't have a duty to retain backups for you when you no longer subscribe, no more than any other data keeper - we provide cloud for medical practices - but once a medical practice has gone and have not been a subscriber then it isn't our responsibility to keep their data - we do for a 1 year but then we purge and chew up the data drive and destroy it - required for secure destruction - that medical practice cannot in 5 years come to us and say - I need a backup....
I suggest the same applies to a subscriber to MYOB - the responsibility lies with the subscriber...... the problem with MYOB is we no longer can make backup copies to our laptop, server etc and open these offline whenever we wish in 1 year, 10 year, 20 years and MYOB are very much aware of this problem.
Microsoft are very much part of this and have a finger in every pie...... it is their Compact Edition of MS SQL database format that has been deprecated and which is the format MYOB has used for 15 years plus to base their offline data format.
So Microsoft pulled support and the software database reaches end of life - MYOB are not in control of that component - but the way the handle this software deprecation is very much their pie.
I am not the devil here, just telling the story, perhaps I am being the Devil's advocate a little but screaming at the messenger doesn't change the outcome ....... ring Microsoft and ask them to continue to support the CE MS SQL database - and if they say - yes - problem solved we can return to as before - however, likely Microsoft won't answer and we have to wait whilst MYOB quickly finds an alternative database format to hang their offline hat on eg. MS SQL - been around since 1994 and still going.
The Doc
Hi Doc,
I agree with most of what you have written. What concerns most forum users who have posted on this topic is that we are not hearing any of this from MYOB themselves, apart from minor 'acknowledgments' from Forum moderator. Most MYOB staff replies focus on explaining that users no longer need backups.
You wrote:
"MYOB have been appraised of the problems through this forum and I believe they are listening - ... unfortunately MYOB got caught in that problem ..... Microsoft has deprecated the database on which offline files ran and as such they cannot be used going forward.
...
What MYOB is possibly guilty of is a messy rollout of how it manages things without the ability to back up locally - an alternative solution and timing.
I think we all need to take deep breath and realise MYOB know the mess they have created and have, indirectly acknowledged they haven't considered all the requirements we users used the back up to local for.
Our best option and fastest way forward is to keep them honest by pushing for an alternative solution as fast as possible ....... on which they are working."
It would be great and re-assuring to hear this from MYOB themselves.
You also wrote:
"we have to wait whilst MYOB quickly finds an alternative database format to hang their offline hat on"
The first MYOB version using SQLCE database was released in 2011 as AR2011. Microsoft officially deprecated SQLCE as of Feb 2013, however they later agreed to continue to support it until July 2021. It is now Sep 2026.
To me it seems MYOB have had a lot of time to sort this out. I struggle to share your confidence in MYOB delivering a solution for their clients. For 5 years now they have had their clients use unsupported software - with not as much as a whisper on why and what they are doing about it.
Regards
Gavin
Hi gavin12345
You are 100% you know it and I know this but I was being nice and allowing MYOB some dignity in this mess.
But point taken - MYOB needs to step up and take ownership of this mess because, they had plenty of warning.
And at the time, because I know the proprietary database they chose for MYOB Premier and cracked that, I wondered why they were choosing that particular database option - the CE Compact version.
So MYOB as Gavin suggests it really is time for you to step up and actually make a statement about this mess that was long in the planning and poorly prepared for and simply as disastrous for its users as it has been.
The Doc
That's why you keep hard copies of all employees payslips in your archive system where you store invoices etc for the ATO. I have wages records archived that go back to the 1980's. we don't destroy these records for the reason you have stated about a past employee lodging a claim against the company. I have had Center Link contact me about past employees lodging claims that they were employed by us as well.
