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Forum Discussion
"remove "_i.fdt" files from everyone's dropbox and devices"
This alert popped up without provocation. I've not seen before. I selected cancel. What does the message indicate? Is there a security issue?
I am experiencing the same problem. I am getting a pop-up asking if I want to remove _i.fdt files from everyone's Dropbox and devices each time I get on my computer. I do not know what these files are or how the delete is being initiated but (based on the extensions) they may be related to built-in search indexing in Quickbooks. I've turned off these automatic updates per below. Hopefully that will resolve the issue.
- Go to the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
- Select Search, then Company Preferences.
- Uncheck Update Automatically.
- Click OK."
Good research, Dawg. They seem to be coming from "company_filename.QBW.SearchIndex" in the company file folder. Not sure why these files have suddenly become an issue.
In addition to your solution, I discovered that I can click the "Don't ask me this again" box in the warning dialog box that appears, and the messages will stop WITHOUT stopping the warning messages for other files that I delete.
It would be helpful if Dropbox support explained why making that selection doesn't affect deletion of other files. Is it file type, extension, ...?
Thank you for posting your solution.
Follow up for QuickBooks Desktop users in case they have not heard. It is not good to run QuickBooks when the file is on Dropbox if you have multiple users on multiple machines or even as a single user on two different machines.
While the file is updated multiple times throughout the day, it is not updated on Dropbox in real time, like it would be on an in-house Server or Peer-to-Peer network. There are services that allow this capability: QuickBooks offers a hosting service, Rightworks/Right Networks does, and Qbox is probably the simplest and cheapest approach. However, QBox is designed more like 'checking out' a file while locking out the other user. It is more appropriate for a bookkeeper who needs to work on a customer's books without having to exchange backups, portables, or accountant copies of files.
I hope this is helpful.
Edit by Moderator: Emphasis added as these points cannot be stressed enough. Storing your QuickBooks file in Dropbox and trying to use it without verifying that a) no one else has it open, and b) the file has finished syncing, WILL result in data loss. This is true for any database type file stored in Dropbox, and not just QuickBooks.
