inFlow On-Premise’s multi-user mode setup requires one computer to act as your server, while the other client computers connect to it to view the same data.  In this setup, any data entered into inFlow from either computer will show up in both computers.

If you’re finding that the data looks different or if records that used to be available are missing, it could be that your computer is no longer connected to the server. Read on to check if this is the case, and how to fix it.

Create test data to check the connection

If you’ve already set up multi-user mode, and you find that you are not seeing the same data on both computers, try the following:

1. Create a test product/customer/vendor on the client computer.
2. Save your record, then go to the server computer and check to see if the created test information shows up.

The test data showed up on the server computer!

If the test information did show up on the server, then it’s a good sign that your multi-user mode connection is working fine. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind for why the data could look different:

• You may not have the proper user rights to view certain data. For example, if you are logged in as an administrator, you may be able to see all the purchase order information, but another user might have their rights restricted to showing products and sales orders only.
• In purchase orders/sales orders, you can see extra fields such as “Payment Terms” and “Due Date” if you have shipping turned on. If you don’t have that turned on, then you won’t see this data.

The test data didn’t show up on the other computer…

If the test information doesn’t show up, then it’s a definite sign that the two computers are not connected via multi-user mode.

Take a look at the data on the client computer. If it is completely blank (no data at all), then all you need to do is connect to the server computer.

1. Go to Main Menu > Options > Connection Settings.
2. Choose the server from the dropdown, or type in the server name / ip address.
3. Once connected, all the data from the server computer should now show up on the client.

However, if your client computer is showing partial information, then it’s very likely that the client computer was installed as a “server and client” type, in the past. This type of installation allows inFlow to act as both a server and a client, so it can store its own information, on its own database.

To fix this, you will need to merge the two separate databases together.

Merging databases

Here are the steps to merge two databases together:

1. Since you have two “servers” currently, first you’ll need to pick one computer to be the server computer, and another one as the client computer.
2. On the client computer, you’ll need to look at what kind of information you want to keep. Go to Main Menu > General > Export Data. You can change which data type to export.
   • Product Details: This is for item name, description, default unit price, etc. Export these if there are different products you need to track in the main computer.
   • Customers: This is for customer information.
   • Vendors: This is for vendor information.
   • Sales Orders: This is for all sales orders.
   • Purchase Orders: This is for all purchase orders.
     

     Note: It’s not a good idea to export and import your quantities as both computers likely have incorrect counts (due to the partial information entered on both sides). It’s best to do a recount in the program after importing any missing orders.

3. OPTIONAL: If you are importing orders, inFlow may not allow this if the order number already exists in inFlow. For example, SO-0001 on the client computer may be for a different sale than the existing SO-0001 on the server computer. inFlow won’t import this as the number exists already, so you’ll need to change the order number in the .csv file to use a different number. You’ll have to do this for purchase orders as well.
4. When you’re done making changes to the content in the .csv files, move these files to your server computer.
5. Save your file as a .csv file and then proceed to importing.

Importing data

1. On the server computer, open inFlow and go to Main Menu > General > Backup Data.
2. Then go to Main Menu > General > Import Data. Start by importing Customer, Vendor, then Products.
3. Optionally, if you exported sales/purchase orders, you can import them as well.

Reset and re-connect

1. On the client computer, go to Main Menu > General > Reset all Data. This will prevent the partial information from being entered mistakenly again.
2. Then go to Main Menu > Options > Connection Settings > Connect to another computer.
3. Select the server computer from the drop down (or type in your server computer name / ip address).

When you’re done, you should now have both computers linked together. Repeat the quick test by creating a test product and see if it shows up on the server computer.