Backups, your data file, and moving to a new PC
Everything in TallyMint lives in one encrypted .db file on your own disk: accounts, transactions, budgets, bills, investments, all of it. That single-file design is what makes your data easy to back up, easy to put in your own cloud folder, and easy to carry to a new computer. This guide covers all three.
Where your data lives
When you create a file on first run, TallyMint puts it in Documents\TallyMint by default, but it is an ordinary file and you choose where it lives. Many people keep it inside a Google Drive or OneDrive folder so their own cloud service carries an off-machine copy. That is fine and fully supported: the file is encrypted with your master password before it ever touches disk, so what syncs to your cloud is unreadable without the password.
To open a different file (a second ledger, a backup, or a file you moved), use Settings > General > Switch data file. TallyMint remembers recent files so switching back is one click.
Automatic backups
Backups are on by default. Here is how they behave:
- TallyMint takes a full copy of your data file when you unlock it, at most once every 24 hours, so normal daily use produces a rolling daily history.
- Backups go to a backups folder next to your data file unless you pick a different folder in Settings > Backups. Pointing backups at a cloud-synced folder is a good way to get off-machine copies.
- TallyMint keeps the most recent 14 backups by default; the retention count is adjustable in Settings > Backups.
- Want one right now (before a big import, say)? Settings > Backups > Back Up Now.
Backups are complete, standalone copies of the data file, encrypted exactly like the original, and they open with the master password the file had when the backup was made.
Restoring a backup
A backup is just a TallyMint file, so restoring is opening it:
- Go to Settings > Backups to see the list of backups with their dates, or browse the backups folder directly.
- Open the one you want via Settings > General > Switch data file. Check that it has what you expected.
- To adopt it permanently, copy it over your main file (or keep using it and rename it); it is a normal file on disk, managed with normal file operations.
Moving to a new computer
The whole move is three steps:
- 1. Install TallyMint on the new PC from the website or the Microsoft Store.
- 2. Copy your .db file over (USB stick, your cloud folder, however you like) and open it via Settings > General > Switch data file, or just open TallyMint and point it at the file. Your master password comes with the file; nothing about it changes on new hardware.
- 3. Enter your license key in Settings > License. A TallyMint license includes up to three machine activations, so a new PC alongside or replacing your old one is covered. If you ever run out of activations because of replaced hardware, email support@tallymint.app and we will sort it out.
Bank sync connections travel inside the file too; your SimpleFIN link keeps working on the new machine without a new token.
One honest warning: the master password
Your file and every backup of it are encrypted with your master password, and the password is stored nowhere. Not on our servers (we do not have servers with your data) and not on your disk. If you forget the master password, nobody can recover the data, including us. That is the point of the design, but it puts one job on you: keep the password somewhere safe, like a password manager, and keep backups. A backup protects you from disk failure; only the password protects you from lockout.