Data and app

Troubleshooting

The most common stumbling blocks, their known cause and what you can do next. Every message in Folnaro names its reason. Look here for the wording you see.

The email is not sent

Cause: Usually the server, port, encryption or password of the outgoing mail server is wrong, or the provider requires an app-specific password. Folnaro names the reason the server gives back.

1. Choose Folnaro > Settings… > Email.
2. Under Outgoing server (SMTP), compare server, port and Encryption with your provider’s details.
3. Click Test Connection. If Folnaro reports “The connection failed”, the server’s reason follows.
4. If it says your provider needs an app-specific password, create one in your provider’s account settings and enter it instead of your usual password.

“Your email app could not be opened”

The sender sends through Apple Mail, but no account is set up there. Set up an email account in System Settings or enter your outgoing mail server in Folnaro and try again.

“The password could not be stored in the Keychain”

The Keychain refused to store it, for example because it is locked. Unlock your Mac and try again.

Nothing is sent from the second Mac

The email account and its password stay on each Mac, even with iCloud. Set up the account there once more.

Finalizing or sending is blocked

Cause: Folnaro finalizes a document only when all mandatory details are there and a requested approval matches the current content. What is missing is listed in the inspector under Something is missing before finalizing.

1. Open the draft and look at the checks in the inspector. Add missing customer details with Complete Customer Details and missing details about you with Open Business Profile.
2. If it says “The document needs an approval first.” or “The document changed after it was approved. It needs a new approval.”, have the document approved and record the approval in the send sheet with Record Approval….
3. If there are items under To confirm before finalizing, note briefly under Reason when you finalize why the document is right as it is. The reason goes into the log.

More under Writing invoices.

A check reports a finding

The checks under Folnaro > Settings… > Checks look for documents that are complete but probably wrong: for example a private person with “GmbH” in the name, 0 % VAT to a customer in Germany, reverse charge without a confirmed VAT ID, or the same service billed twice. A finding is not an error. It asks you to take a close look.

1. Read the finding in the inspector. For a word rule it quotes the passage and says where it appears, for example in a line or in the closing text.
2. If the document is wrong, correct the draft. The finding then disappears.
3. If it is right, finalize and give the requested Reason.
4. If a check never fits your work, turn it off under Before finalizing. You change or remove a word rule of your own under Word rules.

The § 14 UStG checks cannot be turned off. Without them, details every invoice needs would be missing. See Settings: Checks.

Questions about invoice numbers and gaps

Folnaro assigns a number only when you finalize. Drafts have no number. Deleting a draft therefore never leaves a gap.

• An invoice was wrong: A finalized invoice stays. You cancel it, and the cancellation invoice gets its own number. See Correcting and canceling invoices.
• You want to continue a series from another app: Under Folnaro > Settings… > Number Ranges, set the next counter at Next counter with Set….
• Folnaro continues at a higher number: If higher numbers are already issued, for example by an import, the counter continues there so no number appears twice.

The counter cannot be set

Cause: A number may exist only once. If the new counter lies below a number already issued, Folnaro refuses it and says “Numbers up to … are already issued. The counter can only continue from ….”

1. Under Next counter, enter at least the number given. Type it without a thousands separator.
2. Click Set… and confirm.

If it says the counter can only start over when the year or month is part of the number, insert the year or month into the Format or choose Continuous. Otherwise numbers would repeat. See Settings: Number Ranges.

An invoice number exists twice

Cause: If you use Folnaro with iCloud on several Macs, in a rare case two Macs can issue the same number while one was offline. Folnaro keeps both invoices, because both may already be with the customer, and shows the problem on the Overview, in the toolbar, in the invoice’s inspector and under Duplicate Numbers in the iCloud settings.

1. Open one of the two invoices, usually the one the customer does not have yet or has not paid yet.
2. In the inspector, click Cancel and Reissue…. Folnaro creates a cancellation invoice and a corrected copy as a draft.
3. Finalize the copy. It gets a new number. Send your customer the cancellation invoice and the new invoice.

If you want to keep both numbers on purpose, for example after talking to your tax advisor, close the notice with Done. The log records that you closed it on purpose. See A number exists twice.

iCloud does not sync

Cause: Usually the Mac is not signed in to iCloud, Folnaro has no access to iCloud, the iCloud storage is full or a Mac is offline. Folnaro > Settings… > iCloud shows what is going on under Status, with the number of changes still waiting.

1. In System Settings under Apple Account, check that both Macs are signed in with the same account and that iCloud is allowed for Folnaro.
2. Click Sync Now first on the Mac with the change, then on the other.
3. If the status stays on an error message, send it through Help > Send Feedback….

No changes are lost. They stay on the Mac until iCloud accepts them. Folnaro does not need iCloud Drive. All messages and their next steps are under Sync with iCloud.

The import does not bring everything

Cause: An import takes over only what the exported files contain and never creates anything twice. Before saving, Folnaro shows a preview with New, Already there and Skipped, findings to check and a Sum check.

“The chosen files hold nothing Folnaro can import.”

The file comes from another part of the app or is empty. Export the list the import instructions name once more and choose it again.

“Everything is in Folnaro already. There is nothing to import.”

You imported these files before. Folnaro recognizes every record and does not create it a second time.

The sum check differs

Single records were skipped or had findings. Open the findings in the preview, check the records named in the old app and import them again after a correction. Records already imported stay as they are.

What each import brings over is under Bring over data from another app.

The PDF says “Reconstruction”

That is correct. Folnaro did not issue an invoice you brought over from another app. When Folnaro creates a PDF for it, “Reconstruction” runs across the page so nobody takes it for the original. Later payments do not appear on the reconstruction.

The original is the PDF your old app created and your customer received. Keep it and hand it over when your tax advisor or the tax office wants to see it.

A timer ran all night

When you stop a timer that ran for ten hours or longer, Folnaro asks for the end and suggests a working day of eight hours. The time after it is not recorded. When an agent, a widget or a shortcut stops such a timer, nobody can be asked: Folnaro then records the time as not billable.

1. Open the entry under Time and correct the start and end.
2. If it is right, mark it with Time > Mark as Billable.

See When a timer runs for a very long time.

The bank statement is not recognized

Cause: Folnaro reads CAMT, MT940 and CSV. Every bank builds its CSV files a little differently. An unknown format needs a column mapping once.

1. If possible, download CAMT or MT940 from online banking. Folnaro recognizes these formats without a mapping.
2. For a CSV file, Assign CSV Columns opens. Map the marked columns and check the Date format. The recognized transactions then appear beside them.
3. If it says “The file cannot be read with this mapping”, usually a column for amount or date is wrong. Change it until transactions appear.

Folnaro remembers the mapping for the account. You can change it later with Edit Columns…. More under Reconcile bank accounts.

Text recognition misses the amount or vendor

Cause: Blurry photos, very small print, handwriting or image PDFs with weak contrast yield little text. If the receipt inbox says “No text recognized”, recognition found nothing readable.

1. Open the receipt in the Receipt Inbox and fill in the missing fields yourself. Folnaro marks what you should check.
2. Rescan the receipt if needed, ideally with your iPhone through File > Import from iPhone or iPad. That usually gives a straight, readable image.
3. For online invoices, use the vendor’s PDF instead of a screenshot.

More under Expenses and receipts.

An agent cannot find Folnaro

Cause: The agent app reads its configuration only at launch, or the path to the MCP server it holds is no longer right, for example because Folnaro is in a different place.

1. Choose Folnaro > Settings… > Agents and the matching Client.
2. Click Write Configuration… again or copy the snippet into the configuration file. The snippet always holds the current path.
3. Quit the agent app completely and open it again.

If Folnaro reports “The file is not valid JSON”, correct the file or paste the snippet by hand. If Settings says “The MCP server is missing from the app”, reinstall Folnaro.

If an agent can read but change nothing, check which switches are on under What agents may do. Canceling is a switch of its own. Without an active subscription, agents can only read. More under Connecting agents through MCP.

Your purchase is not recognized

Cause: After a reinstall, on a new Mac or with another Apple Account, Folnaro does not know your purchase yet. A purchase waiting for Ask to Buy in Family Sharing counts only after it is approved.

1. Choose Folnaro > Settings… > Subscription.
2. At Purchases from this Apple Account, click Restore Purchases.
3. If it says “No purchases were found for this Apple Account”, check in System Settings that you are signed in with the Apple Account you bought with.

Your data stays readable and exportable in any case. See Subscription, trial and what always stays.

Where is my data

Under Folnaro > Settings… > Backup, Database shows the folder with Show in Finder. Change nothing there by hand while Folnaro is running. To move data to another Mac, use a backup or iCloud. See Backup and export and Sync with iCloud.

A shortcut does not respond

Cause: A system-wide shortcut can belong to only one app at a time. If another app uses the same keys, the command never reaches Folnaro.

1. Choose Folnaro > Settings… > Timer.
2. Click the shortcut that does not respond and press new keys. If another app uses the combination, Folnaro says so below the shortcut. Then choose another one.
3. Reset to Default brings back the original keys.

Search and Capture from any app starts out on ⌃⌥⌘Space. You choose different keys in Settings > General. If macOS uses the keys itself, it says so there. If it still does not respond, another app probably uses these keys. Free them there or choose different ones. In Folnaro’s window you reach the same at any time with ⌘K. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Folnaro is locked

Cause: App Lock is on. Folnaro locks at launch, during sleep, when the screen is locked and after the set time without input.

1. Click Unlock and use Touch ID.
2. If Touch ID does not work, use your login password.

You can turn the lock off under Folnaro > Settings… > General at Security. See Privacy and App Lock.

Dotted words appear instead of text

If Folnaro shows something like sidebar.invoices instead of text somewhere, a translation is missing at that spot. That is a bug in the app; your data is not affected. Check whether an update is waiting in the App Store. Otherwise report the spot through Help > Send Feedback….

Report a problem

With Help > Send Feedback… you tell us what happened. Attach window as image adds a picture of the Folnaro window. The picture shows everything in the window at that moment, including customer data. Turn it off if it is not needed.

Describe briefly what you did, what you expected and which message Folnaro showed. A message with an error number is best copied word for word.