Indexing and Monitored Folders

Updated: 2022-11-29

When you first configure the Client Manager using the setup wizard, you point it at the folders on your computer or network where you normally save your TaxCycle files. It then monitors these folders for changes so that when you create new TaxCycle files or update the contents of those files, the Client Manager is also updated. This happens even if TaxCycle is not open.

If you change the location where you save TaxCycle files, or you add new folders, you must change the list of monitored folders in the Client Manager so that it continues to get updates. Then, you need to re-index those folders.

Modify monitored folders

Instead of running the setup wizard again, you can access the list of monitored folders from the detailed server configuration options:

1. To open Options from the Start screen, click Options in the blue bar on the left side. If you have a file open, go to the File menu, then click Options.
2. Expand TaxCycle and then click on Client Manager on the left side of the dialog box. 
3. On the right side of the window, click on the Build an index link. This opens a new window for the Monitored Folders page in the Server Options.
   
4. On the right, you will see a list of paths to folders being monitored. (If you don't see a list, make sure the server is started. To learn how to start a server, read the "Start, stop and restart the server" section, on the Client Manager options help page.)
5. Check (or clear) the Sub-folders box next to any folder to monitor (or stop monitoring) sub-folders within a folder.
6. The buttons in the last column of the list of folders allow you to check whether the Client Manager has permissions to access those folders. Click a button next to a particular row to re-run the test, or in the header to test all folders.
7. Add more folder locations by clicking the Add folder button: 
   • Unless you set the Client Manager up to run as a network user, these folders should be folders on the same computer where you are setting up the Client Manager. (Learn more in the Run Client Manager as a network user help topic.)
   • Unless you set the Client Manager to be a private/standalone server, make sure to use the full network path so they are available to other computers on the network (for example, \\computer\folder) and not (C:\folder). You will see a warning if you add a local path for a server that is not private/standalone.
   • Anyone editing files in these folders should have Windows network permissions to access these folders.
   • The Client Manager can also find and carry forward prior-year files from competitor software, so make sure those folders are in the list.
   • A green check mark appears on the folder button in the last column when the Client Manager has permissions to access a folder. 
8. Remove existing folders by clicking once on a folder in the list and then clicking the Remove folder button.
9. Click the Reset folders button to pull the current list of folders from the Files and Folders options.
10. Once you have the folders set up to your liking, you will want to re-index the database. Scroll down to click the Index now button to remove any existing records and build a new index. Depending on the number of files, indexing may take a few minutes. A progress bar at the bottom of the dialog box shows you how far along you are in the indexing process. 

Indexing and re-indexing

The Client Manager service maintains the database index of TaxCycle files by watching the monitored folders (even when TaxCycle isn't running) and by responding when you save a TaxCycle file.

If you update the list of monitored folders (see how above), you will want to re-index the Client Manager. (This can also be a useful troubleshooting step if you think the Client Manager isn't listing all the files it should.)

1. To open Options from the Start screen, click Options in the blue bar on the left side. If you have a file open, go to the File menu, then click Options.
2. Expand TaxCycle and then click on Client Manager on the left side of the dialog box. 
3. On the right side of the window, click on the Build an index link. This opens a new window to the Monitored Folders page in the Server Options. 
4. On the right, scroll down until you see the Index Files section.
5. Click the Index Now button to clear the database and re-index. Depending on the number of files, it may take a while for the Client Manager to completely re-index the monitored folders. The server may also be a little slow to respond while indexing files. Much of this depends on the speed of the computer it is running on.
6. Click Stop if you want to halt indexing before it is complete.
7. Even if indexing is not complete, you can click OK to return to TaxCycle Options. Indexing will continue in the background while you work.