[Bug]: This file is not a cloud file for multi-users #2880

New Issue

2026-02-28T20:31:25-06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-02-28 20:31:25 -06:00

Originally created by @yoyotogblo on GitHub (Feb 1, 2026).

Verified issue does not already exist?

I have searched and found no existing issue

What happened?

My wife and I both update our budget using different computers. I use a Surface PC, she uses an Apple Macbook Pro.

Whenever either of us (person A) edits and syncs the budget on our PC and the other person (person B) opens up Actual Budget on their computer, Actual syncs all the changes on person B's PC. However, once Actual loads up, we always get the error "This file is not a cloud file" and a new budget file would have been created. Person B then needs to close the file and redownload the synced file and open that. Otherwise the budget would go out of sync between the 2 users.

We're self-hosting Actual Budget in a LXC container on a mini PC running Proxmox. However, we always had this same issue when hosting on fly.io.

How can we reproduce the issue?

Person A updates synced budget on their PC
Person B opens Actual and it downloads Person A's updates
Person B's Actual Budget creates a new file and complains that it's not a cloud file

Where are you hosting Actual?

Locally via Yarn

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

Desktop App (Electron)

Operating System

Windows 11

Originally created by @yoyotogblo on GitHub (Feb 1, 2026). ### Verified issue does not already exist? - [x] I have searched and found no existing issue ### What happened? My wife and I both update our budget using different computers. I use a Surface PC, she uses an Apple Macbook Pro. Whenever either of us (person A) edits and syncs the budget on our PC and the other person (person B) opens up Actual Budget on their computer, Actual syncs all the changes on person B's PC. However, once Actual loads up, we always get the error "This file is not a cloud file" and a new budget file would have been created. Person B then needs to close the file and redownload the synced file and open that. Otherwise the budget would go out of sync between the 2 users. We're self-hosting Actual Budget in a LXC container on a mini PC running Proxmox. However, we always had this same issue when hosting on fly.io. ### How can we reproduce the issue? Person A updates synced budget on their PC Person B opens Actual and it downloads Person A's updates Person B's Actual Budget creates a new file and complains that it's not a cloud file ### Where are you hosting Actual? Locally via Yarn ### What browsers are you seeing the problem on? Desktop App (Electron) ### Operating System Windows 11

GiteaMirror added the bug needs info labels 2026-02-28 20:31:25 -06:00

GiteaMirror closed this issue

2026-02-28 20:31:25 -06:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-02-28 20:31:26 -06:00

@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026):

When you say "downloads Person A's updates", do you have to redownload the file every time? The new file stuff sounds like your data isn't being persisted

@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 2, 2026): When you say "downloads Person A's updates", do you have to redownload the file every time? The new file stuff sounds like your data isn't being persisted

GiteaMirror commented

2026-02-28 20:31:26 -06:00

@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Feb 10, 2026):

This issue has been automatically closed because there have been no comments for 7 days after the "needs info" label was added. If you still need help, please feel free to reopen the issue with the requested information.

@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Feb 10, 2026): This issue has been automatically closed because there have been no comments for 7 days after the "needs info" label was added. If you still need help, please feel free to reopen the issue with the requested information.