Make a Manager.io backup
Manager.io keeps your whole business in one backup file. DIANO reads it and brings everything across: customers, suppliers, items, every invoice, payment and journal, and the attachments.
1. What it must include
- The whole business, in one backup file
- All years: DIANO brings every invoice and payment across
- The attachments (they are inside the backup)
- Do not make a backup of a different business by mistake: check the name
- Do not open, unzip or rename the backup file
- Do not send screenshots or a PDF report instead of the backup
2. Step by step in Manager.io
Open Manager.io. If a business is open, click Businesses at the top left. You now see the list of your businesses.
A picture of the real screen comes here.Find your business in the list. Next to it, click Backup. (On the cloud or server edition the button may sit under the business's name.)
A picture of the real screen comes here.Manager.io makes the file and your browser or computer saves it. Wait until it says it is finished: a big business can take a minute.
Find the file (below). Then come back here and choose it in step "Upload".
3. The file you get
<Your business name> (2026-10-27).manager.tar
The name is your business's name and today's date. Older versions of Manager.io make a file that ends in .manager. Both work.
4. Where it lands
On a laptop: Your Downloads folder. On a Mac: Finder › Downloads. On Windows: File Explorer › Downloads.
On a phone: Manager.io's backup is made on a computer. If you only have a phone, ask whoever set up Manager.io to make it, or use Manager.io in the browser on a laptop.
5. Check before you upload
- The file name has your business's name (not another business)
- The date in the name is today
- The file ends in .manager.tar or .manager
- It is not tiny: a business with a few months of invoices is usually more than 100 KB
6. Common problems
I can't find Backup
Backup is on the Businesses screen, not inside the business. Click Businesses at the top left first. You see the list of businesses with Backup next to each one.
The file ends in .zip
Your computer packed it. Open the .zip: inside is the file that ends in .manager.tar or .manager. Upload that one.
I have several businesses in Manager.io
Make one backup for each business. Each business moves into its own company in DIANO.
The upload stops on a slow connection
Leave the page open: it carries on by itself when the connection comes back. If you close it, choose the same file again later: only the rest is sent.
7. The best time to move
The best time to move is just after you finish a month: your VAT return (and payroll, if you pay staff) for last month is done, and your start date is the 1st of this month.
On the day:
- Make the backup or the reports on the day you move, not earlier.
- From your start date, capture new invoices and payments in DIANO only. Stop capturing in the old program.
- Keep the old program for a few months so you can look things up. Do not delete it.