Upgrading to GA4 from GA3 or GA2

The Following article will give you a step by step guide on upgrading to GA4 from an earlier version of Garage Assistant.

Before you do anything, it is extremely important that you backup your current version of Garage Assistant.  With a current backup created, close the current version of Garage Assistant down.

You are now ready to login to your ACCOUNT and download GA4.

If you are unable to remember your login details drop us a quick email and we can send across your a reset to your login details via email.

Note on GA3 Attachments & Upgrading on a different machine.

If you use the attachments within GA3, you will need to perform the upgrade on the same machine that GA3 is installed on otherwise the attachments will not transfer.   Attachments refer to the ability to save a PDF/Image against a vehicle or document internally within Garage Assistant..

If this is not possible, it can still be done on a new machine, however, you will also need to create the same Garage Assistant V3 folder on your new machine and copy across from the old machine both datafile_images and datafile_documents so they are in the identical location.  If this is not done correctly, attachments may not transfer and the entire process would need to be done again.  If in doubt, contact us for assistance. 

This only affects upgrades being done on a new PC without GA3 installed, when attachments are used.  If you don't use the attachments section, then you don't need to worry, since all other data is stored within the regular backup files.

Starting the Upgrade from GA3 or GA2

When opening GA4 for the first time you will be presented with the Welcome screen.
If upgrading from GA3 or GA2 simply click on "Upgrade to GA4" followed by "Start Upgrade

Note: If you have already gone past this section, instead login and go to Admin (top right), then the Data tab and there is an option bottom left to "Import from GA2 or GA3", if there is any test data you will have to delete it first or if there's a lot, uninstall/reinstall GA4 to start it fresh for the upgrade.

GA4 will then automatically detect the backup if you are installing it on the same machine as your earlier version of Garage Assistant. Otherwise, you will be asked to select the backup file to upgrade from.

If you were running GA2 or an early version of GA3, the file may need to be converted to a new file format. If this is the case, it will happen automatically, however, you will see the following error message, simply click OK and the conversion will begin.

The remainder of the process is entirely automated, you can now leave GA4 to finish upgrading your data. As previously mentioned this can take considerable time to complete. 

After the upgrade process is complete, you will need to activate GA4 with your new license details provided in your Account area on our website. The GA3/2 license details will no longer be valid.

We also HIGHLY recommend you check the options available in the Admin area since GA4 includes many new options/settings to control how things look and work.

For future reference, the time taken to perform the upgrade is a one-time process, future updates for GA4 will take a fraction of the time

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