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Returning to a Previous MultiWalk Release

Each new MultiWalk release may update the format of the database that MultiWalk keeps inside every project folder (the file named WalkforwardData.db). MultiWalk does this automatically the first time it opens a project, and you do not need to do anything. This article is for the less common situation where you want to go back to a previous MultiWalk release after a newer one has already updated your projects. It explains what happens, and the three steps that get you there with your projects intact.

Why a previous release cannot open an updated project

An older MultiWalk release only understands the database format it was built for. When it finds a project database in a newer format, it stops with a message like this:

The walkforward database of this project (v7) must be updated to work with this version of MultiWalk (v6).
Please re-run the walkforward to recreate the database.

Please do not follow that advice straight away. Re-running the walkforward starts the project from scratch and replaces the existing database, so the results already in it would be lost. The MultiWalk Database Downgrade Utility described below puts the database back into the older format instead, and keeps everything in it.

Which releases you can go back to

The Database Downgrade Utility can prepare a project for the February 23, 2026 release, the April 21, 2026 release, and their updates. Those releases all use database version 6, which is what the utility produces.

Releases older than February 2026 are not supported. If you need one of those, the only option is to re-run the walkforward with that release.

The three steps

Going back to a previous release involves three separate things. The utility handles the second one; the other two are up to you.

  1. Run the Database Downgrade Utility on your projects (details below). Do this while the newer release is still installed, because the utility is installed with it. It keeps working after the older release is installed, so if you forget a project you can still come back to it.
  2. Install the previous release. Run its setup program as usual and import its ELD files into TradeStation, choosing Overwrite when asked, exactly as you did when you first installed it.
  3. Check each project’s setup file for settings the older release does not know. If a project uses a fitness function or an option that was introduced after the release you are returning to, the older release will not accept that setting. The most likely one is the fitness function called MultiWalkSmoothRide, which the older releases know as SmoothRide. Open the project in MultiWalk and choose the setting again from the list.

Using the Database Downgrade Utility

The utility is installed together with MultiWalk. You will find it in the Windows Start Menu under MultiWalk as MultiWalk Database Downgrade Utility, and in the MultiWalk program folder in a subfolder named Database Downgrade Utility.

Before you start

Close every MultiWalk workspace in TradeStation, and close the MultiWalk Report Viewer if it is open. Both keep project databases open, and the utility will not change a database that another program is using. You can leave TradeStation itself running.

Step 1 – choose what to downgrade

You can work on one project or on many at once.

  • One project: click Browse for File… and choose the WalkforwardData.db file in the project’s folder.
  • Many projects: click Browse for Folder… and choose a folder that contains your projects, for example your MultiWalk projects folder. The utility searches that folder and every folder inside it, and lists every WalkforwardData.db it finds.

Each database is listed with its current version and a note. Databases that can be downgraded are already checked. A database that is already at the older version, or that is at a version the utility does not handle, is listed unchecked and is left alone. You can change the check marks yourself, and the Check All and Uncheck All buttons do it for the whole list.

Step 2 – choose the version to go back to

Pick the entry that matches the release you are returning to. The list names the release dates, so you do not need to know the version numbers.

Step 3 – click Downgrade Now

The utility asks you to confirm, then works through the checked databases one at a time. Each database is changed in place; nothing else in the project folder is touched. The list shows the result for each database, and the box at the bottom shows exactly what was done. The same text is also saved in a file named MultiWalkDatabaseDowngrade.log in the utility’s folder, which is handy if you need to send it to support.

What the downgrade does, and what it does not do

The downgrade changes only the database’s structure so that the older release accepts it. It does not delete or alter any walkforward results. The columns that the newer release added are simply left in place, because the older release ignores them. That is also what makes the downgrade safe to reverse: if you later install the newer release again, it updates the database forward again and every value it had stored is still there.

One thing cannot be brought back: the older releases kept the report column choices you had made in the TradeStation report grids inside the database, and the newer release removed that part of the database when it first opened the project. After a downgrade the older release simply shows its default report columns; choose your columns again if you had customised them.

Messages you might see

“The database could not be opened” or “could not be locked” – another program still has the database open. Close every MultiWalk workspace in TradeStation and the Report Viewer, then click Downgrade Now again.

“Already at version 6 – no downgrade needed” – this database is already in the older format. Nothing needs to be done for it.

“Version 5 – this utility has no downgrade for it” (or any version the utility does not list) – this database is from an older release than the utility supports. Re-run the walkforward with the release you are using.

“This database was created directly by the newer version rather than upgraded from an older one” – an informational note. The older release can open, read and report on the database normally. It only matters in an unusual situation the note itself explains, and the remedy is simply to re-run that one walkforward.

Going forward again later

Nothing special is needed. When you install a newer MultiWalk release again, it updates each project database the first time it opens the project, exactly as it did the first time.

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