What does the ‘Update Symbol Database’ feature do?

When you select "Update Symbol Database", it updates the list of available symbols - it does not update your local data folders. Since local data file locations are completely controlled by the user, the Downloader would have no idea where it would put each new security.

What this means in practice is that all Data on Demand groups will be current (I.e. Stocks Grouped by Sector will have the latest info). Local data folders would need to be managed manually. While this is easy enough to do if you only have a few folders, for something like the Stocks Grouped by Sector folder tree, it can be a headache. For this reason, we print a new data CD every couple months which has the current sector breakdown.

A list of updates can be viewed by clicking on "Additional Information" in the Collection Report box that comes up as soon as the download is done. This is the second line in that box right under "Message from Reuter’s DataLink".