Restoring QuickBooks Backups
In the QuickBooks user forums I often see people complaining that they have restored a backup (either to move QB to a new computer, or restore after reformatting their hard drive) and they find that their company logo, on their invoices, isn’t restored. Other files may be missing, such as loan manager files. Today I’ll give you a tip on how to restore these files.
Everyone who uses QuickBooks knows that they need to make backup copies, right? If you don’t make backups, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW AND MAKE ONE! I’ll be nagging everyone more on this subject in the future. You should be periodically making backups with the QuickBooks backup function. However, if you restore that backup, there are some things you have to watch out for.
More than just your QBW file
When you use QuickBooks there is a file that contains your financial information, with a file type of “QBW”. This contains most of your information, but not all. Additional information may be stored in a number of places, including the company logo you put on your forms, dictionaries for spell checking, printer setup files, loan manager files, business planner files and more. If you are just backing up your QBW file by copying it somewhere (better than no backup at all!), you could be missing other important files.
When you use the QuickBooks backup feature all of these files are wrapped up into the backup “QBB” file, which is very helpful.
Restore might not do what you expect
When you restore a QuickBooks backup the program asks you for a location where you can restore the company file. However, the restore procedure only places the company (QBW) file in this location. The other files that were backed up would normally be stored in various places in your computer, and the restore does not put these back into the proper place.
Why not? You may be restoring an older archived backup to look at some older information, and you don’t want to lose your current information. You can put the company file in a different place, but not these additional files. So, the restore puts these files in a separate folder for safety. The only problem with this – you have to manually move these files.
How to fully restore those files
Once you restore your company file you will see a folder with the name “Restored_company name“, where company name is the name of the file you restored. For example, I’ve restored a backup for a company named “Generic Premier 08 bbtest” to the “qb” folder on my H: drive. You will see the following folders after the restore:
The Generic Premier 08 bbtest – Images folder is created by QuickBooks to hold the logo files that you place on your invoice and other forms.
Note that there is a folder named Restored_Generic Premier 08 bbtest_Files, which a number of sub folders. These sub folders (and there could be others than what I show here) contain files that would normally be placed
So, after you have restored your company file, you need to copy files from this Restored folder to particular locations on your computer:
- Image files (files used as logos) should be moved to [Company Name]-images.
- Word Letters and Templates should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version]\QuickBooks Letter Templates.
- Printer Setting (PrintEng.ini, wpr.ini, and QBPrint.qbp) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version].
- Spell Checker (spell.ini and UserDictionary.tlx) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version]
- Financial Statement Designer Client (FSD clients) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files\FSD\Clients.
- Financial Statement Designer Data (FSD data) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version]\Components\FSD\Data.
- Cash Flow Projector (.cfp) should be moved to the same directory as [Company Name].qbw.
- Business Planner (.bpw) should be moved to the same directory as [Company Name].qbw.
- Loan Manager (.lmr) files should be moved to the same directory as [Company Name].qbw.
In the Restore folder you will find a file named HowToRestoreExternalFiles.txt that will summarize this information.
Once you have done this you will find that your files are complete. By simply copying (for example) the image files your images will show in your invoice templates without any further work.
Rustler | Sep 24, 2008 | Reply
That interesting, I’m surprised QB doesn’t do a complete job, well maybe not:).
There is an opportunity here, a little utility that does the proper placement of the extra files that are necessary with one click.
Charlie | Sep 24, 2008 | Reply
With the way they name and store files, if they didn’t do it this way it could cause problems in some situations. Let’s say I have a backup from 2006 that I want to look at for some reason. If I restore it, I can put the company file in a different place so it won’t overwrite my current company file. But if these other files are restored to the proper place, they overwrite the current files, and that could be a problem. So they take the safe route and put it in a different location. To change that they would have to change how they store all of those files – which would be a good idea but would take some time to work out. Given that they aren’t taking the time to make THAT change, it would have been nice if they made it more clear that this was happening, such as a message at the end of the restore routine – and it would be nice if they had an option to move the files.
Donna | Feb 9, 2009 | Reply
Is it possible to back up a company file created on a REALLY old version (2001) and restore it onto a 2009 version?
Charlie | Feb 9, 2009 | Reply
Donna: Potentially yes. Theoretically, that will work. In practice, you may run into some problems. That is a big jump. If I were doing this myself, I would first restore it with a 2005 program, then possibly a 2007 program, then finally a 2009 program. There are some big changes from 2001 through 2009 and trying it in one jump doesn’t always work. Of course, I have those programs – if you don’t, you can’t do that. You can usually find a ProAdvisor who can do this for a small fee. However, you can always try it, things might work. It depends on how clean the starting data is.
Jerry | May 1, 2009 | Reply
If an online backup is made with software such as Mozy and the images file in included in the backup, will the logo’s be restored automatically?
Charlie | May 1, 2009 | Reply
Jerry, the logo files just have to be in the right directory. So if you use Mozy, or Carbonite (which I like very much – see the ad on this page), it should restore the files back to the same directory. Of course, if you are using those kinds of backups, you aren’t doing a cleanup of the QB transaction log (which is why you would want to do a QB backup periodically). This issue is more of a concern if you are using the backup feature to move a company file to a different computer, for instance.
Jerry | May 5, 2009 | Reply
Thanks. Based on your comment and never really understanding the purpose of the tlg file, I will go back to, at least, a periodic qb backup on a flash drive.
Jerry | Jun 4, 2009 | Reply
Charlie: Have restored files and moved the image file to the company_image folder but still not printing altho the image appears in the company_image file and also a sub folder named images. ??
Charlie | Jun 4, 2009 | Reply
Jerry, review the HowToRestoreExternalFiles.txt file to make sure that you have the image in the right place.
If that doesn’t resolve things, you can edit the templates (again) to add the image – at least you have the image restored so that you can find it!
Rick | Jun 29, 2009 | Reply
I am missing QBW.INI file and can not find it. I need this file to make Quickbooks run. How can I retrieve it?
Charlie | Jul 1, 2009 | Reply
Rick – when you say “retrieve” it, are you restoring a failed system or something of that sort? Usually the file is created by QuickBooks when you run the program – I’m not sure what exactly you are running into and why you need this…
A | Jul 2, 2009 | Reply
I have an invoice which unfortunately appears to have been deleted. I have a back up copy of QB from just after the time it would have been created. If I restore that back up copy, will I lose all of my information after that date? Is there any other way you know of to retrieve a deleted invoice?
Charlie | Jul 3, 2009 | Reply
A: You do NOT want to restore the backup, because you lose everything you’ve done after that backup was made. If you know the details of the invoice, I’d just re-enter it. When you say “appears to have been deleted” – you can look in the audit trail to see if it was deleted or not…
Tommy | Jul 23, 2009 | Reply
Ok hears my problem. I download the old “Company File” from Carbonite. I had to restore my computer. Can I import the “company file” into my new installation of Quickbooks? The computer now has a new name then the old one, but same computer, just reformated
Charlie | Jul 24, 2009 | Reply
Tommy, just copy that QBW file to an appropriate place on the hard drive (assuming you are looking at single user access), then open the company file with QuickBooks. The “Computer” name won’t make a difference as far as QuickBooks is concerned.
JRW | Jul 24, 2009 | Reply
Recently I moved the file to a new computer via using a backup file. QB shows the loans on the COA and I’ve rec’d alerts reminding me to pay the loan. However, the loan manager does not list the loan. I’ve activated and inactivated loan but the info does not appear. There is a LMR file in the same folder as the company file with the same name. At this point should I reenter the data in the loan manager to start fresh?
Charlie | Jul 24, 2009 | Reply
Jane, that is hard for me to say. I don’t work with the loan manager that much. My understanding is that the loan manager files are restored to that temporary folder as I describe. You are supposed to move it to the proper location. I wouldn’t replace the existing file with that restored file without first making a copy of the one that QB created, just in case.
Kerri | Dec 7, 2009 | Reply
Hello. I hope someone is looking at this post still… I have QB2007 backup and I just made it on Wed. and installed all new computers (with no QB installed on them) in our business. The problem is, I can’t find my 07 disk and I don’t want to spend 300$ on 07 when 09 / 10 is out there now. Can I upload my entire company file to 2009 QB and will it read it/ convert etc…
I tried one small file and it didn’t seem like it was taking it, but i wanted to see if anyone else has had this problem.
Charlie | Dec 7, 2009 | Reply
You should be able to restore a 2007 backup with the 2010 program, but it sometimes is tricky. Note that if you are using the US edition of QuickBooks, you can download the 2007 install program from http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/knowledgebasearticle/1006369, and use that to restore the file. Then you can open the restored file with a later year of product.
Jeff | Dec 14, 2009 | Reply
Hi Charlie – I am trying to backup a 2007 Quickbooks file and restore it to another computer that has Quickbooks 2005 but it is not working. Do you know if this is possible and if so, what I need to do?
Charlie | Dec 15, 2009 | Reply
QuickBooks 2005 cannot work with a QB 2007 file. They are not backwards compatible.
Fernando | Jan 10, 2010 | Reply
Charlie, I am totally confused. New to QuickBooks Pro 2010. I have a PC and a laptop. How can I work on my company file in the laptop and when I get home “transfer” “sync” or whatever the company file(s) to my PC (or viceversa) so that I can always feel that I am working on the latest file regardless if I am using the PC or the laptop. Also, can there be something done via the internet so that I can “send” the company files I am working on to the proper archive in the other computer?
Charlie | Jan 11, 2010 | Reply
Fernando, it depends on if you are the ONLY person working with the company file, or sharing it with others in a multi-user situation. Assuming you are the ONLY person using it – when on the desktop, make a “portable company file” (”file” then “save copy or backup”). This creates a file with a QBM file type, that is compressed. Copy that file to the desktop, or email it, or use a file transfer service that lets you save the file to a shareable location. When you get the file on the laptop, restore that portable company file to the laptop. Reverse the process to go back to the desktop. Just be sure that you know which way you are going and with which file.
Katie | Jan 11, 2010 | Reply
I have a question re. backups. Can you restore a new QB Pro 2010 file to an old QB 2004 program?
I have tried and it does not seem to work. Is there a trick?
Thanks!
Charlie | Jan 11, 2010 | Reply
Katie, QB 2004 cannot open a QB 2010 file. The files are not backwards compatible.
Katie | Jan 12, 2010 | Reply
Charlie,
Thanks.
Yanina | Feb 11, 2010 | Reply
Charlie, Do I need to have the save version of QB as my accountant in order to use the “Accountant’s Copy” portable file that allows the accountant and the business to work on their QB simultaneously? I have QB Pro 2007 and the accounant will have the newest version.
Yanina | Feb 11, 2010 | Reply
*same version
Charlie | Feb 11, 2010 | Reply
Yanina: If your accountant has QuickBooks 2010 Premier Accountant Edition, they can work with a Pro or Premier Accountant’s Coy from 2010 or 2009.
If you have Pro 2007, your accountant must have QuickBooks 2007 Premier Accountant Edition to work with your file this way.
Cathy | Feb 12, 2010 | Reply
Charlie,
I have QB Premeir Edition 2006. Yesterday, I created a Portable Company File from my new clients QBPro 2007 edition and emailed it to my PC.
My client WILL NOT be working on his QB from now on.
Can I restore the portable company file into my QB Premeir Edition 2006?
Charlie | Feb 12, 2010 | Reply
You cannot open a 2007 file (even a portable company file) with an older version of QuickBooks.
terri | Feb 22, 2010 | Reply
CHarlie,
Nice article but still a few ???’s I manually back up qb sometimes, and schedule automated backups and I know qb backs up my data when I close it through no prompting by me. But what backup do I use to restore my qb, I had to put a new hard drive in my computer and have all the old stuff from the old hard drive on this new drive. It is in a seperate folder on the C drive. (Haven’t put qb pro 2009 on this new drive yet. To scared in not knowing what to do (don’t want to mess it up since taxes are due in 5 days and acct hasn’t got file yet to work on them)
I see aub file with tmp extension, aub with qbw, also see qbbackuptemp files and ones that I backed up myself using the backup button in qb. I am lost. I also have some backups saved on external hard drive. obviously I want to use latest dated on ebecause I want to have latest work on there. I know I will have lost stuff from backup date till now. Not sure how to figure out what I lost. Memory not that good- accts receivable, invoices,etc.
Charlie | Feb 22, 2010 | Reply
Terri, I’m not sure if I follow exactly what your situation is. If you added a new hard drive, but have the old hard drive, then your data file still should exist. It is a QBW file. If you want to continue using that old hard drive, you can just open that file there. If you want to move it, you could move just the QBW file, but you won’t get your graphics if you customized templates, and so forth. You could back up from the old drive and then restore to the new drive. Or you can find the most recent backup you have, which will be a QBB file. The QBB files should have a file date and you just find the most current. The location depends on where your automated backup was sending things to.