QuickBooks Asia

Backup

This is not the first time I remind QuickBooks user to backup their company file. Am still seeing users do not take Backup task seriously; some user backup rarely, some “recycle” the backup file and some even do not perform a backup at all. This is a bad habit. Backup is an important task, be it your daily document, spreadsheet or your QuickBooks Company file, you must perform your backup task as according to your schedule. For QuickBooks, I recommend user backup daily.

For QuickBooks 2009/10 Asia edition, to do a backup, simply go to File menu and select “Save Copy or Backup …”; next, follow the Backup wizard to perform your daily backup. The Backup extension for QuickBooks is “*.QBB”.

If you foreseeing that you do not have a habit of backing up regularly, I suggest you set a schedule for your backup. You can setup an Automatic backup schedule for your QuickBooks Company file for every “x” number of time you close your Company File. Should there be anything happen to your QuickBooks Company file, such as having a major data error such as C=43, C=44 or C=88, you can have a backup file to fall back on.

Do not forget to BACKUP!

QuickBooks file type

I have this information regarding QuickBooks QBi (QuickBooks Asia 2009/10) file type. I couldn’t recall where I found this information. It could be either from Reckon’s web site or the QuickBooks help file. I think this information is useful for user who likes to know a little bit more on what’s in their QuickBooks folder.

Extension	File Type	Description
.IIF	Intuit Interchange Format file	You can import and export lists and/or transactions using text files with an .IIF extension.
.ND	QuickBooks Network Data File	A configuration file that allows access to the QuickBooks company file. Do not delete this configuration file.
.QBA	Accountant’s Copy working file	When you export your QuickBooks data for your accountant to review, the accountant restores the export file on his or her computer as a file with a .QBA extension.
.QBA.TLG	Transaction log file (for Accountant’s Copy)	When you backup an Accountant’s Copy, QuickBooks starts a log of transactions that you’ve entered since the last time you backed up. In case of accidental loss of data, Quicken Technical Support can use your most recent backup in conjunction with the transaction log file to recover your data.
.QBB	QuickBooks backup file	When you backup your company file, QuickBooks save the backup file with a .QBB extension. To open a .QBB file, go to the File menu and click Restore.
.QBM	QuickBooks portable company file	When you want to email or move a company file, QuickBooks creates a compressed version of the company file with a .QBM extension.
.QBW	QuickBooks for window company file	When you create a company file, QuickBooks saves the file with a .QBW extension. For example, If you enter MyBusiness as the company name, QuickBooks save the file as MyBusiness.QBW
QBW.TLG	Transaction log file (for QuickBooks company file)	When you backup your company file, QuickBooks starts a log of transactions that you’ve entered since the last time you backed up. In case of accidental loss of data, Quicken Technical Support can use your most recent backup in conjunction with the transaction log file to recover your data.
.QBX	Accountant’s Copy (export file)	When you export your QuickBooks data for your accountant to review, QuickBooks creates an Accountant’s Copy with a .QBX extension.
.QBY	Accountant’s Copy (import file)	When your accountant has finished making changes in a Accountant’s Copy, he or she provides you with an .QBY file to be imported into your company file.

 

For more information on file type, do visit Reckon’s  or Intuit’s web site.

QuickBooks Portable Company File

QuickBooks Portable Company file is a new feature in QuickBooks Asia 2009/10.

QuickBooks Portable file is a higher compressed backup file. It is about 10 percent of a normal back up file size. Of course, the duration for creating a Portable file is much longer than doing a normal backup.

QuickBooks Portable file extension is ended with a ".QBM" and QuickBooks Backup file extension is ".QBB".

Usually, we create Portable file is only when we have an insufficient disk space in our portable media such as USB drive or to send the file over an email or ftp server.

For normal daily backup, we shall use the normal QuickBooks backup file (QBW).

Have you backup your QuickBooks company file?

Yesterday, at a construction site, while the construction worker was digging the MRT tunnel; accidentally, they burst an underground water pipe. This caused the entire worker at the site to stop work and activating an emergency plan to stop the water and to reduce the damages to the shops nearby.

Collins Cobuild Dictionary:

“Emergency: an emergency is an unexpected and difficult or dangerous situation, especially an accident, which happens suddenly and which requires quick action to deal with it.”

In handling QuickBooks or any databases, we must standby an emergency plan. In cases such as data file corrupted, accidentally deleted off the data file or hard disk crashed; we must be able to restore back the data file in a shortest possible time.

We must have a regular backup plan for our QuickBooks data file. Usually, I suggest user to backup their QuickBooks data daily or as and when they updated their QuickBooks data file.

In QuickBooks 2009/10, to backup your data file, go to File menu and select 'Save Copy or Backup' function.

If you don’t have a habit of backing up your data file, I suggest you create an Auto Backup schedule in your QuickBooks. So QuickBooks can run an Auto Backup every 2 or 3 times you closed your company file.

Backing up of QuickBooks data file is very important. If you have not backup your file, do it now!