By Justin Holmes and Tiziana Smit (QuickBooks Tech Team)

QuickBooks news:

This month we will be looking at the IMPORTANCE of creating backups of your data.

You need to save backup copies of your QuickBooks company file to protect against accidental data loss. Backup copies are important insurance.

If you lose data for any reason, you can restore your company file using your backup copy. We all know load shedding is very common in our country and can happen at any time of the day, if you have backed up your data that is one less IMPORTANT thing you need to worry about.

For most of you, your life (work) is on your computer and you cannot afford to have down time and have to recapture all your lost information.

A backup file contains everything you need to re-create your company file and QuickBooks environment, including all of the QuickBooks files (templates, letters, logos, and images) related to your company file.

A very important note to remember, it is always advisable that you ensure your backups are also saved onto a memory stick or disc, just in case of those unfortunate times that your computer crashes.

However, you need to firstly backup to a local computer, whether it be your desktop or a folder on your C drive and from there you need to copy your backups onto a memory stick or disc. This is a special precaution so that no matter what happens, you still have backups saved that are not on your computer.

There are common questions asked relating to backups, please see below a few FAQ’s that can help you:

Q: Can QuickBooks back up or restore data for a specific date range?

A: No. QuickBooks backs up all data within a company data file.

Q: Can QuickBooks back up multiple company files at one time?

A: QuickBooks only backs up the company file that you’re currently in

Q: Can QuickBooks create a backup without setting options every time?

A: Yes. If you’ve backed up once before and don’t need to change any of your option settings, you can click Finish in the wizard at any time to back up using the current settings.

Q: When do I use a backup vs. a portable company file?

A: To safeguard your QuickBooks data against accidental loss, create regular backups of your QuickBooks company file. The backup contains everything you need to re-create your company file and QuickBooks environment. In case of accidental loss or damage, you can use the backup file to restore your company data. Unlike a portable file, a backup file is very large and cannot be emailed. It is not recommended as a means of moving company data, unless you have a new computer and need to move all of your related files as well. The backup file is saved with a .qbb extension.

Use a portable company file to email or move your data

To email or move your company data, create a portable company file. A portable company file is a compact version of your company file, usually small enough to be sent by email or saved to portable media. Use a portable company file whenever you need to copy your company data to another location or send it to another person.

Unlike a backup file, a portable file contains only a compressed version of the company file financial data – it doesn’t contain related files such as letters, images, templates, and so on. The portable file is saved with a .qbm extension.

There is an additional backing up service which QuickBooks offers, please view the link below to find out more on Iron tree Iron Tree

We can assure you, this is an offer you just cannot resist.

REMEMBER TO ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR QUICKBOOKS DATA