Upgrade or Convert Your Company File to a Newer Version in QuickBooks Desktop helps to improve your work by updating a new feature for your business. It should be a good practice to have your QuickBooks Desktop upgraded or your company file converted to a newer version for a better experience. Without having proper knowledge, it may become quite challenging for most users to upgrade or convert company file to a newer version in QuickBooks Desktop.
When you upgrade your QuickBooks Desktop accounting software to a later version, you are also required to upgrade or convert your company file to a newer version in QuickBooks Desktop in order to maintain their smooth compatibility. In this article, we will show you how to quickly upgrade or convert your company file to a newer version in QuickBooks Desktop. Upgrade version always made user-friendly so company file compatibility between QuickBooks versions has become easier.
You can always find more solutions and support at Bizimatrix for upgrading and converting your company file to a newer version in QuickBooks Desktop. Contact our QuickBooks support center for assistance.
How To Prepare QuickBooks Company File To Convert To Newer Version
- First of all, you will need to create a portable company file.
- When naming your company file, use letters (A-Z) and numbers (0-9) and avoid special characters (!@#$%^&*).
Re-sort all the major lists.
Steps:
- Open the list of Vendors, Employees & Customers by clicking the icon on the top bar. Search the list, then after viewing it go to View -> Re-sort List.
- Go to List, then open Item List and select Account at the bottom left. You will see the last option that is Re-sort List.
- Open the Chart of Account by selecting Account at the bottom left and clicking the last option that is Re-sort List.
- Now, you can reset the admin password (and password hint).
- Check and rebuild your company data from Intuit’s site.
- Verify your company data from the information provided at Intuit’s site.
- Open the QBWin.log file and check whether there are any errors or not.
Upgrade or Convert your QuickBooks Company File
Please note that before you can upgrade or convert your company file, you must first install QuickBooks Desktop accounting software on your computer.
Upgrading or converting company file in QuickBooks can only be done by the Admin user.
If you are the only user having a single profile, then you automatically become the administrator and have all the privileges to view and modify your company file. On the other hand, if you are not the administrator and you want to upgrade your company file, then you will receive the message “The company file needs to be updated.”
In such a situation, it is advised that you approach your QuickBooks administrator to help you update the company file.
Do not upgrade your QuickBooks company file over a network
Moving further, you must remember that it is not necessarily required to upgrade or convert your company file while stored on a network or mapped the drive. Instead, the company file must be stored locally on the computer, where you have QuickBooks Desktop installed.
You Cannot Open an Upgraded QuickBooks Company Data File in Previous Versions
If you upgrade or convert your QuickBooks Desktop company file to a newer version, then the older version of the QuickBooks Desktop program will not be able to open your newly updated company file. You may end up getting an error message when trying to open the company file on your previous version of QuickBooks Desktop accounting program.
However, there is a workaround here that may save you the day. QuickBooks can automatically backup your data file before being upgraded to a newer version. This is usually helpful, in case you decide to return to the older version In case you wish to return to your previous version of QuickBooks Desktop accounting software, you can always restore the backup of the data file with your old version of QuickBooks Desktop. Yet again, if the transmission process is, for some reason, interrupted, then you have the possibility to restore your backup data file with your new version of QuickBooks Desktop in order to restart the upgrade process.
Steps For Upgrading or Converting Your QuickBooks Company File to a Newer Version
- Download and install the latest version of QuickBooks Desktop on your computer.
- After installation is complete, launch QuickBooks Desktop, then click File and select Open or restore your company file.
- Click the Open a company file option. Search and locate your company file.
- A window will pop up, displaying information on the Update company files for new versions. Check the box and click the Update Now button.
- Another window will appear on your screen with the message “You are about to open a company file using a newer version of QuickBooks. Do you want to continue?” Click the Yes button.
- Once the company file is updated, do the following:
(a) Save the backup you created in a secure location.
(b) If you transferred the company file (.QBW) from another computer to update it, then replace the data file on the source computer.
(c) If you have attached QuickBooks Desktop Payroll (US), then verify your payroll service by signing in to your account. Go to Employees and select My payroll service, then click Account info/preference.
Useful Tips For A Smooth Upgrade of Your QuickBooks Company File
Before updating your QuickBooks company file to a newer version, you will need to take into consideration a few important things which are given as follows:
- Re-sort your lists
- Verify your data file
- Rebuild your data file
- Check the Qbwin.log file for any error messages
- Make sure that the updated company data file is not damaged or corrupt by running the Verify data utility after finishing the update
How to Contact Our QuickBooks Support
You can find more information and support on upgrading or converting your company file to a newer version in QuickBooks Desktop at Bizimatrix. Contact our QuickBooks support team to avail assistance from our team of Intuit certified QuickBooks experts 24×7.
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