Making a clone of your QuickBooks file
|
|
Before making a major change to your
QuickBooks company file, be sure to create a copy ( a
100% duplicate of your QuickBooks Data) - in
addition to making a backup. A clone differs from a
backup. With a cloned file, you can easily switch back
and forth between the current QuickBooks file and the
duplicated (cloned)
historical QuickBooks file. With a backup file you must
first
"restore it" to view it. Restoring a file, simply to view
history, is prone to user error. An error could would be a terrible
restore a company file from prior years and
"inadvertently" override the current working file. |
|
|
Why copy the file?
|
- Changes mentioned below cannot
be reversed. There may be a report needed for a
future management decision which will require
historical data in the old format.
- Just learning QuickBooks? You
may want to "trial run" new transaction types and form
modifications on a "testing file"
|
|
What are examples of major
changes? |
- Condensing your file to
eliminate data from prior years (we recommend keeping
at a minimum, all of last years data. For
example, should you decide to do this procedure during
2004, retain all of 2003 data (condense date =
12/31/2002)
- Merging names - When you have
many duplicate customer, or vendor names
- Merging items - When you have
decided to rework your item list to result in better
management data
- Having a QuickBooks Tune-up
performed on your files.
|
|
How easy is this process? |
|
Nothing could be simpler. There
are many ways to accomplish "cloning" the file, here is
one:
- Open QuickBooks, From the
file menu > click on Open company >
For 2007 and 2007 users , select open a company file
then click next
click once on the
file your wish to clone, then right click the mouse >
click on "copy" > move the mouse to any white space in
that same window and right click on the mouse again >
click on " paste".
- Rename the copied file
Click once on the copied file, right click the mouse >
click on "rename" > type in a name for the file such as
"DoNotUsePrior2006.qbw"
- Open the "DoNotUsePrior2004.qbw"
From the company file menu at the top of the window,
click on company information.
Change the company name to "DO NOT USE - Prior to 2006"
While the data does not change, the file header and the
reports will all come with this title which will
prevent accidental entry of current transactions into
the WRONG company file.
- To open the regular company file
to begin your changes:
From the file menu > Open company > select the
original working
copy of the QuickBooks Data
You now have successfully cloned
(copied) your company data.
Consider making a test company file
to use when you want to try out new features or
activities in QuickBooks.
|
|
