How to Prevent Corruption of QuickBooks File?

A QuickBooks data file can get corrupted due to several reasons. These include hardware or software issues, abrupt system shutdown, network connection errors, large file size, virus/malware attack, etc. Whatever be the reason, inability to access the file can interrupt your business operations and may cause data damage. Fortunately, there are some ways following which can help you prevent QuickBooks file corruption.

7 Effective Ways to Prevent Corruption of QuickBooks File

1. Make Regular Backup of Your Company File

This is not exactly a way to prevent QuickBooks file corruption, but it does help against data loss. Regularly backing up your QuickBooks Company file will ensure that you can restore your data quickly in case of corruption of the company file. Also, it’s essential to keep a backup copy available on multiple sources; this will ensure you will always have a copy you can restore if one of the backup files is corrupt.

You can create a backup manually or use Intuit® Data Protect to automatically backup your QuickBooks data online.

Also read: How to Restore QuickBooks Company File from the Local Backup?

2. Reduce Your QuickBooks File Size

Your QuickBooks company file can grow considerably large in size as you enter transactions. Also, deleting the transactions increases the file size. This happens because the transactions are only marked as deleted in the database, and the space used to contain the transaction remains unused within the file.

A large Company file is prone to becoming corrupt and may result in data damage. So, you need to shrink the file. You can do so by:

• Creating a new company file
• Running the QB Condense Data utility 
• Truncating the QBW file by removing transactions for a specified period. But QuickBooks does not offer truncation as a service. You’ll need to send the file to a 3^rd party vendor to get it truncated.

3. Verify Your QuickBooks File

Use the QuickBooks built-in ‘Verify Data’ utility to identify any data issues within a Company file. Running this utility can help you find any ‘discrepancies on invoices or bills’, ‘missing transactions’, ‘deposited payments not showing up in the ‘Payments to Deposit window’, etc.

To use the Verify Data tool, follow these steps:

• Launch your QuickBooks Desktop application, click on File, and then hover over Utilities. Click Verify Data.
• Click OK when “QuickBooks detected no problem with your data” message appears. This means there is no problem with the QB data file and you can continue using it.
• Click on View Errors if “Verifying finds some problem with your company file” message pops-up.
• Click on Rebuild Now to fix the Company file issues.

These steps will fix the QB file. If not, read this: QuickBooks Verify Data Failed, Next Step to Fix Corruption

4. Keep Your Hardware and Software Up to Date

Issues within your hardware or software can cause data damage on QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Company file or turn the file corrupt. So, it’s crucial to keep your hardware and software is up to date.

Make sure to update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release (2021) automatically or manually. To see if you’ve the latest release, open QBDT and the Product Information window to check the current version. Further, install and setup QB supported hardware.

5. Perform a Clean Installation of QuickBooks Desktop

Not doing a clean QuickBooks installation can damage the QB file. Thus, you must uninstall the broken QB installation. However, make sure to delete all the leftover files associated with QB after uninstalling the program to prevent the subsequent installations from failing.  

Note: If you haven’t already performed a clean install, make sure you’re following the steps to do a basic reinstall of QuickBooks Desktop.

6. Use Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS Backup)

Power failure, causing the system to shut down abruptly in the middle of entering data to your QuickBooks data file, can turn the file corrupt. To resolve this issue, use an uninterruptible power supply to prevent temporary power glitches from damaging the QB file.

A UPS backup, especially in areas that regularly encounter power outage, will provide you with sufficient time to shut down your system properly in the event of power failure.

7. Avoid Using QB Over a VPN

Using QuickBooks over a VPN connection increases the risk of data damage, as the connection can be unreliable and insecure. You won’t experience corruption of QuickBooks file immediately, but you may experience it at some point in time. Thus, if you need to use the program remotely, consider using QuickBooks Online.

What to do If QuickBooks File is Corrupted?

If you suspect data damage on the QB file, the file has likely turned corrupt. In that case, you can try to rebuild the file using the built-in ‘Rebuild Data’ utility. If you’re still facing any data issues, run the QuickBooks File Doctor tool to repair the company file.

If nothing seems to work, you can contact Intuit support to get the needed assistance. While the support team may help you resolve the issue, the process may take days to complete. To avoid QB downtime and restore the company file (QBW) with all its data intact, using a 3^rd party QuickBooks file repair tool can come in handy.

Stellar Repair for QuickBooks® software can repair severely corrupt Company file (QBW) and recover all its data without any modification. The software also allows recovery of QuickBooks data from a backup file QBB.  

FAQs

Q. Does Stellar Repair for QuickBooks® Software supports QB version 2021?

A. Yes, Stellar Repair for QuickBooks® software helps repair and restore the data from Company file and backup file from QB version 2021.

Q. How can I use the QuickBooks® file repair tool to recover data from a backup file (.QBB)?

A. Follow these steps to use Stellar Repair for QuickBooks® software to recover data from a .QBB file:

1. Run the software. When the main interface screen opens, click ‘Browse’ to select the QBW file you want to repair.
2. Alternatively, click on ‘Find’ to locate the QBW file if its location is unknown.
3. After selecting the file, click Scan. This will start scanning the corrupt file and display a ‘Scan Results’ dialog box with details of the number of items present and deleted from the file.
4. Click ‘OK’. A window gets displayed with a preview of the repairable file and recoverable components such as the Company, Customers, Vendors, and Employees.
5. Click on ‘Save’ from the main menu. This will open a ‘Save File’ dialog box. Click on Browse to select the QuickBooks® backup file (QBB) from which you want to extract the company file data. Hit the ‘Save’ button.

The software will initiate the process to save data recovered from a QBB file.

Q. How can I know that my QuickBooks installation is not clean?

A. If a key and product code already exists during QB installation, it means that the installation was not clean.

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About The Author

Charanjeet Kaur

Charanjeet is a Technical Content Writer at Stellar®who specializes in writing about databases, e-mail recovery, and e-mail migration solutions. She loves researching and developing content that helps database administrators, organizations and novices to fix multiple problems related to MS SQL and MySQL databases and Microsoft Exchange.