QuickBooks 2008: The Missing Manual

150 QuickBooks 2008: The Missing Manual

Restoring Backups

Restoring Backups

Having backup files can reduce your adrenaline level in a number of situations:

• You merge two customers into one by mistake or make another type of major

faux pas that you want to undo.

• Your company file won’t open, which can happen if the file’s been damaged by

a power outage or power surge.

• Your hard disk crashes and takes all your data with it.

• You recently assigned a password to your administrator login and can’t remember

what it is.

Warning: Hard disk crashes used to be dramatic events accompanied by impressive grinding noises.

With today’s smaller hard disks, crashes can be deceptively quiet. If you hear odd sounds emanating from

your computer—little chirps or squeaks, for instance—stop what you’re doing and try to back up your

important files. You might be able to save them to a CD or a USB thumb drive if you act quickly. If you

shut down your computer and it won’t reboot because of a disk crash, a data recovery company can

sometimes recover some of your data, but the price is usually in the thousands of dollars.

Here’s how to restore a QuickBooks backup:

1. If you backed up your data to removable media, put the disk containing your

backup in the appropriate drive.

If you backed up your data to another hard drive on your computer or on a

network, you need access to that drive. For example, if the shared network drive

that you used is offline, you’ll have to reconnect to it before restoring your

backup. If you need some guidance on how to reconnect an offline drive, con-

sult your operating system’s online help or refer to a copy of Windows XP Pro:

The Missing Manual or Windows Vista: The Missing Manual.

2. Choose File ➝ “Open or Restore Company”.

If the No Company Open window is visible, you can also click “Open or restore

an existing company”.

Either method opens the “Open or Restore Company” dialog box, shown in

Figure 6-7.

3. In the “Open or Restore Company” dialog box, select the “Restore a backup

copy” option and click Next.

The “Is the backup copy stored locally or online?” screen appears.

4. Select the “Local backup” option and then click Next.

The Open Backup Copy dialog box opens to your standard backup folder.

Chapter 6: Managing QuickBooks Files 151

Restoring Backups

Note: If you select the “Online backup” option and click Next (and you subscribe to QuickBooks Online

Backup), the online backup window opens. In the window icon bar, click Restore.

5. Double-click the name of the backup file you want to restore.

You can navigate to the folder or removable media that contains your backup

file and double-click the filename. Or, select the filename in the list and then

click Open.

6. Back in the “Open or Restore Company” dialog box, the “Where do you want

to restore the file?” screen makes it clear that you need to choose the location

carefully. Click Next.

If you restore the backup to your regular company file folder, you’ll overwrite

your existing company file. If that’s what you want, fine. If it’s not, that file may

be gone for good.

7. In the “Save Company File as” dialog box, choose the folder to which you want

to restore. In the “File name” box, type a new name, as shown in Figure 6-8.

The dialog box opens to the folder where you store your company files (page

139). If you want to replace a company file that’s corrupt or contains evidence

of your big gaffe, restore to that folder. QuickBooks fills in the “File name” box

with the company file’s name (minus the timestamp).

8. Click Save.

If you’re restoring a backup of a company file that already exists, QuickBooks

warns you that you’re about to overwrite an existing file. If the file is corrupt or

won’t open for some reason, click Yes because that’s exactly what you want to

Figure 6-7:

Similar to when you

create backups, you have

to tell QuickBooks that

you want to restore a

backup file and where

that file is. From this

dialog box, you can open

a regular company file,

restore a backup, or

restore a portable file

(page 154).