Updating Your Company File to QuickBooks 2010
If you are upgrading to QuickBooks 2010, Intuit has a few recommendations that will help you ensure your data and payroll information are saved and successfully entered in your new QuickBooks Company file.
The good news is that upgrading is easy and the processes are mostly automatic. For example, before QuickBooks updates your Company file to the new product, it will automatically back up your data, including your payroll data. With this automatic backup, your data is safe, and you can easily restore the original file if needed.
After you install your new version of QuickBooks, your existing Company file will be automatically updated the first time you open it in QuickBooks 2010. This process works for Company files coming from any prior version of QuickBooks.
Here are a few things to remember as you update:
- Do not update over a network. Be sure your QuickBooks Company file is stored on the same computer you are using to update it. You may need to copy the file from another computer, and then copy it back after you finish updating it.
- Only the Admin user can update the file (QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise only). If you never created other users and roles in QuickBooks, you are automatically the Admin user. If you see the message "The Company file needs to be updated. Please ask your QuickBooks administrator to update the file," you are not logged in to your data file as the Admin user.
- No one can work on the file while it is updating. The update process can take some time to finish. So plan for some downtime when deciding the best time to update your file.
- After you update your data file, it will not open in previous versions of QuickBooks. This is why QuickBooks automatically backs up your data file before updating it. If you need to go back to the previous version of QuickBooks, you can restore the backup to your older QuickBooks. Also, if you need to start the update again, you can restore the backup to your new version of QuickBooks.
- If you are converting or upgrading between different versions of QuickBooks, use this resource page. Check for compatibility before you get started.
- Verify your QuickBooks Company file after you finish. Make sure the updated data file is in good shape by running the Verify Data utility in QuickBooks.
- Keep your backup file handy. If for any reason you need to restore a backup Company file, follow these instructions.
- Using older backups. If you have a computer failure and need to restore from an older backup, you may need to either manually re-enter the lost payroll information or do a year-to-date (YTD) adjustment. If you are an Assisted Payroll subscriber and have this issue, you only need to send a 0 payroll to recover the missing payroll information. Follow these steps listed under For Assisted Payroll only.
If you have additional questions about upgrading to QuickBooks 2010, get help and answers at the QuickBooks Install Center.