How to repair QuickBooks file that won't open

QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting software. The software has amazing features like; Report generation, Invoice creation, budget tracking, etc. These features are customizable according to the user’s need. In a case study, QuickBooks has 80% market share with 29 million small businesses. The software helps to companies to stay organised with a large amount of data. With lots of remarkable features, the software is also prone to corruption. Here, I am going to discuss, how you can repair the QuickBooks company file (.QBW) that will not open. Before proceeding to the solution, you should know the reasons for it.

• Incorrect method to open the QuickBooks file
• Other windows are open in within the file
• Opening the QuickBooks file in the wrong version
• Issue with the file location, such as access permission for the file
• Compressed file
• Incorrect file name and file extension
• Data damage in the file 

Solutions

• Update the software: QuickBooks provides the maintenance release to update the software by fixing the issue, adding and enhancing of features, etc. Update your software by the latest update. To check the software version, press F2 from your keyboard. Product information windows will be open. You can also check the latest updates from here.

Follow these steps to update the software

1. Go to File->Close Company/Logoff. Do it for all company (If you have more than one company).
2. Now, Right-Click on the QuickBooks desktop icon.
3. Choose, Run as Administrator.
4. Now click on Help->Update QuickBooks.
5. Go to Options tab, select Mark All button and Save.
6. Go to Update Now tab, click on Reset Update and hit the Get Update button.
7. After completion of the update, a message will appear on the desktop to close the QuickBooks.
8. Now open QuickBooks desktop and if, you get the message to install the update then click on Yes.
9. After that, restart your computer.

• Check the file properties: Here is the quick way to check the company file properties

1. Right click on the company file and select Properties.
2. Check the file type i.e. QBW and the size. The size should be greater than or equal to 7MB.
3. Under the Advanced tab, verify that Compress and Encrypt options should be unchecked.
4. Click OK.

• Rename the Company file: To rename the company file, 

1. Right-click on file.
2. Select the Rename option.
3. Try to give a short name (not more than 3 letters).
4. Do not change the file extension.
5. Press Enter to save the file with new name.
6. If the .tlg file is present then, give it the same name as company file. 

• Turn-Off the multi-user hosting: Sometimes, multi-user access creates the problem in file opening and shows the error:

Or

To stop this, go to the File menu->Utilities and check for the Stop hosting multi-user access. Follow the instructions of the message prompt.

• Use rebuild data utility: Whenever you face the situation to rebuild the data then, do it in this manner:

1. Take the backup of your data file
2. Verify the data file
3. Rebuild the data file

Note: If rebuild does not help, you then make sure about the data file location on your local machine. QuickBooks also adamant to locate the data file in C drive. Suppose your data file is present in another drive “D” in your system but it’s shared so, in this case, QuickBooks could have an issue with the rebuild. So, copy your data file into C drive and after completion of the rebuild, move the data file back to its previous location. 

• Try QuickBooks File Repair Tool: One reason can be data corruption and Stellar Repair for QuickBooks Software repairs the corrupt QuickBooks data file. The software is very simple to use and repairs the QBW created in 2007 to 2017. Read the steps to repair corrupt company file by using this software below:

1. Download the QuickBooks file recovery software and install it.
2. There is a Select File button on the interface to select the QBW file. You can also find the file from a particular drive by using Find button. To do so, select the drive from the drop-down list and press the Find button.
3. After selecting the file, click Scan File button.
4. Follow the steps to see the preview of company information, Employee information, vendor information, etc.  
5. To save the file, create a blank qbw file to store the recovered data. 

Conclusion: I get the feeling that; you have so many solutions to fix this problem. I also think that some silly mistakes are also the reason of this issue and you should be aware of them. Always take the backup because it is very helpful in troublesome cases.

The good news is that, if all manual methods fail to fix the problem then you have a QuickBooks repair software, which is safe and secure.