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Error message when you try to send an accountant's copy with the file transfer service

SOLVED•by QuickBooks•Updated over 1 year ago

If you are sending an accountant's copy through the Accountant's Copy File Transfer Service (ACFT), but you see one of the following errors:

We had a problem sending your file to the Intuit Server
Warning: There was a problem sending the changes to the accountant's copy file transfer server. Please try again later or save a file and send by email

This may be happening because:

QuickBooks Desktop needs to be updated.
Entering a long dash in MS Word and then copying it to your notes can cause this to happen. A long dash is created in Microsoft Word by entering two single dashes between the two hyphenated words.
Your QBW file is 200 MB or larger.
Your Internet connection is slow or your firewall settings may be interfering with the upload.
Your company data file is damaged.

Intuit recommends more than one solution for this problem. The first solution may solve your problem, or you may need to try all of them to resolve the issue. For best results, perform the solutions in the order shown.

Fix the errors

Solution 1: Check your company filename for special characters

Ensure there are no commas in:

File name (QuickBooks Desktop 2017)
Company Name (QuickBooks Desktop 2017)

Solution 2: Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release

Accountant File Transfer Service (ACFT) will work with QuickBooks Desktop 2017 (R14), 2018 (R12) or 2019 (R9), as well as QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise 17 (R14), 18 (R12) or 19 (R9). All prior versions and releases are not designed to work with ACFT.

Important: If you are having trouble sending or receiving Accountant Copy files after updating, please reboot your computer and try again.

Solution 3: Reduce company file size

While in the QuickBooks Company file (QBW), hold F2 (or Ctrl + 1) to display the Company Information window.
Under File Information, note the File Size.
Note: The file size is listed in Kilobytes (KB). 1,000 KB = 1 Megabyte (MB)
If the file size is greater than 200,000 KB (200 MB), the file transfer service will display the error. You can either:
- Create or restore a QuickBooks portable company file, to attempt to reduce file size.
- Manually save and send the QBX/QBY without the Accountant File Transfer Service. See: Accountant's copy overview
If the file size is less than 200 MB, proceed to the next solution.

Solution 4: (If sending Accountant's changes) If there is a long dash in your notes

Enter the text directly in notes to the client without long dashes.
Create the text in a Text Editor and copy and paste from that.
E-mail the MS Word document to your client with your changes file (QBY).
Do not use the long dash in MS Word. A single dash is OK.

Solution 5: Company data file is damaged

Determine if the problem is file specific by testing in a new file:
1. Select File, then select New Company.
2. Select Express Start , complete your business info, and select Start Working.
3. Create the new file and send an accountants copy. If it works, return to the problem file and continue to step 2 below.
Use standard data damage troubleshooting. Use Resolve data damage on your company file for details.
If you are unable to resolve the issue, you may want to restore a backup:
1. If you have a recent backup of the affected company file, restore that backup to a location different from the one where the file with the error is located.
2. Open the restored file in QuickBooks.
3. If the earlier error doesn't recur, replace the earlier, damaged company file with the restored QuickBooks backup file and enter any transactions that occurred since running the backup.

Note: If you need to send your Accountant's Copy immediately, go to Accountant's copy overview. This article provides you options to send the file without using the Accountant File Transfer Service.