Issues with Employee Information with QB Update

I value the time and work you put into fixing the payroll error, Trapshooter1985.

Let's re-create the employee in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) Payroll to see if the worker's profile is damaged. Then, merge it to the old profile to keep your payroll records in order.

Before we start, create a backup copy of the company file to prevent accidental loss. When you're ready, follow the steps below to delete the worker's information:

1. In your company file, go to the Employees menu at the top and choose Employee Center. 

2. Click the New Employee button at the top of the screen.

3. Fill in the employee's applicable information in the appropriate tabs, including full name, gender, date of birth, Social Security Number, contact information, and compensation. 

4. Press OK when you've finished adding the new worker.

Once done, let's go ahead and merge the worker's profile. See this guide for detailed instructions: Merge list entries in QuickBooks Desktop. From there, choose QuickBooks Desktop for Windows and head to the Merge entries in Chart of Accounts, Item List, Customer List, Vendor List and Employee List.

I also attached a link that covers topics on how to get your workers' records accurate: Configure and set up each worker, employee, contractor, supplier or temp.

If you require further information on any payroll-related activity, feel free to access our online resources. From there, you'll learn how to handle tax notices, and process payroll forms, to name a few. 

Fill me in if you have other QuickBooks concerns or questions about managing your workers' data. I'll get back to help you the best that I can.

Ok, I have tried to delete the employee as the solution suggests above.  I receive the following message

"Quickbooks cannot delete this name because it has a balance or it is used in at least one transaction.

Solution:

If you rarely use this name, consider making it inactive so that it doesn't appear on the list.  If you need to use the name at a later time, you can always make it active again.  I am given 3 choices of make inactive - cancel or help.

I tried to set up the employee as a new employee leaving off the middle initial for a different name; re-entering all the required information and it was accepted.  I than went up to lists to Merge the entries and there is not an option for employee name.  The only selection is payroll item or payroll schedule. 

Thanks for getting back with the Community, Trapshooter1985. I appreciate your detailed information.

If you're looking to merge employee profiles, you'll need to access your Employee Center.

Here's how:
 

1. In the top menu bar, go to Employees.
2. Choose Employee Center.

Once your employee list is displayed, you can proceed with merging:
 

1. Copy the name of an employee you'd like to keep.
2. Right-click their other profile and pick Edit.
3. Paste your copied information in their Name field.
4. Hit Save & Close.
5. Select Yes to merge the profiles.

I did take notice that our article about merging employee profiles doesn't mention that you'll need to go to your Employee Center, and have submitted feedback to get that information added to the article.

You'll also be able to find many detailed resources about using QuickBooks in our help article archives.

Please feel welcome to send a reply if there's any additional questions. Have a great Thursday!

Well, I followed the suggestion of trying to merge my employee and I receive a warning of:

Employees with payroll transactions cannot be merged.  Please use another name.

So I tried to merge the new employee information; which was accepted without the stupid exclamation point, to the old employee.  I clicked on ok and Quickbooks totally closed without warning.  I reopened QB went to the employee center and the new employee is gone and the old employee is there along with the exclamation point still.  I edit the employee, click on save & close and it still gives me the error message that a phone number must be entered; which the phone number is there; and the option of enter now or enter later. 

Thanks for getting back on this thread and providing updates, @Trapshooter1985.

Since you've mentioned that you've updated your payroll, this issue might be caused by unexpected behavior. Let's also ensure that we update our QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release so you always have the latest features and fixes.

If the issue persists, we can run the Verify and Rebuild Data tool to identify and resolve the most commonly known data issues. There may be an issue with your employee's data. Before doing so, ensure a backup company file in case of problems.

Here's how:

1. Choose Window, then Close All.
2. Go to the File menu, and then click Utilities.
3. Select Rebuild Data.
4. Follow the onscreen instruction to back up your data.
5. When the tool finishes, select OK.
6. Navigate to the File menu, then click Utilities.
7. Click Verify Data, then choose Rebuild Now once QuickBooks finds an issue with your company file.

For reference about the steps, you can check this article: Verify and Rebuild Data in QuickBooks Desktop.

I'll add this article again to learn more about merging entries in QBDT: Merge list entries in QuickBooks Desktop. 

Please know that the Community is always around to help with any QuickBooks Desktop errors you may be having. I'm here to help.

Finally!  I ran the backup, verify & rebuild.  I then went to check what version my QB was which was not up to date.  I went into manual desktop update and the dates were reading 6-21-23 as last update.  I did click on update and goodies were installed.  I did a restart as required and when I went into my Employee Center all the exclamation points were gone.  Thank you so much for all of your help.

I'm happy to hear that it's already resolved, @Trapshooter1985.

I’m glad to know that the information provided by my colleagues above has helped you to figure this out. Thank you for making business with us in QuickBooks.

If you have any other concerns about QuickBooks count me in. I'll surely get back to you. Take care.

I, too, am having issues getting rid of the stupid orange exclamation marks, and don't see why we have to spend hours fixing something that wasn't broken to begin with.  All the info is there, but it only accepts it on 1/4 of our employees. Intuit needs to fix this.  My system is completely updated.  (very frustrated).  Glad you got your issue fixed, but how many hours of your time did it take?

This update has been a disaster for me and totally unnecessary. We have 300 employees, I'm not gonna go put in the phone number for all of them. This will likely cause me to switch to a different system.

You could try to put in your company phone number for each employee and a general company e-mail which is what I did as our employee personal information is elsewhere and we do not have the large employee count that you have.  You could try to update QB after that information is entered and see what happens.  I do know that the exclamation marks did not disappear until after I did the update.  Good Luck; I hope things get fixed.