back up issues

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community, Jojo24. I will be delighted to help! First, you want to make sure to update QuickBooks to its latest release to prevent problems. Here's how:

1. Go to the Help menu.
2. Select Update QuickBooks Desktop.
3. Click the Update Now tab.
4. Check the box for Reset Update.
5. Hit the Get Updates button.
6. Select OK when prompt to continue.
7. Click OK when prompted to accept the option to install the new release.
8. Close the Update QuickBooks window.
9. Restart QuickBooks.

If you cannot do the backup, I encourage you to run the QuickBooks Installation Diagnostic Tool to identify and correct QuickBooks Desktop errors. Please follow the steps below.

1.     Download the QuickBooks Install DiagnosticTool.
2.     Save the file on your local Desktop.
3.     To run the tool, close any open programs.
4.     Once completed, restart your computer.

I also include the steps to create a backup file for Mac. 

1. Go to QuickBooks.
2. Choose Preferences.
3. Click Backup and pick where you would like it to be saved.

You can refer to this article for more information on how to back up your company file. These are some issues that can cause problems when doing a back up such as: 

1. The backup is being restored from a USB flash drive or a network drive. 
2. The file being restored isn't an actual QuickBooks backup file. 
3. The backup has been made in a newer version but is being restored to an older version. 
4. The company file is damaged or corrupted, in which case a  Rebuild and Verify would need to be conducted.

Please let me know if you have any questions or still have any issues. My team and I are here to help! Take care and enjoy the rest of your day.

started manual backup for the first time and seems that the process should be done by now

it has been processing for 10 hours now, it is on a loop

Hi there, arturo1. 

Thank you for bringing this concern to the Community. Backing up files may take some time especially if it's for the first time. However, if the issue persists or there's no progress I suggest running the QuickBooks Installation Diagnostic Tool to identifies any potential data damage issues and rectify QuickBooks Desktop errors. Please follow the steps below.

1.     Download the QuickBooks Install DiagnosticTool.
2.     Save the file on your local Desktop.
3.     Run the tool, close any open programs.
4.     Once completed, restart your computer. 

If the same things happen, I suggest contacting our QuickBooks Desktop Support Team. They can further investigate it.  

Before doing so, please check out our support hours to ensure that we address your concerns on time. Here's how to connect with our Customer teams:  

1. Sign in to your company account, then click Help.
2. Choose QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Hit Talk to human. 
4. Enter the question in the description field, then click Search. 
5. Select either Message Us or Call Us.      

Feel free to visit this article about fixing data damage: Fix data damage on your QuickBooks Desktop company file.  

We'll surely be closely looking into the issue you're currently experiencing. If there's anything else that you need help with, just leave a reply below. You take care!

Thank you very much for your reply. The problem is I don't have a business anymore and therefore am not interested in purchasing the needed or suggested by you, updated QuickBooks.

All I would like to do is be able to back it up from my Mac to Windows… And then send that to a friend who has QuickBooks 21...or the most current… And have her be able to print out all of my past customers from 5 to 15 years ago.

What I'm looking for, is to have someone do... when that's complete... is be able to call each of old customers, "armed" with the date they purchased and what they purchased, contact telephone, etc (which is all on each Invoice)…and request from each of them if they're interested in looking at any future purchases.

Again I'm not in business anymore...but do have some limited inventory I would like to sell to some of my old customers

Thank you very much.

When I go to help on my 2010 quick books...and under, 'help', there is no 'update QuickBooks' option.

What I was hoping to do was back up my Mac QuickBooks to windows, so I could send it to a friend who has the most current QuickBooks and who says she could then tell the program to produce a way of printing each of the old invoices (from 5 to 15 years ago)… In order to have another friend call each of those old customers, 'armed' with what they bought and when they bought it along with the telephone number etc.… in order to ask them about any future interest they may have in other or additional purchases.

The problem is when I push the button to backup my 2010 Mac QuickBooks to Windows, all I get is a spinning wheel that continues to spin.