Quickbooks Desktop Inactivity logout?

Good answer but it's kind of the opposite of what I was hoping for... I wanted to be able to kick people out of Quickbooks after being idle for an hour.

Thanks for coming back here in the Community, @I-Already-Had-A-Username.

Currently, logging people out of QuickBooks Desktop after being idle is unavailable. I can see that having this feature can help your business needs. I'll make sure to take note of this idea.
 

In the meantime, I'd suggest visiting our QuickBooks Blog regularly. This way, you'll be updated with the latest news and updates, including product improvements.

I'd add an article that you might use in the future about managing your QuickBooks account. 
 

• Help Articles

Please feel free to get me in the loop if you have any more questions about your QuickBooks account. It's my pleasure to help. Take care!

Please create an idle logout feature! 

Please create an idle logout feature. 

Hi @jmcs.

I'd appreciate posting your request to create an idle logout feature in QuickBooks Desktop. While this feature is unavailable for now, I encourage checking our Firm of the Future website to see new and incoming feature enhancements and updates in QuickBooks.

Additionally, you can click this page to view more articles and topics on updating your company info and control security and data: Account management.

Feel free to let me know if you have more questions about preferences in QuickBooks. The Community is always here to help. Take care, and enjoy the rest of the day!

These timeout's on the installed app for QuickBooks Online are ridiculous.  I used to be able to keep it open all day on my computer with no issues and now I am seriously considering peach tree as this is more than just a joke.  It is one thing to lock down the web page access but the app?

REALLY....

We have auto locking on our domain with our computers for inactivity already as well as DUO dual factor authentication on them. I don't need QuickBooks logging me out on and off throughout the day.

We should have more of a choice than 1, 2, and 3 hours depending on our policy.  In our case due to our very restricted network and policies, and DUO we don't need it locking and being a pain point in our organization.  Otherwise we WILL find a better solution that is more customer oriented and focused.  

Fair point for an app running only on your PC, but - we run Quickbooks in a hosted environment and may have multiple people logged in simultaneously - and if one of them forgets to close the company file / logout of the application - their session stays active and it causes our automated nightly back to fail. Would be great to have a true autologoff feature within the application that an admin can configure to force logouts after a period of inactivity. Forcing a session to remain active for a predetermined period of time seems much less useful in general, especially if the default is to remain active indefinitely until a user logs out / closes the app.

Would really appreciate two things here: 1) having autologout times in hours, not just days; and 2)  being able to modify this at the individual user or role level rather than a blanket policy for all users. We run quickbooks in a hosted environment and have some web sync services that run every hour, every day, and we need a persistent login for the account we use to run those sync services, but our A/P, A/R, office manager users do NOT need a persistent login (and in fact, should have an autologout to force them out of the app if they forget to close the company file at the end of the day). This would be a HUGE help for those of us in a similar situation.

Hi there, @jptlg21.

I can see the importance of this feature in your business, I'd recommend sending feedback through the QuickBooks Desktop. Our product developers will assess this suggestion and may include this in future enhancements. 

Here's how to send feedback:

1. Go to the Help menu and select Send feedback online.
2. Choose Help System Suggestion or Product Suggestion.
3. You can copy your post here and paste it on the box.
4. Entering your name and email address is optional.
5. Select Send feedback and Close Window.

You may also visit the Firm of the Future page to be updated on the latest enhancements of the QuickBooks products.

I'll be around if you have other questions or concerns. Please don't hesitate to let me know in the comment section. Take care and stay safe always.

The problem I'm having is with only one user. All other users will stay logged in until they close QB. Any idea why just one user is timing out?

I can help you resolve that issue, Mike Martin.

You'll want to adjust the login settings so the users will only be logged off once they close the company file or exit QuickBooks. Here's how:

1. Go to the Edit menu.
2. Choose Preferences.
3. Select General, then head to the Company Preferences tab.
4. Under the Manage Login Settings section, tick the Log off every time a user closes the company or exits QuickBooks checkbox.
5. Click OK to complete the process.

However, the same thing happens after turning on this option, I'd recommend running the Verify and Rebuild utilities to further isolate this problem. It could that there's a data integrity issue in your company file causing this unusual behavior. 

I'm also adding this article to learn how to log into a company file without having to enter a username and password every time: Stay logged in to QuickBooks company file.

Don't hesitate to reach out to me again if you have any other concerns or additional questions. I'm always here to assist you.

 Hi Michelle,

I follow the steps on how to set up the timeout duration in our Quickbooks  desktop but it did not worked.  Is there's other way we can set it up.  Please advise.

Thank you.

Regards,

Josephine   

Hey there, @josephine8.

Thanks for following the thread and sharing your concerns here in the QuickBooks Community. 

We do have another way of setting the timeout duration in QuickBooks Desktop. I've included the steps to set the duration below. 

1. Go to the Edit menu at the top of the screen. 
2. Choose Preferences. 
3. Click on the General tab. Then tap on the Company Preferences tab. 
4. Select the “Keep user logged in for…” option.
5. Decide the login period. 
   • 

That should do it. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this process. I'm always around to lend a hand. Take care! 

There is no Manage Login Settings in my company preferences. Where can I find it?

A user keeps getting logged off without doing so manually and while in the middle of preparing a quote, therefore losing all their work.

Please HELP!!

I have a user that keeps getting logged off while in use.

I have gone into Company Preferences but there is no Manage Login Settings!!

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Hi there, @Jen_M. 

Thanks for following my steps listed above. 

To see these preferences, you'll need to be logged in as the company Admin user. If you're not the Admin, you won't see the Manage Login settings. 

The lowest amount of time the duration can be set for is 1 day. With that said, does your employee log out each day? When they log out, are the going to File>Close Company/Log off? If not, I encourage them to log off this way. This is the proper way of logging out of the company file. If they're only hitting the red X in the corner of the screen, the file has not fully closed and can continue the time duration period. Thus, causing them to be automatically logged out once the duration period has ended. 

I also wanted to ask if you notice this happening if another user logs in at the same time the user gets logged out? If this is the case, you'll need to up the amount of users you have staying logged in at once. If you need to up the amount of users license you have, you can contact our Customer Support Team at anytime, and an agent will help you do so. 

Should either of these scenario's not be the cause, then there could be the possibly that this is a broken user. Broken users can happen over a period of time. Don't sweat it. You can resolve this as easy as 1, 2, 3. 

To resolve a broken user, all you'll need to do is delete and add the user back to your company file. No data will be lost during this process. I've included the steps to delete and add the user below. 

To delete user:

1. Sign in as the QuickBooks Admin.
2. Go to the Company menu, then select Setup Users and Passwords and then Set Up Users.
3. Highlight the user, then click on Delete user. 

To add user:

1. Go to the Company menu, then select Set Up Users and Password and then Set up Users.
2. Tap on Add User...
3. Fill out the User Name, Password, and Confirm Password fields, then hit Next.
4. On the Access for user: (username) window, choose which area of QuickBooks the user has access to, then click Next.
   • If you choose Selected areas of QuickBooks, you can customize the restrictions for different areas of the company file for the newly created user by selecting No Access, Full Access, or Selective Access.
5. When done, hit Finish.

For additional details about this process, check out QuickBooks Desktop Users and Restrictions. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful day! 

Thank you Tori B!

I was signed is as the admin but we have credit card protection, so it won't allow me to manage the login settings. I have tried deleting him and adding him... fingers crossed this will be the solution! 

Although as I am typing this, it just showed that he has been logged out ... next possible solution????

I know this hasn't been an easy process for you, Jen_M. I appreciate all the efforts you've performed to get this resolved.

Since your user still keeps logging out, I'd recommend contacting our QuickBooks Support Team. They're equipped with tools to check the cause. It'll also allow them to submit a ticket to our engineering team to alert them about the issue if necessary.

Here's how:

1. From the Help menu, select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
2. In the Have a Question window, click the Contact us link.
3. This will display the Contact Us screen.
4. Go to the Tell us more about your question section to enter the issue or topic in the field box.
5. Click the Search button to display the Start a Message or Let's talk button.

To ensure that you'll be assisted on time, check out our support hours.

Additionally, I've added an article that'll help you learn more about the tasks that can be performed in single or multi-user mode: Managing QuickBooks Desktop Data.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me again if you have any other concerns or additional questions. I'm always here to assist you.

This doesn't work since we use QB to accept credit cards. See the attached error message.

Is there another way to change idle logout properties?  Maybe in the registry?

Thank you for joining this thread, Dean B.

 I can see how the inability to change your login settings in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) due to having credit card protection caused an inconvenience. Allow me to shed some light on changing the sign-in settings. 

The option to modify the idle logout properties is currently unavailable, particularly when the credit card protection function is turned on. You can consider posting your concern to the Intuit Developers Community.

The platform provides resources, tools, and services that can help developers, and users build robust applications and integrations that can streamline accounting and financial management for businesses. Follow these steps to access the site:

1. In your browser, enter this link: https://help.developer.intuit.com/s/
2. Choose your QuickBooks product.
3. Select the Ask a Question option.
4. Press Sign In.
5. Use your Intuit login credentials.

Having a built-in feature that lets users edit the log-out properties even if the credit card protection is activated is a great addition to QBDT. Let's send this product suggestion straight to our developers for consideration in future enhancements. 

Here's how:

1. In your company file, click the Help menu at the top bar to choose Send Feedback Online and Product Suggestions.
2. In the QuickBooks Feedback window, tap the Type of Feedback drop-down to select Product Suggestion.
3. Pick the Product Area from the drop-down and enter your feedback in the Here is my suggestion box.
4. Fill in the remaining fields.
5. Click Send Feedback to submit. 

Check out the QuickBooks Blog and Firm of the Future to stay updated on the latest features and improvements to QuickBooks and its related products. Discover valuable resources and expert tips to grow and prosper your business.

I've gathered various resources that contain information on adjusting your login settings, tips for securing your credit card data, and effective methods for identifying and protecting against fraud or scams. Just open each link to view the full details:

• Identify suspicious activity, phishing scams, and potential fraud
• Online security tips
•  Stay logged in to QuickBooks company file

If you need any additional information or have any concerns about the sign-in period in QBDT and navigating through QBDT, please leave a comment below and mention my name. I will be available to offer further assistance. Have a good one, @Dean B.

We recently upgraded to Quickbooks Desktop Enterprise 2024 and my users have started receiving;

This timeout is defaulted to 30 minutes and I can find no means of adjusting or disabling it. 

Mind you, being responsible for the backups and wanting everyone out of the QB database before they run, I applaud the new "feature".  However, our employees wear a lot of hats and have to multitask fluidly - I can't have them having to log into Quickbooks upwards of a dozen times a day!  It is disruptive to their productivity and morale.

Please advise.

Hi there, Pakman. Welcome to the thread and thank you for bringing your idle time expired concern to our attention as well as adding a screenshot.

To avoid any interruptions while working on QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), it is recommended to adjust the login settings. You can choose to either keep a user logged in for a specific number of days or log off the user once they exit QuickBooks or close the company file.

To configure this setting, follow the steps below:

1. Sign in as the Admin user.
2. Go to the Edit menu at the top.
3. Select Preferences.
4. In the left menu, choose General, then head to the Company Preferences tab.
5. Under the Manage Login Settings section, tick the checkbox for Log off every time a user closes the company or exits QuickBooks or Keep user logged in for and choose how many days from the dropdown arrow.
6. Once done, click OK.

After making these changes, a user will be logged out of QuickBooks once the login period you set under this preference ends. For more information, please check out this article: Stay signed in to QuickBooks Desktop.

If you want to learn more about the various user types and access levels in QuickBooks, you can visit this article: Create and manage users and roles in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. It includes step-by-step instructions on how to review and manage the access of each user type.

If you have any other login concerns or questions, please let me know. I'm here to lend a hand.