Quickbooks Recently opened company file list

what do you mean with "a quickbooks company file list"?

Happy Monday, @tzykid.

Let’s get this problem handled with the company file list not opening. What you would need to do first is to locate the most recent company file.

Important: Make sure to include the asterisk before the extension type to ensure each work correctly.

Let me guide you on how to do that:

1. When the search completes, make note of the location in the In Folder column, the Size, and Date Modified column. Disregard any sample files.
2. The Date Modified column will tell you the last date the file was touched. However, if you just tried to sign in to an older file with a password, this file will have a current date.
3. With QuickBooks double-click on the File Name or Icon of the file that has the most recent timestamp and is the largest size - take out everything but QuickBooks. Example QuickBooks, double-click on the File Name or Icon of the file that has the most recent timestamp and is the largest size.
4. To ensure that you have the correct file. For example, in QuickBooks, run a Custom Transaction Detail report for all dates to view the last transaction entered into QuickBooks Desktop. (Reports > Custom Reports > Transaction Detail).

Note: The default location for a QuickBooks Desktop company files is: C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files. You can choose the version/year of the application your file is using.

Then you may need to use the File Doctor. This is a tool that will fix company files if they are damaged.

Here's a link that provides step by step instructions on fixing the company file: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/damaged-data/fix-company-file-and-network-issues-w...

If you’re still seeing this issue after using File Doctor, you would need to contact our support team as they have further tools to assist you with this matter.

Should you have additional questions, feel free to come back to the Community.

When you open quickbooks and work with multiple files, there is a list that populates with your recently opened files. It is the first thing you see when you open quickbooks. This list will not clear when I select edit and remove them from the list. 

Thank you for the Reply Emily.

I don't believe the issue is with the company files. We host the company files on a server and connect to them. We changed the server location over the weekend and one user is having this issue. she is displaying the old location for the company files. We open the file from the new location, close it, and it does not add to the company file list. It displays the files in the old location. 

I have a few steps that we can try to resolve this, tzykid.

Here are some possible reasons why the company file is missing or cannot be found:

• Computer is disconnected from the path where the QuickBooks file is located.
• QuickBooks file has been deleted from the computer.

Before doing so, please make sure to update your QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release. Then, let's identify the name of your computer server by following these steps:

1. Press the Windows logo + R on your keyboard.
2. Enter CMD then select OK.
3. Enter ipconfig /all then press Enter.
4. Take note of the Host Name (servername).
5. Type ping [name of your server] then press Enter. 

If you see a reply for each packet, this means your computer is connected to your network. If it's a packet loss or a slow reply, I'd recommend consulting your IT professional to diagnose your network.

To view the other solutions, you can check this article: Company file is missing or cannot be found.

If the user is still not able to open the company file in the new location, we can delete their access and add them again.

Here's how:

1. Go to Company located at the top.
2. Select Users.
3. Choose Set Up Users and Roles.
4. Highlight the user, and click Delete.
5. Select Yes to confirm.

Please see sample screenshot below:

Once deleted, add them again. Here's also an article for reference: QuickBooks Desktop Users and Restrictions.

If you're still having the same result after the steps above, you'll want to open manually open the company file on a remote computer.

Let me know how it goes and I'll get back to help you some more. Thanks.

I apologize I am doing a poor job of describing the issue. I really appreciate that I am getting replies and attempted to help. 

The issue is that the list will not clear of old entries. The company files that were on the old server will not disappear from the list. I go to edit and check them all and remove them from the list. But when I open the company file from the new location and close it, the old list repopulates itself and will not add the company files from the new server. I can connect to the new files and open them with no issues.

I cannot save the new locations to the Company file list and I cannot delete the previous entries in the list. When I try to delete them, the list repopulates with old entries. \

Is there a file or location I can find to manually edit this list outside of Quickbooks? Can I use file explorer and delete the file and force quickbooks to build a new list file?

Thanks for the additional information, @tzykid.

We can try to completely uninstall then reinstall the QuickBooks software to fix company file issues. Remember, doing clean install won’t affect your company data.

First, let's make sure to gather your information and back up your data to save your work. Please also remember to have your license number handy and write down your product, year and version. You can get all of this info from your account management portal.

Then, uninstall QuickBooks Deskop by following these steps below:

1. Go to the Control Panel. You can also easily access this by typing "Control Panel" in your Windows Start menu.
2. Select Programs and Features or Uninstall a Program.
3. Choose the version of QuickBooks Desktop you're having problems with from the list of installed programs.
4. Click Uninstall/Change and follow the onscreen instructions.

Once done, let's download and install the QuickBooks Tool hub, then run the clean install tool. If you're done, you can now reinstall QBDT.

If you have questions or need guided steps, check out how to clean install QuickBooks Desktop.

As always, you can leave a comment below if you need further help with this. I'll be there to help you.

I'm sorry to repost on this 1 1/2 months later, but 2 different people from QuickBooks don't understand a very simple question. This shows if you can't even follow the OP's question, how could you possibly attempt to solve these issues?

Your solutions is to uninstall and reinstall?!?!?

I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable 'support' and it prevents people with an actual understanding of the software from answering the question.

I found myself here to piggyback on the OP's question finding ourselves in a similar position - 

1) Is there a file, such as a .ini or something else, that stores the information/list of recently opened QuickBooks company files, 

2) is it possible this information is stored in the registry?

In an Enterprise environment, it is unreasonable to have your software be such that administrators only way to change this information when changing servers, file shares, etc., is to open the company file in the new location by signing in under the context of the current user's profile.

To Intuit - invest a little time and research into finding these types of COMMON problems and put solutions to these into your releases. Also, invest a little time into proper technical training of your staff that you are assigning to answer these community questions. There are thousands of examples here in your community of problems that could be solved by your staff that nearly are always solved by other community members, members without a QuickBooks title.

I replied to the QuickBooks team's posts on this with a similar question but, to answer your issue, I've found that there is a section in the registry at 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Intuit\QuickBooksCommon\QBFinder

where you can find the recently opened files. Perhaps you can check each individual users keys, and edit those to the correct info, or even delete (first backup) the keys with the old server info.

This is not what we want you to feel, @juicejug.

Thank you for resolving the issue your having. Your suggestion is important to us, I'll take note of this feedback about the Enterprise  version and submit this along to our Product Development team to help improve your experience.

While we don't have a specific time frame as to when the new features will roll out, you can visit our QuickBooks Blog page for reference on what's new and what's coming in QuickBooks.

If you have other concerns, don't hesitate to click the Reply button. I'll be glad to help you further.

Performing a clean reinstall is what did it for me. I first attempted a 'normal' uninstall using the Quickbooks uninstaller, but this left to many remnants including the File list! I had to perform a 100% clean uninstall by removing all quickbooks folders from programs, programdata, appdata, and clean the registry. Then I reinstalled and it was successful. It would have been nice to not have to go through all of that. 

the recent list is here; 

C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Intuit\QuickBooks 2020\QBWUSER.INI

at least for my version 2020