.tlg file

Hi Hate the program,

TLG or transaction log contains all the changes you've made on your company file. This is important when you trace them or do some audit trail checks.

Instead of using the desktop, you can move your entire file to a different folder. Here's an article to guide you with that: Move your company files to another computer. Check out the section about moving files to a different location or moving the entire QB folder to a different location.

Please don't hesitate to reach back out if you have other questions about your files. Have a good one!

I apparently was not clear. I know how to manually move files. My issue is QB apparently has a default that .tlg files are automatically put on my desktop. How can I make a change so that they are AUTOMATICALLY, by default, put somewhere alse, say in a folder I create? I know I can move them to my created folder but I want QB to do that. Thanks!!

Hi there, Hate the program.

Welcome to QuickBooks Community. I'll share information how the file types and extension for QuickBooks Desktop work.

QuickBooks keeps track of changes to your company file since your last backup. It saves this info in a file with a .tlg extension. That said, this is a default file name or location when you restore your data. Make any changes to this file name is currently unavailable. Meanwhile, you can only manually move files from the original to a different location. For additional information, you can refer to this article: Recover lost data with QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery.

Please refer to this article to see different information on how QuickBooks Desktop uses different types of files to store different types of data: File types and extensions used by QuickBooks Desktop.

If you need further assistance or have other questions, let me know by adding a reply below. I'll be glad to provide help with file names in QuickBooks Desktop. Have a nice day!

So along with their question, before opening QB, can the tlg file be moved to another location, say an external hard drive.   When opening QB will a new tlg file be created??

Good day, LMKetchum.

Let me share additional information about how the TLG file works,

By default, the TLG file is stored in the same folder as the QuickBooks company file (QBW file) and should be kept there at all times. If you copy the QBW file to another folder, you'll also have to move the TLG file with it.

You can move this file to another location before opening the program. QuickBooks Desktop will automatically create a new TLG file once it loses connection to the original one.

I'm also adding this article to learn more about the different file types that QuickBooks use in storing data: File types and extensions used by QuickBooks Desktop.

Do you have any other questions in mind? Feel free to leave them below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

I have an issue with a QB desktop file.    After over an hour with QB tech support and another with my IT company I gave up on recovering the file so lost two days of work.  However, now the problem is the TLG file is locked (which is why I think the QBW file won't open).  I cannot delete the TLG file.   My computer guy tried; it is not a permissions issue on my computer it is something with the file.   How can you delete a locked TLG file?

Thank you for posting here in the Community, @phitau.

I understand you're having a performance issue with your QuickBooks Desktop file. I'm here to help you resolve your concern.

Your company file may be the main issue if your QuickBooks Desktop isn't functioning. To solve these problems, you have options.

Performance in QuickBooks suffers as the corporate file size grows. The size of your firm data file is not constrained. If your network can't handle massive data files, issues may arise.

TLG records changes made to a file since the previous backup. Performance problems may result from large TLG files. Don't delete the TLG file. Make a manual backup with complete verification to reset the TLG instead.

You can also check how to resolve QuickBooks Desktop performance issues by managing your data file.

Additionally, I recommend reviewing the File types and extensions used by QuickBooks Desktop to see how it uses different file types to store data.

If you need further assistance or have other questions, let me know by adding a reply below. I'll be glad to provide help with file names in QuickBooks Desktop. Have a nice day.

Thanks Ethel - I actually can't get into the file to back up the file.   I was spending too much time on it so gave up and recreated the work that I had done.  So I gave up on the file and since I recreated the file I don't need the old file at this point but it will not let me delete it.  So I'm trying to get the file locked so I can delete it.   My IT guy looked at it, it is not a permissions issue on my network.   It's something with the file preventing it from being deleted.  

Thanks for the reply.  Not a performance issue, I just can't open the file.  I gave up because I was spending more time than it took to redo what I had done in the file.   But now I can't delete the file (TLG specifically).  It is not an IT permissions issue it is something with the QB file locking down the file from being deleted.  So my question is how can I delete a locked TLG file.

Thank you for the additional details, phitau.

I see that you have contacted an IT expert and our QBDT Support about this. However, I will let you contact our team again to look into this further. But before that, I understand that the main issue is that you can't open QuickBooks and that's why you ended up wanting to delete the TLG file. We're you able to perform the steps in this article beforehand: QuickBooks Desktop doesn't start or won't open? If you haven't, please do so. If you did already, please contact our team again.

I'm just around if you have other concerns. Take care and have a good one.