Question

One user, 2 computers Mac 2019, iCloud

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
January 31, 2019
16 replies
35 views

I purchased QB 2019 for Mac in Nov 2018 and I am/was sharing my iCloud QB file with my desktop and laptop. The user manual says this is permitted and capable. I am the only user. I noticed today that accessing the the file from my desktop does not show the updates made on my laptop even though I am accessing the same file. I remember a couple of times after I first set up, I got notification that changes had been made and asked which one I should keep. I have not gotten that message again. I have installed the most recent updates on both devices. Did the updates disable this one-user sharing feature? I did forget to completely log out of the desktop before using the laptop. Did that permanently end my ability to share the file? How can I fix this?

QuickBooks Desktop for Mac

I

IntuitBrooks

Level 5

Just answered this question from you on another thread.

D

dave949

Just answered this question from you on another thread. - Well gzzz that really helps other users looking for the answer to this question! Care to provide the link @IntuitBrooks

I

IntuitBrooks

Level 5

dave949 - I also answered it on this thread in quite a bit of detail. You can search the threads for other answers (search for iCloud). Sometimes the same people ask the same question on multiple threads and I don't really have time to answer them twice.

A

Anonymous

Hey there, @Madcap,

I want to make sure you get the answers you need with this company file issue.

You're right, you should be able to work with your QuickBooks Desktop for Mac 2019 from multiple devices connected to iCloud.

In your case, since the file isn't updated, you can put your company file in an iCloud shared folder (Documents). Open the file through the shared file, this way you can access the updated file on all connected devices.

However, if you're still getting the same issue, I'd recommend consulting our QuickBooks Mac Care Team. There they can check account and can help you verify what's causing this odd behavior with your iCloud sharing.

Here's how you can get them:

Open this link: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact.
Choose QuickBooks Mac Desktop.
Click on the Company File menu.
Scroll-down and click either Get Phone Number.

That should point you on the right track, @Madcap. Let me know how it goes. I want to ensure you're all taken care of.

M

MadcapAuthor

Thanks! Working on this. Not experienced with iCloud file sharing, so if you could provide a little more detail, that would be helpful. I searched on how to do it, but still lacks some clarity. I think a potential problem is that there is somehow "2" files, one with the updates and one without, because even though I access the SAME file on the 2 different computers, they have different information. I'm pretty sure it is because I forgot to log out of the desktop before using the laptop. If I can get the sharing to work, it looks like I have to manually update the desktop file (my desktop has more transactions) with the newer transactions added on the laptop. I may need to backup the corrected one. Delete or rename the other one and start over with the backup copy. What do you think? I am making myself nervous about the potential of making it all worse.

M

MadcapAuthor

When you make a change to the file on one computer iCloud will detect that change. It then copies the file up to the cloud. On the second computer iCloud detects that the cloud version is newer and will copy the file down to the second computer.

The problem is if you make changes on the second computer before iCloud can complete the copy. QuickBooks Mac 2019 will detect that and give you the standard iCloud "changed copy" dialog. You get to choose which version to accept: the one coming from the cloud or the one you are modifying locally.

In practice I have my Quickbooks company file open on both my laptop and my desktop. The laptop is closed. I'm working on the desktop, adding transactions, etc. Then I head out to a coffee shop with the laptop.

When I open the laptop up, as long as iCloud has had time to sync, my open copy of QuickBooks Mac will have all the changes I made on the desktop.

If I start entering something on the laptop before the sync has occurred I'll get the conflict dialog and be asked to choose either the copy from the desktop or the copy from the laptop.

In practice I find it works really well - generally the sync has occurred before I modify anything and I can just pick up where I left off on the other computer.

But if you shut down the desktop before iCloud can finish uploading or if you had the laptop unplugged and sleeping (and thus didn't have background updating while sleeping running) you might have more latency in the update. The same thing can happen if the two computers have masses changes in other files (like a big movie has been added to one that is shared via iCloud). This kind of thing can slow down the iCloud copying process and cause more latency.

Now, I have a new problem. In the course of setting up the file sharing in the iCloud drive, multiple files were created and I have to figure which ones to delete so I am not updating the wrong files. In addition to that, I had to share Documents and Desktop to get it to work. Now the iCloud has ALL my files in Documents and Desktop folders, which I do not want in iCloud. I am seeking to discover if it is possible to only selected files in the iCloud. I wish there were better instructional details with screenshots about this.

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