Remote access to QuickBooks 2019 for Mac

Anonymous · ‎May 19, 2022

Please note that I am asking about QuickBooks 2109 for Mac (which is desktop). I am not interested in QuickBooks Online or third-party products that work with QBO!

Our small business has two licenses for QuickBooks 2019 for Mac. We have the QuickBooks company file on an iMac on our network and the QuickBooks server program also runs on that same iMac, making the company file available to two clients running elsewhere on our network. This works fine.

Now, we need one of those clients (on a MacBook) to be able to run QuickBooks and access the company file from home. We already have a SonicWall Mobile Connect installation which allows remote company clients to remotely access our company network. This, generally, works fine.

However, even when remote and properly connected to the company network through the VPN, the client QuickBooks 2019 for Mac is not able to see or access the QuickBooks company file, even though the same iMac with the company file the running the QuickBooks server program is up and available. Why not?

How, exactly, does QB on a client machine "see" and connect with the company file on a different machine on the network running the QB server program?

Tori B · ‎May 19, 2022

Hi there, @Anonymous.

Thanks for taking the time to reach out to the QuickBooks Community for support and sharing those great details.

QuickBooks Desktop for Mac uses the QuickBooks Server to share the company file to different computers. You'll need to ensure that you have the right file sharing set up so the remote computer using your server can have access to the file. I've included the steps to set the correct permissions below.

Go to the Apple menu, then select System Preferences.
Click the Sharing icon, then click the File Sharing checkbox.
On the Shared Folders column, tap +, then look for the company file’s folder location.
Select Add.
On the Users column, set the permission to Read and Write for Everyone.

You can see additional details about this process and all the information you'll need to use your remote server in Use multiuser mode in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac.

If you continue to have issues with your remote computer accessing the company file, I recommend having your IT Professional check things out. They may need to set up a special connection based on your server type.

Please know that you can also contact our Technical Support Team so an agent can help set up the file sharing and hosted environment for you.

I'm only a reply away if you have any questions or concerns. Take care!

Anonymous · ‎May 19, 2022

Thanks. Everything works fine when server and client are within the company network. But, when a client is outside the company network yet connected to the company network via VPN, QB on the client cannot see the served company file. We need to know exactly, precisely, in IT-speak, how the QB Server and QB for Mac on clients find each other and communicate so we can fix it.

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