Restoring the company file from the backup file

Great job on getting through most of the restoration process, Paul. Let’s now make sure you’ve converted the .QBB file back into a working .QBW company file.

When restoring a backup file (.QBW) in QuickBooks, it involves specific steps to successfully restore and create a working .QBW company file. If you’ve saved the restored company file in the same folder as your existing file, this may have overwritten your data.

If that isn’t the case, manually locate the folder where you saved the restored .QBW file. Once you’ve confirmed the file exists, follow these steps in your desktop account:

1. On the QuickBooks Desktop home screen, where you see the opening menu with the list of companies, click on Open or Restore an Existing Company.
2. Select Open a Company File and locate the folder where the restored .QBW file exists.
3. Then, open the company file and confirm everything is working as expected.

However, if you still can’t locate the restored company file, you can utilize the Find a company file feature in QBDT. This helps locate and automatically scans the .QBB and .QBW file extensions in your device.

If the same thing happens, another option is to manually search for the files using File Explorer. You can check out the steps in the article: Find QuickBooks company data files and backups.

For any further queries when restoring QuickBooks files, feel free to reply in the comments below.

You need to restore the backup file (*.qbb) on your QB Desktop first. Once the company file is restored, QB will create a new QBW file.

I too am trying to restore QuickBooks to my computer.  I have the program and I saved Back-ups as QBW files.

I have the pop-up that says "No Company Open".  I click "Open or Restore existing company".

Because I have a QBW file, I choose "Open a company file", I find the last back-up I had, click on it and click Open.

I then get an error "Some types of QuickBooks files must be imported or restored, and cannot be opened directly.  QuickBooks can only open the following types of files: QBW, QBA.  And that's it.  How do I restore my last backup??

@KR1650 

What QB Desktop year version do you run? 2024 or older?

QBB is a bankup file extension, not QBW.

Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concern, @KR1650 .

I see you’re working on restoring your backup file (.QBB), which is a backup file format in QuickBooks. Let me walk you through the process to restore your backup company file and address the error message you received.

Here's how:

1. In QuickBooks, go to the File menu and select Open or Restore Company.
2. Select Restore a backup copy and then Next.
3. Select Local Backup and then Next.
4. Browse your computer for your backup company file. It should look like this: [Your company name].qbb.
5. Select the file and click Open. Decide where to save your restored file.
6. Click Save, and QuickBooks will restore your backup file. Once the restoration is complete, QuickBooks will open your new QBW file automatically.

Please note that if you open the backup in the same folder as your existing company file, you may overwrite your data. To avoid overwriting existing files, you need to rename your company file or backup if the names are unique. Or you can save the backup in a completely separate folder.

If you encounter any errors while restoring the backup file, you can refer to this article: What causes an error.

If you have any other questions or need more guidance, feel free to respond in this thread.