GL Entries Backup and Restore

Use the migration tool as a workaround and it's a one time license.

https://get.transactionpro.com/qbd

Use the exporter tool on the file your accountant was working on. Export all transactions for October and November to Excel

Restore your last good backup file

Use the import tool to import (and filter) Oct and Nov into your restored company file.

Hello, asid. 

Thank you for reaching out to the Community. I appreciate your inquiry and would be happy to provide you with more detailed information.  

Regarding your question, both suggestions provided are viable options for your situation. If you export the GL entries to a spreadsheet, you can do so by accessing the General Ledger and selecting the desired date range. From there, you can export the data to a spreadsheet format of your choice. 
 

Alternatively, the 4Gal suggestion is also a great option. Using a migration tool, you can export all the transactions for October and November to Excel. This will allow you to manipulate and analyze the data as needed quickly. 
 

Lastly, restoring your backup file is always a good idea to ensure your data is accurate and up-to-date. Also, I'm adding more tips and other resources. You may visit our page on managing your business in QuickBooks: QuickBooks Desktop Self-help articles.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'll be right here to keep helping. Have a great day!

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Thank you for the solution. At the moment I will stick to the free solution. If and when things might get desperate, I will have a look at the paid solution. But thank you none the less. 

So I myself have barely used QB Desktop, usually my accountant uses it. But due to his unavailability now and the matter needs immediate attention hence why I have to resort to doing it myself. 

I have mentioned the steps I will be taking below to correct this issue properly. Please bear with me on this

1. On my live file, I will go to the GL details and export this to excel from Jan to Nov

2. I will close this company, create a new company and restore the good backup till August in QBB format

3. Once restored, I will open this company/backup and export the GL details to excel from Jan to Sep

4. Remove the unnecessary entries from Jan to Nov excel file by deleting the line items and the entire row

5. Merge it with the Jan to Sep excel file as required

6. Make another company where I will be importing this excel file. I do not want to import this reviewed excel file in my live file as a precaution

7...

I don't know how to import the GL dump of entries in excel to QB Desktop here. Because I don't see the option of importing data. Would I then need to map my GL accounts, create vendors etc. Again? Or you recommend I just import the data to my live file because I will still have a backup of it regardless?

So I am confused where to import and how to import all this data from excel?

Thanks

@asid 

If you prefer using a free migration solution, you have to use IIF

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/import-export-data-files/export-impor...

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Thank you @4Gal, will give it a try, however would it also export the column 'date created/last modified'? As this will help my identify the back dated GL entries and then validate of they are required or be deleted

Can I also use this on the live file? Or would I need to create a new company? Meaning would it override existing data if I import it after clean up?

would it also export the column 'date created/last modified

No

Can I also use this on the live file?

Yes

Meaning would it override existing data if I import it after clean up?

As I know IIF cannot identify the same data. You may encounter data duplication. The paid migration tool offers more feature.

Appreciate you responding @4Gal.

I have the 3 options then from what you've guided 

1. Create a new company, import the GL dump in that company

2. Or duplicate the existing live file and company. Somehow manage to delete all GL entries, if possible, not sure and then import the cleaned spreadsheet 

3. Go with the steps I've mentioned above in my previous posts? But still leaves me with how can I import that data back?

Again, I want to try everything possible before going to the paid option. 

I appreciate the steps you've shared, asid. I'll share some information on how you can import your data.

In QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), there are specific lists and transactions you can import.

Based on the steps you've provided, you can perform those. However, in step number 5, if you're referring to merging two company files, it's not possible. 

For a quicker way of managing your data, I'd suggest following 4Gal's suggestion of using a free migration tool. 

Here's an article I'd like to share to help you manage your file once you import your QBDT data to QuickBooks Online (QBO): Condense your QuickBooks Desktop file for import to QuickBooks Online.

Comment below if you have further questions about importing data from Excel, and I'll get back and assist you. Take care!

Thanks @CamelleT. Just to be clear in my side, initial want to both export from and import to QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2016. The link you've given is for the online version

Regarding merging the 2 company files. Technically, they are just 1 company, with one backup from August and one from November. I will create a new company and restore the August backup as I do not want to override the original company file which has October and November entries.

When I say merge, I mean I will take the excel version of the Aug backup, which is clean. And then copy the October and November entries from the live excel version and paste them below. Wouldn't this work?

The IFF solution. I can probably somehow manage to identify the backdated entries, by somehow perhaps downloading the GL entries with the creation date and do a VLOOKUP or something. But not sure, I can try. 

Just worried about the import he said it'll duplicate the entries rather than override.

I still don't have a clear vision if it's even possible to do with a free solution. Both the export, manual cleanup and then ultimately the main step of importing back the clean data.

Ideally, I would like the answer to the below question as I said the confusion still lies with the possibility. I would prefer the solution provided to free and already included within QB Desktop 2016 version. 

1. How should I restore the August backup in QBB format without overriding the live file? Since I have a live file with October & November entries.

2. How should I export the data then from both the files, the good backup and the live file? So they can talk to each other and I can see the column of the date created and identify the back dated entries. Happy to do some manual work here on excel through formulas and pivots etc.

3. Can I manually edit the excel data, just delete the rows which I find are back dated entries and this can be imported back without a problem or will give an error?

4. Best way to import the data? Should I import it to a new company? If I do this, would my GL mapping, vendors, customers, invoices all will be imported back as well, basically be my new life file?

4.1 Should I import it to the August backup file? There are new GL accounts created in October and November, not many but I think 3 under cash, will then these be automatically created?

4.2 Or should I import it to the live file? Is there a possibility to create a copy of the live file and then import all the entries without duplication? Or possibility of deleting the entries first, all of them and then importing it to avoid duplication? 

Thanks for following up with us, @asid.

Let me help you by answering your questions in order. 

1. To avoid overwriting anything, you can rename your existing company file or the backup so the names are unique. Or you can save the backup in a completely separate folder. For additional information about restoring a backup, check out Restore a backup of your company file in QuickBooks Desktop. 
2. The option to import invoices via Excel or .csv file is currently unavailable in QBDT. You can only import Customer, Vendor, Items, and Chart of Accounts. There are two workarounds that you may consider:
   •  First is by looking for a third-party application that can integrate with QBDT and allows you to import invoices via Excel or .csv file. Since we can’t recommend a specific app, I suggest visiting our QuickBooks Desktop Apps Store. In this, you can look for an app that suits your business needs.
   • Another option is to import your invoices using Intuit Interchange Format (IIF) files. To know more about the process, consider checking out this article for further guidance: Export, import, and edit IIF files.
3. Again, you won't be able to import the transactions from Excel. However, you can export them if you wish and use a third-party app to import them. For more details about this process, check out Import or Export MS Excel Files. 
4. You can refer to my response above for question number 2.

I hope this helps you out. Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with today. Have a good one! 

Thank you @Tori B, appreciate you taking out the time here. 

Thank you for your guidance, I have restored both the August and November backups to a new folder, in result creating 2 companies. So I am sorted for that.

Now from what I understand, there is no point in export to excel the GL entries and manually deleting and merging with file as I can't import them later.

The solution you have mentioned is IIF, I am looking into it right now. But can I export both GL dump as IIF files, merge certain GL entries and delete some entries and then import it back via the IIF option? Will this work?

Are the IIF files capable to be read and edited by microsoft excel?

@4Gal mentioned that it would duplicate the entries then? Anyway to eliminate this then?

I am thinking another thing, which might take time, but perhaps the easiest, just lot of manual work, if I just export the entries from my live file from Jan to Nov, identify the back dated entries. Can I reverse/delete them by going to my GL account? There are alot of back-dated entries, but this should ideally work, wouldn't it?

Glad to have you back, @asid. It's also great to know that you're all sorted out with restoring the backup copies of your company files. I'm here to address your additional concerns about correcting your GL entries in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

Yes, you can utilize the IIF feature of QBDT. However, please take note that the list that you can export from the program is limited. Please visit the Learn about IIF import and export limitations section of this article to learn more about it: Export, import, and edit IIF files.

Before you begin, be sure to make a backup copy of your company file. This will enable you to restore it and undo any changes that may occur during the process. Once done, follow these steps to export your GL, then open them to Excel and merge or delete certain entries:

1. Sign in to your company file as an admin.
2. Go to the File menu, then tap Utilities.
3. Click Export, then hit Lists to IIF Files.
4. Choose the lists you want to export, then tap OK.
5. In the Save in dropdown, choose a location to save your IIF file into.
6. Enter a file name, then make sure to select All Files from the Save as type dropdown.
   

Once done, proceed with opening the file through MS Excel. Here's how:

1. Open MS Excel program.
2. Click File in the upper-left hand corner, then tap Open.
3. Hit Browse and look for the IIF file.
4. Select the file and click Open.
5. If you can't see it, make sure that you select All Files.
   
   

From there, make the necessary changes and save the file using the same format. Then, import it back to QBDT but please keep in mind that Intuit does not offer assisted technical support for creating or importing .IIF files. See these articles for your reference:

• IIF Overview: import kit, sample files, and headers
• Export, import, and edit IIF files

Moreover, make sure not to include the data that is already in QBDT when you import the file to avoid duplicate entries. Otherwise, you'll have to delete them manually if they're imported accidentally.

As to what you've mentioned, yes, you can manually delete those backdated entries from your GL account to ensure that it won't create any matching entries.

On top of that, you can always look for a third-party application that allows you to convert IIF files to Excel, import Excel files, and restore your backup copy without duplicate entries.

Please know that you're always welcome to get back to me if you still have other concerns or follow-up questions regarding your GL entries. I'll be glad to help. Take care always.

@4Gal I guess the free solutions do not work for the situation I have on had. As IIF does not import/export all type of transactions and details, which will leave me to do a lot of batch entries.

I saw that there is a 7 day trial period for the software, which I can use for the purpose, hoping there isn't any limitation on the trial. From what I understand I need to be doing these steps:

1. Link my live file with Transaction Pro. 

2. Utilizing Transaction Pro, export only the transaction details for October & November (all of them, like bill payments, bills, checks, credit card charges, etc.) but do not need to export lists such as accounts, classes, customers, etc.?

3. Restore the September backup

4. Link the September file with Transactions Pro

5. Utilizing Transaction Pro, simply import the same files back in the same order as exported.

Am I missing any steps in the above? What if there are any new GL accounts created in October & November or new customers, vendors, employees created? Will they automatically flow as well?