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Working with QuickBooks > Backing Up and Restoring QuickBooks Company Files > Backing Up QuickBooks Company Files
    
Backing Up QuickBooks Company Files
SmartVault recommends that you back up any QuickBooks company files that you make changes to at least once a day.
If you want to be even safer, you can configure SmartVault to automatically back up your QuickBooks company file each time you close the company file. For more information, see “Automatically Backing Up QuickBooks Company Files” .
Note: The time required to back up a QuickBooks company file depends on the total size of the QuickBooks company file, the speed and bandwidth of your Internet connection, and the current load on SmartVault servers in the SmartVault data center at that time. Backup times can vary from about one minute to several minutes or more based on these factors.
Before you back up a QuickBooks company file, verify the following items:
• Verify that the QuickBooks company file you want to back up is not currently open or being used by another user.
• Verify that the QuickBooks company file that you want to back up has been added to SmartVault. For more information about adding a QuickBooks company file to SmartVault, see “Adding QuickBooks Company Files to SmartVault” .
• Verify that you have permissions to back up the QuickBooks company file. In order to back up the QuickBooks company file, you must have the following permissions:
– If the QuickBooks company file was shared with you using the Manage Group Members option, your SmartVault user ID must be a member of the Vault Managers group or the Full Access group for the vault. For more information, see “Sharing QuickBooks Company Files Using the Manage Group Members Option” .
– If the QuickBooks company file was shared with you using the Share & Manage Access option, you must have either Full Access or Selective Access with the Backups option selected. For more information, see “Sharing QuickBooks Company Files Using the Share & Manage Access Option” .
To back up a QuickBooks company file:
1. Install the SmartVault Desktop software. For more information, see “Understanding and Installing the SmartVault Desktop Software” .
2. Verify that you are signed in to SmartVault from the SmartVault Desktop software by completing the following steps:
a. On the Start menu, click Start > Programs > SmartVault > SmartVault Launchpad.
b. If the Sign in to your SmartVault account link displays, you are not signed in to SmartVault from the SmartVault Desktop software. Click Sign in to your SmartVault account, type the email address and password for your SmartVault account, and then click Sign In.
c. If the Sign in to your SmartVault account link does not display, you are already signed in to SmartVault from the SmartVault Desktop software.
3. On the SmartVault Launchpad, click Back Up QuickBooks data.
4. Select each vault that you want to back up.
5. If you want to keep the backup in SmartVault forever, select the Keep forever check box.
By default, SmartVault conserves disk space by deleting old backup files to make room for new back up files. However, if you want to keep a back up copy of a QuickBooks company file forever, select the Keep forever check box. SmartVault will not delete any backup files marked Keep forever until you manually choose to go back and delete them. For more information, see “Deleting QuickBooks Company File Backups” .
6. If you want to specify a special name for the backup file, in the Backup Name field, type a name for the backup.
By default, SmartVault uses the following syntax to name QuickBooks company file backups:
Backup Year_Month_Day, where Year is the current year, Month is today's month, and Day is today’s date.
However, you can specify a special name for the QuickBooks company file backup, such as 2011 Year End Backup.
7. Click Backup.
SmartVault displays a status bar showing you that each selected QuickBooks company file is being backed up. When the backup completes, the Backup dialog box automatically closes.