Your company file: where it is, how to back it up, how to restore

What the file is

Everything about one business lives in one file with the extension .acbo: the chart of accounts, every transaction, customers, vendors, items, employees, attachments, users and the audit log. It is a standard SQLite database, so it opens with any SQLite tool if you ever need to prove that to an auditor. There is no account with us and no copy on our servers. If you have the file, you have the books.

Where it is

You chose the location when you created the company. To see it again: Company → Company Settings shows the full path at the top. The practice file is always at Documents\AcboBooks Sample Company.acbo.

Automatic backups

AcboBooks keeps a Backups folder beside your company file and copies the file into it, with a timestamp, at these moments:

• Before every QuickBooks import (before-migrate).
• Before a year-end close.
• When you close the company, if Auto-backup on close is on in Company Settings. Turn it on; it costs nothing.

The five most recent automatic copies are kept; older ones are removed so the folder does not grow forever. These copies protect you from a bad import or a mistaken close. They do not protect you from a dead hard drive, because they sit next to the original. For that, see below.

Back up now

Company → Company Settings → Back up now asks where to save a copy. Save it somewhere that is not this computer: a USB drive, a network share, or a folder that syncs to cloud storage. A good habit is one backup every month-end after you reconcile, plus one before anything you are nervous about. The home screen reminds you when it has been more than a week.

You can also simply copy the .acbo file in Windows Explorer while AcboBooks is closed. Copying it while the company is open can capture a half-written state; use Back up now instead.

Encrypted backups for sending

To send your books to an accountant, or keep a copy somewhere you do not fully trust, use Company → Company Settings → Export encrypted backup. You choose a password; the result is a .enc file that is useless without it. Send the file by email or a share link and the password by a different route, such as a phone call. The recipient restores it with Restore encrypted backup on the same screen.

There is no password recovery for encrypted backups. If the password is lost, the backup is gone. Write it down somewhere safe.

Restore

1. Close the company (File → Close Company).
2. In Windows Explorer, rename the damaged or unwanted .acbo file (for example, add -old). Never delete it until the restored copy is proven.
3. Copy the backup you want into its place and give it the original name, or just use Open Company and pick the backup directly.
4. Open it, run Company → Verify Data, and check the latest transactions are what you expect.

For an encrypted .enc backup, use Restore encrypted backup, enter the password, and choose where to save the restored .acbo file.

OneDrive, Dropbox and network drives

Keeping the working file inside a sync folder is risky: the sync client can copy the file mid-write and produce a corrupted copy or a "conflicted" duplicate. Keep the working file on the local disk, and point backups at the sync folder instead. The same goes for network drives: for two people on two PCs, use multi-user hosting rather than opening one file over a share.