Product Tips
Master Tip from The Sleeter Group: About QuickBooks Files and ExtensionsBy: Douglas Sleeter, President, The Sleeter Group, Inc
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Editor's Note: Many of you know The Sleeter Group's 2006 Mastering QuickBooks Consultant's Reference Guide as an advanced resource for solving complex problems in QuickBooks consulting. In a less advanced mode, here Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Doug Sleeter reviews QuickBooks files and extensions.
If you've ever wondered about the purpose of all those files in your QuickBooks® program directory and in your data directory, here is a brief discussion of the files, their types, and what they do. Also, this article will show you how to find out which version of QuickBooks will open a particular data file.
There are two main types of QuickBooks company files, data files and backup files. When stored on your hard disk, a QuickBooks data file name always ends with .qbw and a QuickBooks backup file name always ends with .qbb. For example, if you name your company file ABC, QuickBooks will store the data file on disk as ABC.qbw. When you backup your company using the QuickBooks Backup function, QuickBooks will store your backup file with the name ABC.qbb. The letters after the dot (.) are referred to as the file extension. This extension (e.g. qbb, qbw, doc) is used by Microsoft Windows to associate files with the application program that uses them.
With QuickBooks, you can enter data or create reports only in a data file (i.e. with the .qbw extension). From inside the QuickBooks program, you can Open data files, but you must Restore backup files (and convert them into data files) in order to use them.
QuickBooks File Types
In addition to these main data files, QuickBooks uses several other files to store data or related information about your configuration. It uses different file types and folders to separate different types of data.
The QuickBooks for Windows files and extensions are as shown in the following table:
| Extension | File Type | Description |
| .AIF | Accountant's review copy (import file) | Accountant's copy Import File. Created when Accountant's copy is exported; to be used for importing into user's company file. |
| .BDB | Timer backup file. | A backup file created when the user backs up time data in the QuickBooks Pro Timer. |
| .BMP | Windows Bitmap file | These files contain bitmapped images used by QuickBooks. |
| .BPW | Business Planner file | QuickBooks Business Planner data file. Not backed up with the company file, so must be separately copied to backups. |
| .DES | Form design template file | This file type is created when you export a form design from the templates list. |
| .DOC | Word Documents | Word documents for the write letters function. |
| .IIF | Intuit Interchange Format file | You can import and export lists and/or transactions using text files with an .IIF extension. Using IIF files is no longer recommended. Instead, the QuickBooks SDK is used by applications to read and write data between QuickBooks and other applications. See http://marketplace.intuit.com. |
| .INI | Configuration file | Configuration files that support online banking. |
| .LDB | MS Access file for Timer data. | A Microsoft Access file needed for the *.TDB file. |
| .LGB | Little Green Box | This file contains encrypted information about user names and passwords. It is used when an SDK application connects to the company file and needs to open it in the unattended mode. The user name and password is needed to open the connection with the Sybase server. |
| .LMR | Loan Manager Data | This file is created by the Loan Manager, and keeps information about loans. Not backed up with the company file, so must be separately copied to backups. |
| .ND | QuickBooks Network Data File | A configuration file that allows access to the QuickBooks company file. Do not delete this configuration file. |
| .NPC | Online Banking File (obsolete) | An online banking format used by previous versions of QuickBooks. It was superseded by OFX and is no longer supported by financial institutions. |
| .QBA | Accountant's review copy (working copy) | When the accountant restores a QBX file (the accountant's review copy) the file is given a .QBA extension. |
| .QBA.TLG | Transaction log file (for accountant's review copy) | When you back up an accountant's review copy, QuickBooks starts a log of transactions that you've entered since the last time you backed up. In case of accidental loss of data, Intuit Technical Support can use your most recent backup in conjunction with the transaction log file to recover your data. |
| .QBB | QuickBooks backup file | QuickBooks company backup file. To open a .QBB file, go to the File menu and click Restore. |
| .QBI | QuickBooks image file | Image file, "holds" transactions that have been written until they are posted to the hard drive. This file keeps the memory-resident changes to the data file while QuickBooks has the file open. When you close the company file, the .QBI file will be deleted automatically by QuickBooks. If you see QBI files when QuickBooks is not running, it probably means QuickBooks crashed while you had a file open. Do not delete a QBI file when the QBW file is open in QuickBooks. |
| .QBM | QuickBooks Portable Company File (for version 2006 and above). | This file contains all the data, but not the database indexing, so it's much smaller than the QBW or QBB file. It is useful for transferring the data file through the Internet because the data size is smaller than any of the other file types, but can be restored to the full QBW on the receiving end. |
| .QBO | Web Connect file. | Web Connect online banking download file. This file is downloaded from the bank when you use the Web Connect method for online banking. |
| .QBW | QuickBooks for Windows company file | This is the main file type for a QuickBooks company file. |
| .QBW.TLG | Transaction log file (for QuickBooks company file) | When you back up your company file, QuickBooks starts a log of transactions that you've entered since the last time you backed up. In case of accidental loss of data, Intuit Technical Support can use your most recent backup in conjunction with the transaction log file to recover your data. |
| .QBW192.168.X.XXmta | Temporary Database File | A temporary file created by the Database Manager while opening a company file. As soon as the file is opened successfully, the temporary file is deleted. |
| .QBX | Accountant's review copy (export file) | When you "create an accountant's review copy" of your QuickBooks company file, QuickBooks creates an accountant's review copy with a .QBX extension. |
| .TDB | QuickBooks Pro Timer files. | By default found in the QBTIMER directory. Contains the time tracking data from the QuickBooks Timer. |
| Archive Copy XX/XX/200X ABC.QBW | Archive copy of data file | When you condense a data file, QuickBooks creates a separate QBW file with the name Archive Copy XX/XX/200X followed by the name of the QBW file. This file is an exact copy of the company file before condensing, and can be used to look up information that was later removed during the condense process. In addition to this archive file, the condense process forces you to create a backup (QBB) copy of the file. |
| CONNLOG.TXT | Connection Log file | Online Banking connection log file that contains a log of each connection for online banking. |
| DownloadQBXX folder | Download folder | This folder is created by QuickBooks to store the updates that are downloaded when you use the Update QuickBooks function. |
| Images Folder | Images folder | A folder storing temporary copies of images used by QuickBooks. |
| Inet Folder | Inet | No longer used. Was used to store license information for QuickBooks. |
| QBInstanceFinder | Instance Finder file | This empty file is no longer used by QuickBooks. You can delete the file, but it may get created again by some versions of QuickBooks. |
| QBrestor.TMP | Temp restore file. | This file is created when restoring a QBB file deleted automatically when restore completes successfully. |
| Qbwin.log | QuickBooks Log file. | This file is created/updated when a user runs verify and/or rebuild. Logs problems found/situations corrected. Located in the QuickBooks installation directory. |
| QuickBooks Letters Templates folder | Letters Folder | This folder contains the Word document templates for the QuickBooks write letters function. |
| Temp1234.qbt | Temp rebuild file. | This file created during pass 1 of rebuild, and deleted automatically when rebuild is completed. |
| Table 1 QuickBooks File Extensions | ||
Determining Which Version Opens Your QuickBooks File
To determine which version of QuickBooks software opens a QuickBooks file (QBW data file or QBB backup file), you can view the file properties in the Windows Explorer. Follow these steps:| Step 1. | Right-click on the Windows Start Menu and then select Explore. | |
| Step 2. | Find the QuickBooks data file in the folder where it is stored and select its folder on the left side of the Explorer. | |
| Step 3. | Point your mouse to and hover over the file (XXXX.QBW data file or XXXX.QBB backup file) as shown in Figure 1. The file type, date, size and version of QuickBooks are shown in a popup window. | |
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| Figure 1. Hovering the Mouse over a Data File to See its Version | ||
| Step 4. | You can also right-click on the file and select Properties to view more specifics of the file. This displays information about the data file as shown in Figure 2. | |
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| Figure 2. Properties of a QuickBooks File | ||
Adapted and reprinted with special permission from Mastering QuickBooks Consultant's Reference Guide 2006. Copyright © 1998-2006 The Sleeter Group. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: 07/12/2006
