Verify and rebuild your company data file

If your company file is damaged, Verify Data and Rebuild Data will help you find and repair damaged data and damaged lists.

Verify Data is your primary tool for detecting data damage and list damage in your company file. While Verify Data detects many types of data damage, it can detect only the damage that it is programmed to find. When Verify Data detects damage, it records a message in the Verify Log within in the qbwin.log file.  It is best to run Verify Data on the computer on which the data file resides in single user mode.

You should run Verify Data as part of your routine file maintenance. Running it every week is not excessive. You should run Verify Data when:

• You receive error messages when working in QuickBooks.
• QuickBooks shuts down when you click to save a transaction.
• Discrepancies appear on reports, such as, invoices or bills that post with a negative value.
• Deposited payments show up in the Payments to Deposit window.
• Balance sheet reports are not showing all accounts.
• Names are missing from lists.
• Transactions are missing.
• Transactions cannot be saved.
• You experience power surges or dropouts, abnormal shutdowns, computer crashes, 

How do you run Verify?

• Close and reopen QuickBooks. (This creates a new Qbwin.log file which will be easier to read.)
• Choose Window > Close All, (This closes all of the open QuickBooks windows.)
• Choose File > Utilities > Verify Data.

When a Verify finishes, you will see one of three messages:

1. QuickBooks detected no problems with your data. This is the one that you want to see, it means just what it says: QuickBooks detected no damaged transactions and no damaged lists.
2. Your data has lost integrity. Your data file is damaged and you need to run Rebuild Data to repair the damage. Run Verify Data again to see if the errors are resolved. You may need to locate and fix transactions that Rebuild Data cannot fix.
3. A data problem prevents QuickBooks from continuing. Your data file has a structural problem. Run Rebuild Data to repair the damage.

Rebuild Data repairs transaction and list damage in a your company file. It does not repair damaged links between transactions. When it repairs damage, it records a message in the Rebuild Log with the qbwin.log file. Rebuild Data fixes most of the damage in your data file, but it can fix only what it is programmed to fix. Rebuild Data creates a new copy of your file, reads the data in the old file and writes the data into the new file. Rebuild Data usually requires 3 times the size of your data file in disk space. If your file is large, Rebuild Data could take overnight, or even over the weekend, to run. Your computer may appear frozen or you might see "QuickBooks is not responding." If so, move your mouse. If the mouse pointer moves, then Rebuild Data is still working normally. You should run Rebuild Data as part of your routine file maintenance, but not more than once or twice a year.

You should run Rebuild Data when:

• Verify Data ends with either data damage message (above).
• A QuickBooks Help and Support Knowledge Base article mentions a data rebuild to fix errors.
• A QuickBooks Support Engineer recommends that you run it.

Do not run Rebuild across your network. If your data file is on your server and your server has only the QuickBooks data manager installed, you have two options:

• Copy your data file to a local computer, run Rebuild Data on the local computer, copy your file back to the server.
• Install the full QuickBooks program on your server and run Rebuild Data on your server.

 Running the Rebuild Data Utility

1. Log in to your data file as the administrator on the computer where the file is stored.
2. In the menu bar, choose Window and then Close All.
3. Create a separate backup of your data file. (Even though QuickBooks will create a backup, it may help to make an extra backup on your own.)
4. Re-sort the lists in the company file.
5. In the menu bar, choose File and then Utilities and then Rebuild Data.
6. Click OK on the warning message.
7. In the Create Backup window, select Local Backup.
8. Click the Options button and enter a path and folder for the back up. Select Complete verification and click OK.
9. Click Next.
10. In the Save Backup Copy window, enter a file name and click Save.
11. QuickBooks will start the backup and then automatically start the Rebuild Data utility.
12. When the Rebuild finishes, click OK in the QuickBooks Information box that says "Rebuild has completed."
13. Close the company file, and then reopen it to refresh the lists.
14. Run Verify Data.
15. If the second Verify Data  fails, run Rebuild Data again.
16. If the second Verify Data  completes and you see: QuickBooks detected no problems with your data, check for the original condition that caused you to run Rebuild Data.

If the backup process fails:

• If the process fails during the backup, then your run Rebuild Data without a backup (see next section).
• If the process fails after Rebuild Data has started, you must restore the separate back up you made before rebuilding.

Important: QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery is available only in QuickBooks 2010 R12 ,QuickBooks 2011 R6 and QuickBooks 2012. QuickBooks Pro and Premier only. If you restore a backup or Auto Recovery file, you may need to re-enter some transactions.

If you are unable to make a backup of your data file, you run Rebuild Data and bypass the backup part of the process.

WARNING:  Before using this option, you must create at least one copy of your data file on another computer or external storage device. Making a second copy of your file cannot hurt. if you cannot make a copy of the file, STOP HERE. Contact your system or network administrator, or a computer consultant, or QuickBooks Technical Support.

1. In the QuickBooks menu bar, choose Window > Close All. (This process will not work if you have open any QuickBooks windows.)
2. In the QuickBooks menu bar, choose File > Utilities.
3. On your keyboard, press and hold the CTRL key.
4. On the Utilities menu, choose Rebuild Data.
5. Release the CTRL key.
6. QuickBooks displays this message: REBUILD: Rebuilding without first backing up of the company file is not recommended. Are you sure you want to continue?
7. Click OK and Rebuild Data will run.

Both Verify Data and Rebuild Data write to sections of the qbwin.log file. Very Data writes to the Verify Log and Rebuild Data writes to the Rebuild Log. The messages in the qbwin.log file can help you find and repair data damage. You can find the qbwin.log file from within QuickBooks:

1. Start QuickBooks and log in to your company data file.
2. Press the F2 key to display the Product Information window.
3. Press the F3 key to display the Tech Help window.
4. In the Tech Help window, click the Open File tab at the top.
5. Double-click Qbwin.log to open the file in NotePad.
6. On your keyboard, press Ctrl + F to open the Find window.
7. Type in "Begin Verify" and click Find Next. (See screen shot below.)
8. Scrolling through the Verify Log you will see:
   1. The file path for your company.
   2. The date and time that you ran the Verify Data utility.
   3. Any error messages that Verify Data wrote to the Verify Log.

For more information and additional steps to repair your file, review Troubleshooting the Qbwin.log file. This file contains information on what was affected during the rebuild process. This information appears at the end of the qbwin.log file, between the BEGIN REBUILD LOG and END REBUILD LOG markers.

Note: If F2 does not open the Product Information window, press Ctrl + 1, using the 1 at the left side of your keyboard.

Note: If F3 does not open the Tech Help window, press Ctrl + 2, using the 2 at the left side of your keyboard.

Note: The Tech Help window / Open File tab has a facility for sending the qbwin.log to your support engineer if you are on the phone with QuickBooks Support.