Listen to this articleQuickBooks is an accounting application used by many mid and small-sized businesses around the world. It helps you perform the accounting operations smoothly by storing all your financial data in one place in the form of a company file. However, sometimes, due to certain technical glitches, be it with the system or the QB application, you may lose your data. In such cases, Intuit Data Services can help you recover the data, but it might take a lot of time. That’s when the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery feature comes in handy in recovering lost or corrupted data.
ADR tool automatically keeps a backup of all the company data; thus, you can recover it easily whenever lost. It helps you recover all the transactions with the help of the current transaction log file and a copy of the company file. To know more about the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery feature and how to use it, go through the guide till the end.
Are you dealing with data loss or corruption and struggling to use the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery feature? If yes, call our experts at Asquare Cloud Hosting on the toll-free number +1(855)-738-0359 and recover your financial data immediately.
What is QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery – A Brief Overview
In a quest to make QuickBooks the best accounting software, Intuit came up with the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery tool in QuickBooks 2011 R6 and QuickBooks 2010 R12 (Pro and Premier versions only). It is a feature designed to safeguard the company data and minimize the risk of data loss. It automatically creates a local backup copy of your QuickBooks company file in an additional folder called QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery folder. This folder has .QBW.ADR & .QBW.TLG.ADR files, which get updated at regular intervals.
The ADR feature works on its own on the opened company file. Once you open the company file, it performs some internal diagnostics on the file, and if the file passes the test, it creates a backup copy in the ADR folder. This repeats every 12 hours. A new backup copy is created, and the one that is 24 hours old is named old; the other older files get automatically deleted. However, this only happens if QB is open; if you have closed the QB Desktop application, then the process runs the next time you start the app. These files are then used to recover the damaged company (.QBW) and transaction log (.QBW.tlg) files. You can use these ADR files to recover the lost data in one of the below-mentioned ways:
- Restore the lost transactions using the current Transaction Log file (.QBW.tlg) and a copy of the Company file (.QBW).
- Restore all the data but not the last few of transactions with a copy of both the Company (.QBW) file and QuickBooks Transaction Log (.QBW.tlg) file.
After getting a brief idea of the QuickBooks Auto File Recover tool, let us understand how it can help recover lost data. But, before that, there are certain factors that you must consider before using the QuickBooks file recovery tool of the QB application.
A few Reminders Before You Proceed To Recover Corrupt QuickBooks Data
To make sure that you do not lose even a fraction of your data, there are certain points that you must consider before using the QuickBooks file recovery tool:
- QuickBooks data recovery is accessible only for QuickBooks Pro, Premier, and Enterprise versions of Windows.
- This feature is not available in the Accountant Edition of QB.
- The ADR file size must be below 1.5 Gigabytes in size. If the size of the backup file is more than that, then QuickBooks will not generate an ADR file.
- You must have the updated version of QuickBooks Desktop.
After going through the points mentioned above, follow the steps below to get the lost data back with QuickBooks ADR.
How To Recover Lost Data With QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery Tool?
In general, there are two methods to recover lost or corrupted data using ADR.
- By using the original .TLG file with .QBW.adr file
- By utilizing the .QBW. adr and .TLG.adr files
ADR, a QuickBooks file repair service, is considered one of the fastest ways to recover lost data. Let’s go ahead and discuss both methods in detail one by one.
Method 1: Use the Original .TLG file with .QBW.adr File To Recover Recent Transactions
Follow the steps below to recover the lost data by using the original Transaction Log file and the current ADR version of the company file:
- Firstly, Create a new folder on the desktop and name it QBTest. Then, open the folder where you have saved the company file. The company file location can be seen on the Product Information screen and No Company Open Window.
Note: Open the Product information screen by pressing the F2 or Ctrl+1 keys simultaneously.
- Afterward, search for the .tlg file in your company file’s folder. The .tlg file that you are searching for will have the same name as your company file.
- If you are unable to find the .tlg file, then follow the below-mentioned steps to show the file extension:
- Press the Windows +E keys together to open File Explorer.
- To move further, choose the option Organize followed by Folder and Search options.
- click the View option followed by the FileName Extension for Windows 10, 8.1, and 8.
- After that, choose Hide Extensions for the Known file types option and then click on Apply and OK, respectively.
- On finding the .tlg file, copy and paste it into the QBTest folder created earlier on the desktop.
- After this, open the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery folder located in the same place where your company file is stored.
- Now, copy the QBW.adr file and paste it into the QBTest folder.This way, you will have .QBW.adr and .tlg files in the QBTest folder.
- Open the QBTest folder and right-click on the .QBW.adr file, and then select the Rename option. Then, delete .adr from the end of the file name.
- In QuickBooks, open the company file that you have saved in the QBTest folder. Then, verify all your transactions by using the account register.
- Then, to check the data integrity of the recovered file, follow the given series of actions: File> Utilities> Verify Data.
- If the verify data utility finds this copy of the company file good, then you can move the damaged company file to a different location and transfer this copy from the QBTest folder to the original location.
Read More: How To Fix QuickBooks Error Code 6094?
Method 2: Make Use of .QBW. adr and .TLG.adr Files To Recover Recent Transactions
This method will utilize the ADR version of both the .QBW and .TLG files. But remember, it will recover all the transactions except the one done in the last 12 hours.
- To begin, make a new folder on your Desktop and name it QBTest.
- Now, open the QuickBooksAutoDataRecovery folder.
- After that, copy the .TLG.adr and .QBW.adr files and paste them to the QBTest folder.
Before you begin, ensure that Windows is set to display hidden files.
- In the QBTest folder, remove .adr from the end of the file name. it will give you .qbw & .tlg files.
- Then, open QuickBooks, then the company file that is saved in the QBTest folder. Check that all the transactions are there by using the account register.
- Go to File> Utilities> Verify Data to check if your data is intact.
- If this copy of the company file is fine, you can move the damaged file to a different location. Then, move the copy of the company file from the QBTest folder to the original QuickBooks company file folder.
Also Read: How To Backup QuickBooks To Flash Drive/USB/Memory stick?
Need Technical Assistance to Recover Lost or Damaged Data?
We hope that the info above has given you a brief about the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery tool, and now you can use it to recover lost company files. However, if you get stuck with QB auto data recovery error while following the above steps, feel free to give us a call on our Asquare Cloud Hosting Helpline Number at +1(855)-738-0359. Our team will provide you with the best technical services to recover lost data from the auto data recovery Tool.
Frequently Asked Questions On Auto Data Recovery (ADR)
QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery (ADR) tool is available in QuickBooks Premier, Pro, and Enterprise Windows editions. However, the ADR tool is not available in the QuickBooks accountant edition. Moreover, update your QuickBooks to the latest version before running the auto data recovery tool.
The below-given steps will help you recover the QB data from the hard drive:
Firstly, open the search dialog box and type *.qbw. Then, press the Enter key. With the date-modified feature, try to find out the most updated file. Once found, copy it to CD-ROM and remove all the remaining files. At last, paste the copied file to its original location.
The TLG file, or .tlg extension file is the log file in QuickBooks and has crucial role to play in the data restoration process. QuickBooks uses the transaction log file (.tlg fiel) during backups. When you want to restore the backup file, which has an extension .QBB, you can copy and paste the tlg file in the directory.
QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery tool utilizes transaction log files (tlg) and QBW.adr file to restore the lost transactions. It can recover lost or corrupted data by using the transaction log file and the older company file.
QuickBooks has the option of automatically saving backups, but in QuickBooks Desktop, you have to schedule it. However, in QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks automatically backs up your data in an online server with a high level of data security.
QuickBooks Desktop saves the backup in a folder called Auto Backup on your computer. However, the name and location of the backup folder rely on the user and PC settings. But you can easily find the location using the backup tool.
Oriana Zabell, a professional cloud engineer, has over three years of experience in desktop, online QuickBooks support and troubleshooting. She is currently working as a cloud hosting consultant with Asquare Cloud Hosting. She loves to read and write about the latest technologies such as cloud computing, AI, DaaS, small businesses, manufacturing. When not writing, she is either reading novels or is indulged in a debate with movie fanatics.
