I checked our system and I see that there are users who are unable to schedule a local backup to Dropbox or Google Drive. I have some news about the issue you’re having with the Dropbox or Google Drive local backup feature. On the other hand, if you are in the US, the online version seems fairly robust and you can import your desktop version data online. By “parallel” I mean two or more people trying to update the file at the same time. And, let me be clear, I’m only talking about using this to move the file from one computer to another. DO NOT use QuickBooks to open the file on this service/drive directly, only use the service to move the file from one place to another.
Create folder automatically in Dropbox for each expense created in QuickBooks Online
- When I open QuickBooks it says another user created the file and will not let me open the data file.
- You’ll need to configure these settings within the Zap creation process.
- This means that, if your internet connection suddenly goes on the fritz, or if the host company is updating its servers or even vanishes tomorrow, you still have access to all of your files.
- With Zapier, you can integrate everything from basic data entry to end-to-end processes.
I do run into conflicting version issues and it sucks when it happens. I am tech savvy, but I don’t know the technical details behind how dropbox works, so have never done anything beyond making sure I didn’t try to open QuickBooks on two computers at the same time. The essential element here is that there is one program, the data service, that is handling all of the reading and writing of data.
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Setting up local backups with Dropbox can sometimes require additional steps or troubleshooting. We appreciate your patience as we’re working to get QuickBooks Online Advanced’s local backup feature back to normal. If you happen to have any other concerns regarding your entries or reports, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you out again. The Sugar Sync website specifically lists Outlook.pst, Quicken and Quickbooks as file types that they do not support.
You have to have good discipline, a good procedure so that you don’t have mix-ups. Automation can help keep you on track the entire calendar year so that, come tax time, you won’t have to start from scratch and dig through a mountain of digital paperwork. Here’s how you can use Zaps—Zapier’s automated workflows—to connect the tools across your business to QuickBooks so your books… How about just sending an email to Dropbox with the file attached? With Email by Zapier—Zapier’s built-in email tool—and a Zap, Zapier’s automated workflows, you can easily save only the attachments you want so you can quickly find them later.
How employers can hire the best accounting students
On your way to the airport, you realize that you overlooked an important point, so you access the file from your smartphone and make a few notes. On the airplane, you work on it some more offline, on your laptop or tablet computer. When you arrive at your hotel and connect to its Wi-Fi network, all of the edits you made automatically sync to your other devices via the cloud, creating a backup. And if that isn’t enough, let’s look at Google Terms of Service and Google Privacy Policy. There has been a vigorous discussion over what exactly you are agreeing to when you place your data on a free service like this.
After my external drive died, and I loose all of my photos, i was very angry. Then I tried Dropbox (fine, but not enough space for me), Sugarsync (for me it was very slow), and now I am using Copy. At the very least you will have some users getting out of date information. You can easily, however, run into data integrity problems or even corrupted/damaged data. You might not see the results of these problems immediately, which is worse because problems can accumulate and be more difficult to repair later. This kind of sharing can be risky because there are no controls over how the file is managed.
- As you can see, if you are trying to set up a cloud shared folder so that you can share your QuickBooks database for multi user (parallel) access, there are going to be problems.
- You can easily, however, run into data integrity problems or even corrupted/damaged data.
- This is because the type of file being sync’d is designed to allow only one person at a time to have it open and editable.
- We back up your data at multiple locations to ensure a swift recovery whenever you need it.
This is a very convenient way for moving files between different computers. Often these shared folders appear on your computer just like any other shared drive in your network. However, they are only set up for “serial” sharing, they should not be used for “parallel” sharing. Dropbox is essentially a free, web-based file-hosting service that lets you store and share files with other people via a folder on your computer that’s synced to the cloud . When you make changes to any file in that folder, Dropbox updates that file on the other devices connected to your account.
Installation is painless, and using the service is seamless and intuitive. Dropbox also offers free iPhone, iPad, and Android apps that are straightforward to set up and use. When a company wants to keep backup copies of their information in the cloud, a sync service might be an okay solution. Hosting the applications and data in the cloud is a great way to get the company connected, and it’s a far better alternative to pretending the system can be multi-user when it really can’t. If you do want to sync data files to another computer, bear in mind that database driven applications use file locking to protect their data files whenever the application services are running.
thoughts on “Advice for using Dropbox, SugarSync or Box.net with QuickBooks (or Quicken) files”
You either get the file in a state that allows you to make changes to it, or you get it in ready-only mode. Document files like this – Word docs, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs and text files – work great with sync solutions. This is because the type of file being sync’d is designed to allow only one person at a time to have it open and editable.
With Zapier, you can integrate everything from basic data entry to end-to-end processes. Here are some of the business-critical workflows that people automate with Zapier. I was planning to use SugarSync to be able to work at home, at night when all work computers are shut off so there would be no conflicted files, but no go, I now have a file that says it was last modified 1970. So use Dropbox all you want, but NOT with the QuickBooks company file (QBW).
Create new folders in Dropbox for newly added QuickBooks Online invoices
A QuickBooks company file is also a database file, so the same issues around syncing an Outlook data file exist with QuickBooks. When the QuickBooks software is open and a company file is being worked on, the file may get incremental changes throughout the work session. As each of these little changes happens, the sync program may attempt to copy those changes to the file in the cloud. Because the QuickBooks file is constantly being updated, the attempt to incrementally sync updates to the file in the cloud can easily cause damage and corruption to the file.
Is It Safe To Sync Your QuickBooks Data With Dropbox Or SugarSync?
This is “serial” sharing, with one person at a time, one copy of the file. Or, let’s say you’re collaborating with team members on a file — a spreadsheet, a slide show, etc. Everyone can log into the same account from different locations, see the changes made by others, and add their own. Each person could also access the account from the office, home, or the road — using a computer or any device with an internet connection. No data on the actual machine to worry about securing, backing-up, losing, etc.
Each user will have their own local copy of the data, which is periodically sent to the cloud drive. There is no arbitration, not merging, no coordination of the data being updated. You don’t know which user’s data will be saved, which will be lost. Well, there are lots of different types of files an application might store and use, and not all of them work the same way. For example, Word documents are files that only one person can actually work on at a time – there’s no actual “multi-user” functionality when it comes to a Word doc.
It’s just too much to manage and the risks of file corruption are too great. In an increasingly digital profession, data security has become one of the most critical challenges facing finance and accounting professionals today. Stay up to date with practical guidance to help you mitigate these risks and strengthen your security posture. Relay’s “human in the loop” model is super effective for teams. using quickbooks with dropbox Not only is this the best designed UI for automation building on the market, they’ve really thought about how not everything can be automated.
Now I share what works (and what doesn’t) so you know exactly how to go paperless yourself. Skype has established its web-based client beta towards the entireworld, after establishing it broadly from the Usa and U.K.previously this four weeks. Skype for Web also now can handleChromebook and Linux for instant online messagingconnection (no video and voice yet, all those needa connect-in installment). Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless.
I asked them about those file types and they assured me that they were supported. There are lots of links in the article to examples of problems that come up, and quotes from other experts. I did some Googling around, and I couldn’t find many examples of people saying they are syncing successfully.