Is My QuickBooks Desktop Company Data File Healthy?

To check the health of your QuickBooks Company Data File: Launch QuickBooks and open your QuickBooks Company Data File. From within your QuickBooks Company Data File, Press F1 or Ctrl+1. This brings up the Product Information Window.

A couple of items to note on this window.

This first item to note works only if you have a traditional spinning hard drive, and not a Solid State Drive (SSD)-non-spinning hard drive

Within the Product Information Window, look to see how many Data File Fragments there are. Some say that you should have ten or less, others say 100 or less. Either way, if you have over 100 Data File Fragments, this means the health of your QuickBooks Company Data File is poor, at least in terms of how the data is being stored and accessed by your hard drive. Poor because this could be slowing down your QuickBooks.

The Solution: Exit out of the Product Information Window by pressing, Okay. Then, Press F1 and follow the instructions on creating a Portable File, and then Restoring that Portable File. There are a couple of cautions before you do and the instructions will cover these cautions. For example, you’ll want to make a backup of your QuickBooks Company Data File before you make the Portable File, along with you’ll need to perform this process on the same computer where both the QuickBooks Software and the QuickBooks Company Data File both reside i.e. don’t create a Portable file over the network if you’re in a networked environment. Best to call a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, such as our firm, if you aren’t familiar with how to make a Portable File.

This second item to notice works for all types of hard drives.

2nd item to notice within the Product Information Window are the List Totals. For QuickBooks Desktop Pro and Premier, the combined List Limit for Customers, Vendors, and Employees is currently 14,500. If you are hitting up against these List Limits, there a some solutions, and once again, you’ll want to consult a ProAdvisor to go over which solution will work best for you.