These days with cloud computing becoming so popular, you can find various cloud applications that are designed to help you manage your business better. QuickBooks is an accounting software developed and marketed by a US based software company called Intuit. On its launch, the software found great popularity among small business owners who had no formal accounting system before. As of now, the software occupies as much as 85 per cent of the small business accounting software market.
If you are a QuickBooks user, you must have wondered about taking the backup of your data. Besides storing your data in a local location, you should definitely move your data to the cloud. However, there are a few points that you must consider before moving your QuickBooks application or any other application to the cloud:
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Assess Your Current Network: So before you start the transition make sure you have the bandwidth your business requires.
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Evaluate Your Hardware and Devices: In order to access the cloud, you need to have all your devices in the proper working condition
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Research on Virtualisation Options: Research on what servers are available and which are the ones that you can access.
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Check on Employee Needs: Your employees may have different software and hardware. So plan a way to meet them.
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Manage Cloud Based Security: Once you have uploaded your data and information, limit access to users and place restrictions on data to ensure data security.
Here’s a step by step guide to help you take your QuickBooks backup:
Local Backup
Keeping a local backup will ensure that your data is sound and safe. Here’s how to do it:
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Click on the ‘File’ option in the QuickBooks tool bar. This will open a floating menu. Click on the ‘Create Backup’ option. This will open a new window. Click on ‘Local Back Up’ and Click on ‘Next’.
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A new window will open with the header ‘Backup Options’. Click on the ‘Browse’ button in the window.
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A smaller window will open showing you the options for locations. Click on the C drive of your computer and press OK.
Backup On the Cloud
Intuit Data Protect : Intuit provides the Intuit Data Protect Service that allows your data to be back up on the cloud. This service is gradually replacing the QuickBooks Online Backup application. This is a fee based service and it will automatically back up all your QuickBooks data to the Intuit cloud. The data is kept secure in the cloud for about 45 days, which is a pretty good retention time.
You can also use the Cloud Pockets service. Here’s how to take a backup of your data on Cloud Pockets:
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First look for the location where your QuickBooks data is stored. Usually the data is stored under the Program Files folder and will look like this:
C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks 2012\Data
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Now open the Cloud Pockets application. You can do this by right clicking on the blue cloud on your system tray or selecting it from the Program list.
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Go to the Backup Settings tab and click on the Back Up Settings Option
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Select the number of files you want to upload.
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Select the Backup Source and click on the Advanced Button which you can find in the bottom right corner of the window.
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Another window appears. In this scroll down to the QuickBooks folder and select the Data folder by placing a tick mark in the box in front of it. With this step, you are done!
Your data will be uploaded on the next scheduled backup time. If you want to back up your data immediately, click on the Backup button.
