Backup and Restore Office Accounting Data Files

By David H. Ringstrom, CPA

Many CPAs can’t count the number of times that a client has lost accounting or other data due to a computer crash or another unexpected event. Indeed, I sometimes share this cautionary tale: during a burglary, the thieves took the accounting computer and my client’s only back-up disk ‑ which had been left in the computer overnight. There’s simply no substitute for frequently backing up one’s accounting records, and in more than one place. In this article I’ll provide some recommendations that you can share with your clients.

Understand Office Accounting’s Data Structure

When you open a company in Office Accounting, you choose File, Open, and then select a .SBC file. However, making a copy of this one file will not backup your accounting data. The .SBC file simply serves as a pointer to the company’s accounting records that reside in Microsoft SQL Server database on your computer or elsewhere on your network. Although it’s a good idea to make a copy of your .SBC file from time to time, do realize that you must take additional steps to actually backup your accounting data.

Backup Office Accounting

The Backup command resides within the Data Utilities section of Office Accounting:

1. Choose File, Utilities, and then Data Utilities.
2. Click the Backup button — shown in Figure 1 — to display the Backup dialog box shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1: The Data Utilities window enables you to backup or restore your data.

Figure 2: The Backup dialog box allows you to name and optionally password-protect a backup file.

3. Click the Browse button to choose a location and file name for the backup. By default, Office Accounting saves backup files to a backups folder within your My Documents folder. It’s best to save backup files onto removable media, such as a flash drive.

Recommendations: Flash drives are an ideal media for backups, since most computers have readily accessible USB ports. You can purchase one gigabyte drives for less than $10, or spend a few dollars more for a four gigabyte drive. Flash drives are easy to store in one’s purse or briefcase, which in turn double as off-site storage for the backup. It’s best to alternate between at least two flash drives, in the event that one is lost or stolen.

4. Click OK to create the backup file. A progress indicator will inform you of the process, and a confirmation prompt will appear when the backup is complete. At that point you can click Close to exit the Data Utilities dialog box.

Frequency: Although opinions vary widely as to how often you should backup your accounting data, I tend to base my judgments on the amount of data being entered. Companies with high transaction volumes should backup daily, while those with fewer transactions may find once a week to be acceptable. In short, backups are insurance ‑ the more backups you have, the better you’re protected against hazards that can compromise your accounting records.

Restore Office Accounting Data Files

In a perfect world, we’ll all carry out the backup command often in Office Accounting, but will never need to use the restore feature. However, it’s easy to restore a backup file when necessary:

1. Choose File, and then Close Company to exit an open Office Accounting company.

Important: An Office Accounting company must be closed before you can restore it. The Data Utilities dialog box shown in Figure 1 has a Restore button, but you will hit a dead-end if you attempt to use this dialog box to restore the currently open company.

2. As shown in Figure 3, click the Restore an Office Accounting company from a Backup File link within the Restore and Delete section, which will display the dialog box shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3: You can easily restore Office Accounting data from a backup.

Figure 4: Office Accounting’s Restore dialog box.

3. Click the Browse button next to the Backup Filename field to select the .SBB file that you wish to restore.
4. Click the Browse button next to the Restore Backup File To field and select the .SBC file that corresponds with your Office Accounting data. As shown in Figure 5, a confirmation prompt will appear to confirm that you wish to overwrite the existing .SBC file. Click Yes to confirm that you’ve selected the proper company file.

Figure 5: You will only encounter one confirmation prompt during the restore process.

Background: Office Accounting was formerly named Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting, therefore the .SBB file extension is short for Small Business Backup. The .SBC extension is short for Small Business Company.

5. If necessary, enter the password that you assigned when you created the backup, and then click OK to restore your company file. The restore process begins immediately, and a confirmation prompt will appear when the restore process is complete.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Microsoft.