QuickBooks 2019 Desktop - Intuit Data Protect Enhancements

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General Ledger

Intuit Data Protect has been around a long time so this isn’t really a new feature for QuickBooks 2019, but it has undergone some revisions and enhancements for these product releases. The aim is to get more people to use the solution, especially when Intuit Data Protect is included at no extra cost with their QuickBooks subscription. Of course, Intuit Data Protect (IDP) is also available (at an extra cost) for those QuickBooks users who do not have one of the subscription plans that include this backup functionality.

Many QuickBooks users have failed in the past to make use of Intuit Data Protect even if they were eligible for this off-premise backup solution. Some users reported that they didn’t know they needed a cloud-based backup alternative to the local backup within QuickBooks. Others reported that it was too difficult to set-up Intuit Data Protect, or that it was slow, or that it failed to restore their data when they attempted to use it. 

New for 2019, QuickBooks has updated Intuit Data Protect to provide easier and more reliable automatic data backups of your QuickBooks Company files. This is one of the key ways that QuickBooks users can safeguard their QuickBooks data off-site in the event of a catastrophic event impacting their computer (like a hard drive failure), their workplace (like a fire, flood or tornado) or their data itself (like a major corruption or cyber-attack).

There are two major enhancements for Intuit Data Protect that have culminated in QuickBooks 2019. Simplification of the program itself, and enhanced performance.

The process for set-up is simplified, there are just a few steps and really these haven’t changed very much (so I am not going to take you through every set-up window) but just know there is better instruction and progress prompting as you go through the set-up steps.

You are still able to select the QuickBooks files you want, if you want to include other files from your computer for backup, and even the time to start your automatic backup. All of this is simple to set.

While IDP was specifically designed for backing up your QuickBooks Desktop data, users can choose to include other data from their computer’s file structure so long as they don’t exceed the total capacity of the service.

The set-up process even allows you to configure when you want Intuit Data Protect to send you emails notifying you of the status of your backup.

As a result of enhancements in the behind-the-scenes technology, Intuit Data Protect offers a significantly optimized backup of your data to streamline the time it takes to backup your QuickBooks (and other) data. This not only means that backups are faster, but it also means greater reliability of the backup process and integrity of the backed-up data.

In addition to the automatic backups Intuit Data Protect you configure, you still have the option to initiate a manual backup via IDP as well. 

One of the biggest improvements stems from the notification functionality when either a backup fails or there is any other ‘critical issue’ with your backups. You have other notification options as shown in the previous illustration.

In the event of a backup failure, or a critical issue, you will receive an email from the Intuit Data Protect team similar the one shown below. The email you receive will highlight the problem(s) related to your backup and provide corrective actions you should take so that you will be ready for the next scheduled backup via IDP.

If you are not using Intuit Data Protect, this new version is definitely worth checking out. If you are entitled to a subscription and not using it, then you are simply risking your data and throwing your money away, even if you are backing up some other way. Which you should be anyway!

Murph says, “Always perform a fully-verified manual backup of your QuickBooks Company file at least once every day.*” (Even if you are using Intuit Data Protect.)

Still the same, knowing that you can simply load QuickBooks onto any computer, then connect to your Intuit Data Protect account and restore your last valid backup should give you ‘peace of mind.’ Like the Intuit advertisement says, “Go home at night knowing whatever happens, your business data is safe.”

[Note: *-Only a fully (complete) verified manual backup of your QuickBooks Company file will guarantee that your backup is corruption free; in the event corruption is detected during the full verification QuickBooks will advise you that problems prevent the backup from continuing. Such errors should be resolved before continuing with any backup alternative.  In addition, only a fully-verified manual backup of your QuickBooks Company file will truncate the QuickBooks transaction log (*.QBW.tlg) file that is companion to your company file.]

Notes & Disclosures:

Graphics or other illustrations used in this article have either been prepared using a pre-release version of QuickBooks 2019 software, or were furnished and/or adapted from Intuit source content. Be aware that certain aspects of features described or illustrated herein may have changed between the pre-release software version we used and the release of QuickBooks 2019 desktop products scheduled for September 4, 2018.

This article is intended to serve as a summary of one specific QuickBooks 2019 product feature, it is not an in-depth review nor has it been written to provide instruction in the proper use of the software (or feature).

While the writer or editor may express a personal opinion within this article regarding this feature and/or the software as a whole, such personal opinion does not constitute a formal endorsement by Insightful Accountant or the publisher.