Back Up and Restore Your QuickBooks Online Advanced Company

Managing critical financial data requires a reliable safety net—especially as your business scales and transactions grow more complex. QuickBooks Online Advanced offers powerful tools for growing businesses. Still, without a proper backup strategy, even the most advanced accounting system can be vulnerable to data loss, accidental errors, or unexpected system changes.

This guide explains why it’s essential to back up and restore your QuickBooks Online Advanced company, how proactive data protection prevents costly downtime, and which best practices help keep your financial records secure, accurate, and compliant.

What is the Back Up and Restore Feature in QuickBooks Online? 

The Back Up and Restore Feature in QuickBooks Online helps businesses keep their financial data safe and recover it when needed. It creates secure backups of your company data, including invoices, expenses, payroll, and reports. If data is accidentally deleted, modified, or affected by errors, you can restore it to a previous version without disrupting your work.

This feature reduces the risk of data loss, saves time on corrections, and ensures accuracy in your books, allowing you to manage your business with confidence.

Data You Can Back Up and Don’t 

QuickBooks Online allows you to back up most of your company data, but some items are excluded. Review the details below:

a. Data you can back up

Transaction data	List data	Other data
Invoices Estimates Sales Receipts Payments DepositsBills and bill payments Credit notes Supplier credits Journal entries Purchases and purchase orders Refund receipts Time activities Transfers	Accounts Budgets ClassesCurrencies CustomersDepartments Employees Items Payment methods Tax agencies Tax codes and tax rates TermsSuppliers (except the Tax fields)	AttachmentsCompany Info Entitlements Exchange rates Preferences Inventory shrinkage and adjustments back up as journal entries

b. Data you can’t back up

• Price rules
• Delayed credits and charges (although associated invoices are backed up)
• Recurring transactions
• Bank feeds and their links to transactions and bank rules
• Reconciliation reports
• Account-based billable expenses
• Item-based billable expenses with markup
• Custom reports
• Custom form templates
• Audit log entries
• Reconciliation reports do not move/back up
• Reconciled transactions do not remain reconciled

Data You Can’t Restore 

When you restore a company file backup, you can get all of your data except this: 

• Budgets – You must save these as a CSV file. 
• Inventory – Get your inventories, except the inventory history and inventory adjustments.
• Tax rates using expense accounts – The Online Backup and Restore app you use will restore the data to your liability accounts. 
• Data backed up using the personal cloud archive feature – This data will be saved on your cloud account, such as Google Drive or another service you use. Right now, you can’t restore data from a cloud archive.

Let’s Back Up and Restore the QuickBooks Online Advanced Company Data 

Once enabled, your data is automatically backed up. The system continuously monitors changes and allows point-in-time restoration:

Turn on backup

Your data is automatically backed up as soon as you enable the Online Backup and Restore app. After the initial backup is complete, the system continuously monitors and saves any changes to your company data, allowing you to restore a backup from any point in time.

• Select Account and settings from the Settings menu. 
• Go to Advanced and choose Backup.
• Click Edit, then turn on the Turn on backups switch.
• Now select Save, then Done. 

Turn off backup

• Go to Settings at the top. 
• Choose Account and settings.
• Select Advanced, then click on Backup.
• Click Edit and then disbale the Turn on backups options. 
• Fill out the consent form and then choose Turn off Backup.
• Finally, click Save, then Done. 

Note: You can also turn the backup on or off when you go to Settings and choose Back up company, then Change backup settings.

Create a one-time backup manually

If you are busy or in the middle of an important project and you still want to save everything, you can do a manual backup anytime. Here’s how: 

• Go to Settings. 
• Choose Back up company. 
• Click on Run manual backup.
• Select Full and then Back up.

Save your backups to Google Drive

Let’s save your company file backup to Google Drive and then export it. To do so, make sure to connect your account and proceed below: 

a. Connect your Google Drive account

• Go to Settings at the top.
• Choose Account and settings.
• Select Advanced > Personal cloud backup.
• Click on the link to Google Drive.
• Now, enter the email address where you want to save the backup, then follow the next steps on your screen to create a backup file on your drive. 

b. Export your backup

• Go to Settings at the top. 
• Select Back up company. 
• Click on Personal cloud archive. 
• Choose Export backup and then Google Drive.
• Finally, click on Export backup.

Note: It can take 10 minutes or longer for the file to appear in Google Drive. While this is happening, you won’t be able to use Online Backup and Restore to recover data stored in the Personal cloud archive.

Restore your data from the Restore tab

Restore your data for a specific date and time from the Restore tab. 

Important: Do not use your company data while the Online Backup and Restore app is restoring it. Once the process is complete, a tick will appear, and you can resume using it.

• Go to Settings. 
• Select Back up company and then Restore. 
• Choose Create Restore.
• From the Date field, choose the date when you wish to restore. 
• Under the Time dropdown menu, choose or enter the specific time when you wish to restore. 
• Click Next > Read > Understand, and then follow the instructions given on the screen. 
• Mark the checkbox for I understand that restoring overwrites all data in my company back to the specified date. 
• Finally, click Start Restore.

Tip: Restoring a backup often takes less time, but can take up to an hour, too. The less data the company’s file contains, the less time it takes.

Restore your data from the Backups tab

The Backups tab lets you restore a specific backup without manually changing the date and time. Here’s how to do so: 

• Go to Settings. 
• Choose Back up company > Backups.
• Select the backup that you wish to restore from the backup list dropdown menu next to the View column. 
• Hit on Restore. 

Note: You won’t be able to change the date or time. 

• Click Next > Read > Understand, and then follow the instructions given on your screen. 
• Mark the checkbox next to I understand that restoring overwrites all data in my company back to the specified date. 
• Finally, select Restore. 

Understand your limitations with data retention

Understanding the limitations and data retention is crucial when you use the Online Backup and Restore app:

• It will save all the backup snapshots you have taken in the last year. 
• Your company won’t retrieve backups older than 1 year. 
• It only allows you restore the company data to within one previous calendar year.

Conclusion

Back up and restore your QuickBooks Online advanced company by understanding its backup and restore limits. Regular backups, proper cloud exports, and knowing which data can’t be restored help prevent disruptions, protect financial records, and support smooth business continuity.

If you need help, consider working with a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Contact the experts at QuickBookSupportNet today for reliable, professional assistance.

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. How to back up QuickBooks Online Advanced?

You can back up your data by turning on the Online Backup and Restore feature. Go to Settings > Account and settings > Advanced > Backup, then enable backups. Once turned on, QuickBooks automatically saves your data.

2. What is QuickBooks Online backup and restore?

QuickBooks Online Backup and Restore is a built-in tool that protects your company data by automatically backing up your file and allowing you to restore it to a specific date and time if needed.

3. How to restore a company in QuickBooks Online?

To restore your data, go to Settings > Back up company and choose either the Restore tab (to select a date and time) or the Backups tab (to restore a specific backup).

4. How often does QuickBooks Online Advanced back up data?

After backups are enabled, QuickBooks continuously backs up your data and keeps restore points for up to one year.

5. Do I need technical help to restore my data?

Most restores can be done without technical help, but professional assistance is recommended for large company files or when restoring complex data.