What If: My QuickBooks Backup is Larger Than My QuickBooks Company File?

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A reader has asked, "I did a backup of my QuickBooks desktop file from the File menu. When the backup was finished, I noticed it was considerably larger then the size of my actual Company file. How can this happen?"

When you create a backup of a QuickBooks desktop Company file from the File menu, QuickBooks saves a lot more data then just your Company file.

In addition to the actual data in your company file, the following files, if any data, actually is resident in those files and are incorporated into your backup:

  • The QuickBooks file's companion transaction log (QBW.tlg) file
  • The QuickBooks file's companion network descriptor (QBW.nd) file
  • QuickBooks letters and templates
  • Logos and images (located in the same directory as the company file)
  • Printer setting
  • Spellchecker
  • Financial statement designer files
  • Cash Flow Projector files
  • Business Planner files
  • Loan Manager files
  • Image files (used in logos)

All of the data included in each QuickBooks Backup file is posted to a special log called the QBBackup.log file, within the normally hidden AppData file directory. It can be easily found with QuickBooks open using these steps:

  1. Open QuickBooks
  2. Press F2, then F3
  3. In the Tech Help window, click the Open File tab
  4. In the scroll window on the left, select the QBBbackup.log file
  5. Click the Open File button on the right, the log will open in Notepad
  6. Scroll to the bottom of the log to find the most recent backup information

The log should look a little something like the one shown below:

It's almost as much fun to read as the QBWin.log file, but if you look closely, you'll see that all of your backed up information is included. Anything that failed to backup will not show up as having "Succeeded."

If you're really interested in "adding up the numbers," you can track down the individual sizes of each of these files in Windows and do the math. Your backup file should be slightly smaller than the sum of all the files, due to the limited compression technology that takes place as part of creating the backup file.

So now you know how your QuickBooks Backup file can be larger than your QuickBooks Company file.