QuickBooks Portable File – Restoring Company Letters
Last time, we covered how to create and send a portable file in QuickBooks Desktop; and how to restore it when called upon. We also discussed what is brought in, and what is not, when a portable file is restored. Though addressing the restoration of items not brought in is initially daunting, knowing where things are located mitigates this. We will cover restoring each, on a blog by blog basis – starting with company letters in QuickBooks Desktop. These files aren’t contained in a portable file, but are intact if you restore the portable in the same location as your daily company file. If you need to restore it elsewhere, you will see how to realign them with the QuickBooks company file stored in a different location.
What Are Company Letters in QuickBooks Desktop?
You have plenty of letters you can create with QuickBooks Desktop.
QuickBooks Desktop Provides Letters For All Your Contacts
You can create for all, or some of, your contacts – customer, vendor, or employee.
It doesn’t matter if you’re working with vendors, customers, or employees; there is a letter type for each contact category. In this example, a credit acceptance letter was created. As seen, a warning message was given about missing information. When you set up letters for your contacts, you want to make sure fields are entered thoroughly during or after initial contact creation – if you want to avoid such messaging.
You Can Customize New or Existing Letter Templates
You can align the messaging in QuickBooks Desktop with your company branding and vision.
Existing Letter Templates
This is probably the best way to learn template practices in QuickBooks Desktop.
When you look at the word document, you will notice “<<AddrBlock>>,” “<<MrMsMrs>>,” “<<FirstName>>,” and so on. These are defined as “QuickBooks fields.” These are also wildcards for individual contact information in your lists – customers, vendors, employees, and so on. They will be appropriately populated, after a letter is created. Keeping these in mind will help if you decide to create a template from scratch. You also have wildcards for your own information, like “<<MyCompanyName>>, “<<MyCompanyAddrBlock>>,” and possible others.
New Letter Templates
Keep in mind the fields previously discussed. As depicted, the name given to the template will be the name of the Microsoft Word document stored in your “Letter Templates” folder.
This is what we ran into, when we tried using the template we tried creating – without entering those fields referenced.
Company Letters Will Be Individualized By Document Page in a Single Word Document
Although used for mailing letters to businesses, you can simple save each page to a PDF you can attach to an email.
If you don’t have a numerous amount of contacts, which may not be that likely, you can go into each page and edit the phrasing to make things even more personalized in addressing each contact. On the other hand, you can be creative with your existing template to make things more personalized but widely applicable to all contacts – to save time on crafting these.
How Do I Restore My Company Letters After Restoring a QuickBooks Portable File?
A QuickBooks Portable File is great for its small storage footprint, but awareness of what doesn’t come in after restoring it is needed.
1. Locate Where the Company Letters are Stored for QuickBooks Desktop
When you run the Company Letters Wizard, as previously depicted, the folder “Company Letters” will be generated in the same location as your QuickBooks Company File. Within this folder is a set of word documents for each letter type created. You want to be aware of the naming convention used having been set up.
As with any file, you can change its name to anything you want – before the *.doc ending. Given the way letter files are handed through QuickBooks Desktop, you may want to think on naming it with the date of creation in mind; the recipient type; and what kind of letter it actually is after having created it.
2. Locate the QuickBooks Letter Templates Folder
This is where all of your templates – edited or created – are stored.
We observed templates are applicable for all company files stored in the same location. This shouldn’t be too concerning, given the wildcards previously presented allow for adaptation to each company file using those templates. If your different companies or “brands” have completely different visions, or messaging, you might want to name each template accordingly – avoiding confusion in the long run.
3. Copy, then Paste, the “Company Letters” Folder into a Chosen Location
Based on how company letters work in QuickBooks Desktop, it may not be necessary to place those backed up letters into the standard folder location, once you restore your portable file. It may be helpful, though, in terms of document consolidation – archiving all documents in a central location your organization is comfortable with. We did observe creating letters within QuickBooks Desktop requires the presence of letter templates in the same location as your QuickBooks company file.
4. Copy, then Paste the “QuickBooks Letter Templates” into a Chosen Location
This is just the first step to restoring your QuickBooks Letter Templates.
5. Copy, then Paste, the QuickBooks Letter Templates and/or Company Letters Folder into Your Desired QuickBooks Company File Location
Placing the folders before starting the creation of letters should mitigate the error depicted earlier.
There shouldn’t be an error, at this point.
Looking Ahead in Restoring a QuickBooks Portable File
Company Letters and Letter Templates Are Just the Beginning
We will discuss recovering your QuickBooks Desktop Loan Manager after you restore a QuickBooks Portable File in the next blog. If you have additional questions surrounding company letters and letter templates – themselves – or the recovery process of these files and folders, definitely give us a call. In light of year-end quickly approaching, be sure to schedule your review as well!
