How to export your QuickBooks Desktop data before you cancel

If you're leaving QuickBooks Desktop, the time to get your data out is while your subscription is still active. After cancellation you get one year of view-only access, and third party export tools stop working the moment the subscription lapses (full details on what expires when). Here's what to export, in priority order.

The core exports (do these at minimum)

Each of these comes from the Reports menu. Open the report, set the date range to All, then use the Excel button to export:

1. General Ledger — the master record of every transaction. This is the single most important export.
2. Trial Balance — for every fiscal year you have. This is your verification tool: any other copy of your data should tie out to these numbers.
3. Profit & Loss (Standard) — one per fiscal year.
4. Balance Sheet (Standard) — one per fiscal year end.
5. AR Aging Detail and AP Aging Detail — who owed you and whom you owed, as of your exit date.

The lists

1. Chart of Accounts (Lists menu → Chart of Accounts → Reports button → export)
2. Customer list with balances and Vendor list with balances
3. Item list if you track products or services
4. Employee payroll summaries per year, if you ran payroll — the IRS wants employment tax records for at least 4 years

Also grab

• A copy of the company file itself (the .QBW file) and a portable backup (.QBB). Even if you can't open it later without a subscription, specialized tools can sometimes read it, and a future accountant with QuickBooks can.
• Open invoices and unpaid bills as detailed reports, so day one on any new system starts from a known position.

If you're migrating to other software

Two things worth knowing that the marketing glosses over. Intuit's own migration tool can move your full history into QuickBooks Online only if your file is under its size cap, and even then items like reconciliation reports and the audit trail don't come over. And conversions to non-Intuit products typically include about one year of history in the base price, then charge per additional year — MMC Convert, for example, prices additional historical years individually. Most businesses end up leaving their older history behind, which is exactly why the exports above matter.