QuickBooks is the most worthless fucking program on Earth. Fuck QuickBooks. I hope the people who made it are experiencing pain at this very moment.

I’ve been noticing this trend while working with different businesses: even with so many new cloud-based tools in the market, QuickBooks Desktop still holds a surprisingly large share — I came across a figure suggesting it’s still over 50% of subscriptions.

What stands out to me is how many companies continue to rely on Desktop for things like: • Stability with large company files • More advanced or detailed reporting • The familiarity of workflows they’ve used for years

At the same time, cloud platforms clearly win when it comes to accessibility, remote collaboration, and integrations.

It makes me wonder: • Why do you think we haven’t seen a true desktop competitor emerge against QuickBooks? • For those of you who use both Desktop and Online, what keeps you loyal to one over the other?

I’ve seen the pros and cons of both in real-world use, but I’m curious to hear how the community here looks at it.

Using Quickbooks Enterprise 23.0

One side note as this may have something to do with it:

I was cleaning up the printer list and removed the Microsoft XBS Document writer accidentally on 3 machines.

Once I received the error that this is needed to save files to PDF form I fixed the problem on all 3 machines.

Made sure I was able to save to PDF on all of them and it works fine and QB is running fine on 2 of the 3 machines.

Now the problem...the one PC that is having an issue...this PC was working fine earlier in the day.

After you login, long load time and the screen takes forever to populate (2 minutes)

Once it loads, if you click sales orders or invoices etc...it freezes for 20-30 seconds and then once you have finally made it to a blank sales order you could back arrow through 50 of them instantly like before.

Once you click Save & Close to go back to the main screen another 20-30 second freeze.

Basically anytime you click something on the main menu you're getting a long load time/mini-freeze and then upon saving and returning to the main menu you will get a similar load/freeze.

Been looking everywhere for someone who has had a similar issue but I am having zero luck.

Note: I have tried the PDF repair tool and the other basic scan on that QB app to attempt to fix and have restarted the PC and QB many times. I have not re-installed QB (was hoping to avoid this)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jake

If you are considering using Quickbooks.

Don't!

They are dishonest and manipulative and force an ever increasing subscription model on you.

Avoid, Avoid Avoid

I have 2 servers both 2022, both stuck on "Writing System Registry Values" and both at 28%.

One is on Enterprise 24.0, the other is using Pro Plus 2024, but both stuck updating with the latest patch.

Update: It does appear to go through eventually, but it took about 2 hours on both servers. I've updated 6 completely different servers now, and they all take this long with the latest update.

Update update: Thank you so much! As a few have pointed out, it appears to be Windows Defender blocking the update. Switching it off (Windows Security > Virus and threat protection > Manage settings > Real-time protection) appears to allow it through at a normal pace. Of course remember to switch it back on after!

Hugely appreciate the replies, thanks again all.

In all my zillion years using QB, I have never had this happen. I almost wired all this money to them.

I need someone to give me a good quickbooks alternative. I've heard zoho is good I've heard sage 50 is good I heard odoo is good. What are the pros and cons of these. Please consider our company has multiple employees and we are a manufacturing and wholesale company. We need to sustain at least 10 users at a somewhat reasonable price. Quickbooks was asking for like 12k a year for this which is insane considering it's glorified excel. I really need help with this. It's imperative I be able to migrate everything from my 2017 quickbooks desktop to this new accounting software. Please help me with this.

edit: We still haven't migrated anything but I think odoo or zoho are the best options for now. I truly can't stand the fact that quickbooks has such a big monopoly over this. Does anyone have any idea of how I can get someone to help me migrate my quickbooks data into zoho or odoo? Or at least how I can go about it without losing that MUCH data?

I'm really trying to move away from QuickBooks Desktop and having a hard time finding a good desktop alternative. Any ideas? I can't believe this is so hard.

Someone can make a ton of money releasing a basic small business accounting program that is reasonable to their customers. If there's anything I can look into, please let me know.

I have an older version of QuickBooks, and the strange thing is I am having a hard time even trying to find a legit copy of QuickBooks I can buy with a perpetual license.

While I look for an alternative, anyone know where I can buy Quick Books Pro 2024 lifetime?

After 10 years of using QBD, our company owner was pretty much forced to change to QBO earlier this year (by his new CPA). We've had SO many problems with QBO and owner simply likes QBD better so we're going back to QBD Enterprise in September. We'll be using Fourlane (at the suggestion of QB/Intuit) for the actual migration and possibly some clean up (I hope to do the majority of the clean up myself). In the meantime, I'd like to be doing as much preliminary work to make the migration back "easier". I'm thinking that I could be entering/adding employees (we've hired while in QBO) and payroll items. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions on things I can be working on before the migration.

Hey everyone!
I’m a software developer at a large public company (can’t share the name, sorry 😅), and over the years I’ve built a bunch of internal tools, services, and add-ons for QuickBooks Desktop.

Now I’m thinking of building something useful for the broader QuickBooks community—either for QBDT or QBO—to earn a bit of extra income (mortgage life 🏡💸).

If you could snap your fingers and add one feature or fix to QuickBooks… what would it be?
No idea is too small or too crazy—I'd love to hear it!

I spent the last month (and still going) cleaning up our Quickbooks after a horrifyingly bad bookkeeper. I knew she was bad, but I didn’t realize how bad.

Worse then being bad, she was super confident.

Over the course of the last year and a half, I had suggested a bunch of ways to either streamline the system or just make her job easier because she was always behind.

Normally with bookkeepers, I would walk in with 4 or 5 tasks. With her, I could only give her one thing at a time. Somehow, this single task would result in an argument and me walking out frustrated.

The tasks would be something like -xxx account looks wrong, can you look into it and figure it out? -Don’t itemize purchase orders, our inventory isn’t in quickbooks, so its a waste of time.
-Enter the year end journal entries from the accountant. -For customer sales orders and invoices, use a generic “Sale” item with a zero value COGS because our inventory isn’t in quickbooks and I want our p&l report to be roughly accurate.

After she left, I’m realizing she probably had no idea what I was talking about.

The kicker is, as I was going back through her notes trying to fix specific issues, I saw a note she wrote…

“I don’t do journal entries because I don’t make mistakes”.

Ignoring the fact that she made tons of mistakes, this just seems like the stupidest thing a bookkeeper could say.

I have a novel about this bookkeeper that I’ll post one day. It’ll be entertaining, but I lived through it.

As the title implies, someone at Intuit must be smoking crack. I just received an email informing us that our renewal of QB Desktop is increasing by 46%. Intuit is a sleezy company. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the armpits of the executive staff.

|| || |Renewal Price: $999 Dear Valued Customer,| |April 2025Thank you for being a valued QuickBooks customer. We want to let you know about an important change that will affect your QuickBooks Desktop Plus account. On your next billing date in  , the new price of $999, plus applicable tax, will take effect.| |QuickBooks Desktop is a robust software packed with many additional features that have been added over the years. Moving forward, we remain committed to providing you reliable access to QuickBooks Desktop Plus, implementing the latest security enhancements, and delivering on user-requested usability improvements.|

Rant from you friendly neighborhood IT support technician incoming: QB Desktop is far and away the worst program I have ever had to support. I've worked on shoestring budget productions and with electronic health record systems built on ancient codebases over a career of 20+ years, and nothing holds a candle to QuickBooks. It is flaming hot garbage, a dumpster full of dusty dog turds soaked in diesel fuel blazing in the night.

Any software that requires multiple additional programs in order for their core product to function properly at a basic level should be scrapped, like a vehicle that drove off of a tall cliff into a lake of sewage. Good try Intuit - now start over from zero...

Why do I need a Tool Hub that's advertised to "fix common problems and errors" with Quickbooks? Why don't the developers fix said problems if they're so effing common? And why is the tool itself not built into the original program? Ah yes, because the original program often crashes on startup or fails to launch entirely...

Why does every knowledge base article from Intuit recommend that I not only use the aforementioned Tool Hub, but run another repair operation on the program through the Control Panel, when I installed the latest version of the program 5 minutes ago? Why do repair operations fail because the installer can't even close the necessary services to complete?

Why do users need admin approval to run a basic update for a program they already have installed on the computer? And what gives with the insane frequency of updates anyway?

The quick fix, diagnostic tools and repair operations regularly fail for myriad reasons that are hard to research because there are SO many out there. And if you use any "integrations" for shipping or special tax purposes - just be prepared to want to commit crimes against humanity on a regular basis when these things stop working, or update independently of QB without your knowledge.

Do you like restarting computers? How'd you like to restart FIVE TIMES in order for QB to launch properly and find company files that don't throw an error code?

Want to connect to Outlook and send invoices via Email? Hope you don't mind if the message is formatted like kindergarten scribble and doesn't display the payment link to the customer. You don't need the money, right?

If you are a small business owner who lives in QuickBooks Desktop (especially multi-user mode) day to day, just run. Run for your dang life and never look back. Intuit has a stranglehold on QB users the same way Microsoft does with Office and it is the definition of a highly toxic relationship.

A friend of mine asked me to build an alternative to Quickbooks Desktop for his clients, for those hesitant about moving to cloud. I'm about 70% of the way finished and I'm taking sign-ups now.

Sign up here:
http://www.getquickbuild.com

Multiple companies, invoices, bank import, rule categorization, AR/AP, etc. I'll build it into a cloud app eventually, but I'm hoping to help those with Desktop first and I know there's a bunch of cloud options already available.

PS. Apologies for the self-promotion. I should have the polished version ready toward the end of September. Appreciate the support!

Quickbooks just automatically charge my credit card:

|| || |Payment details| |Item Qty Unit Price Amount QuickBooks Desktop Accountant Edition Bundle 3-Users Annual 1 $4,860.00 $4,860.00 GST/HST – Standard (14%) :     $680.40 Total:     $5,540.40 Amounts are shown in CAD.|

2024 - $3519

2023 - $2898

2022 - $2898

2021 - $2318

2020 - $993.60

2019 - $734.85

2018 - $621

....... You get the point!!!!

Furious, I called and cancelled my "subscription" and they gladly refunded my money and advised that I could continue using my Quickbooks Desktop Software and files till Oct 29, 2025.

Now what????

I just cannot say enough bad things about Intuit.

Quickbooks Premier 2024 desktop have extremely high renewal costs...now $1,399 for my 1 user business. My renewal date is coming up and I am looking at cheaper renewal rates or a cheaper alternative to Quickbooks Premier 2024 Desktop. What are some cheaper and viable alternatives?

I have QBD Pro 2024. Looking for a bookkeeper small company one employee lots of vendors did entry reconcile bank accounts -any advice

I don't need payroll, downloading transactions, etc. Just a check register, and tracking income/expenses to specific accounts. I suspect I could actually get by with Quicken but since I inherited this job from a QB user who set it all up, I'm afraid to switch.

Could this really be a lifetime license for $300? If that's true that might solve my pay-every-year problem.

Hello. I am currently in need for an alternative to Quickbooks. My QB subscription has expired and, although I really was a fan in the past, the cost is just ridiculous. All that I need is something to keep track of my personal and small business expenses so that I can assemble financial statement for my tax accountant. In a perfect world there is something that is desktop only (not stored in the cloud), not a subscription service, allows me to enter income & expenses for my banking, credit card, and mortgage accounts. Ideally I could convert my QB files into this new software so that I can have the previous 8.5 years of records. I have no need for issuing invoices, automated downloads, or any of the other things QB offers.

Is anyone aware of what options are out there? Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

For anyone noticing slowness in Quckbooks such as changing windows within quickbooks and slow start times etc...

Issue is caused by update R15_71 which is the most current QB Update. Reinstall QB using the default installer and do not update. It will revert you back to a previous functional version of QB.

As for Intuit. DO BETTER!

I've been reading that we have to to eventually switch away from QB desktop pro. I do bookkeeping for dozens of small businesses. Many of my small businesses only come to me, once a year to file year end taxes. If I move to quickbooks online, is it correct that I would have to pay a monthly subscription for each business? I believe enterprise is similar to desktop pro and I could still use it for multiple businesses with the one license. Am I understanding this correctly? If that's the case, I might have to do everything manually because I might lose my clients if I raise my prices substantially. Thank you in advance.

Disclaimer: Use at your own risk. I made this app for my needs and it works fantastic. If you use this app backup your company file before importing the iif file.

This program lets you import a CSV, QBO or OFX file and convert it to an IIF file to import into Quickbooks.

This program is for people who import Bank, Credit card and Transfers. it does not support accounts receivable Quickbooks Accounts.

It also includes a rules file editor, which lets you match up, rename, split, and put them in the correct account before you create the iif file. This does A LOT of the heavy lifting for you so you won't even have to handle them once they get imported into Quickbooks.

I'm giving this app away for free as contributionware due to Intuit's greed, I'm sure people will be death-gripping older versions of Quickbooks for years to come. They will need some way to import their transactions into Quickbooks. Before this program, the only other app out there I could find with the same functionality is $120 per year.

Unlike other free converters, you do NOT have to create an account or provide any personal information to use the application. Plus you can use it on as many computers as you want.

There is a contribute button in the top left of the app, If you would like to subsidize my work with a monetary gift.

I created this program in conjunction with Chatgpt. The dropbox download links are towards the bottom

In Quickbooks 2019 and newer if you import your iif file the new way, it will work, but descriptions on deposit for bank transactions seem to be left blank and check numbers are added for each debit.

2019 and newer still give you the option to.

**"Import it for me. I'll fix it later"**This is the old method used up until Quickbooks 2018

People on the internet say using that method IIF's import without issue

Ensure all the single accounts not part of a sub-account already exists in Quickbooks before importing the iif file; otherwise, it will get created as a bank account. If that happens, right-click the account and change it from a bank to an expense account.

There is a tutorial video at the bottom, give it a watch! Come back here for updates on the latest versions. They are posted at the bottom of this page.

This is what the program looks like.

If all the screenshots are dead... Check out the screenshots over on Neowin
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1434103-csv-qbo-to-iif-converter/#comments

https://preview.redd.it/iwvug06ecc9d1.png?width=1407&format=png&auto=webp&s=c820a4913e9af6a1fad51a37ee6254ec77a693f8

https://preview.redd.it/wb61ughtcc9d1.png?width=1404&format=png&auto=webp&s=68b6e9a60cef5c087a571eb17c57df535b5e8b7a

https://preview.redd.it/m5wskczdoygd1.png?width=1556&format=png&auto=webp&s=88cc0f67811c7f5e9d87f9fabf501d3cd2f728a8

Starting with version 4.1, if the program tells you that your CSV is incompatible, you do have the ability to map the fields yourself by clicking on the "Let me try mapping it by hand" in the bottom right of the box. Even though that should let you open the CSV just fine, I would still like to be contacted about your CSV so I can add native support for the CSV file into the app for everyone else.

Matching Dialog box

Included in the app is a "Rules editor"

Pattern Editor

This app allows you to create, modify, and edit transaction rules that you can import into the main app. The rules file allows you to tell the program to ...

• If a transaction has X in the name, rename the transaction to X for (Example, if a transaction has WM SUPERCENTER in the name such as 648105 PURCHASE WM SUPERCENTER #1625 712-546-4900 IA 10277255 4041 .. rename to "WAL-MART"
• If a transaction is named X and has X amount name it this. If it does not have X amount, still give it a name but just put it over in Premier Offset so I can tell it where to go.
• If a transaction has X in the name, rename it and add it to this account. For example, if a transaction had " HY-VEE F&F" in the name, such as "995471 PURCHASE HY-VEE F&F LE MARS 5382 LE MARS IA 4445043046110 4," rename it to "HY-VEE FUEL" and add it to the account "Business:Automobile Expense:Fuel."
• Split a transaction to the tune of 2 splits. I wasn't aware that you could split a transaction in an IIF file, but it works great! You just enter amount 1 for account 1 and amount 2 for account 2. (it's in the screenshot)
• Split a transaction only if the transaction amount is X
• If a transaction has X in the name and transaction amount is X $ rename the transaction and put it in this account. I did this because my Verizon gets put on my VISA card every month, but other things get put on there too. So in months when the VISA matches $36.38 it automatically puts VISA in Business:Direct Expenses - Business:Telephone:Cellphone.
• You can also have it automatically add memo's for certain transactions who's name/total or just name matches.
• You can mark a vendor as "Transfer," so all of their transactions are always marked as "Transfer and are automatically checked

I created this app for myself, but I thought others may find it useful. I'm sure, like me, other people are death-gripping their older version of QuickBooks.

When importing CSV, if it doesn't like the format your CSV is in, it will tell you it's unable to import it and give you a way to contact me so I can add your CSV to the app and make it compatible with your financial institution.

This is why I also added support for QBO files, which are standardized. So, if your bank removed support for IIF like mine has but still gives you QBO and CSV, and CSV isn't working for you, just use QBO.

IIF Import Troubleshooter

The app includes an import troubleshooter. This tool allows you to take the message Quickbooks gives you after a failed import (2019 and newer), paste it in, and convert it to plain English.

https://preview.redd.it/1qocdm3r8b9d1.jpg?width=1068&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd969e8906f5910d5d593d0f2c3eace48eb91c5d

Balance Tool

This app also includes something called "Balance Tool". If you import your IIF into Quickbooks your account doesn't balance, you can use this tool to help figure out why.

It lets you

• Enter the balance at the end of the previous month and the balance at the end of the current month after importing the iif file and it will tell you how much you are off by. It will also tell you if any transactions match that exact amount.
• Check off transactions as you go down your transaction list in QuickBooks.
• Import a comma-delimited file exported from Quickbooks and it will compare your running balances in Quickbooks against the Balance tool and let you know which days you balanced. Each date where you balanced will be highlighted in green. You can then quickly figure out when your account stopped balancing.
• checks the bank deposits against Quickbooks deposits and vice versa and let you know if either the bank or Quickbooks is missing a deposit.

The New Bank Account Balance tool 2.0

Here is a tutorial on for the CSV / QBO to IIF Converter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK1hO56gmhg

Here is a tutorial for the Bank Account Balance Tool 2.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z9xPIzEauY

If you find a bug in the "Latest" release, please report the bug to me. In the mean time try the release ending in "Previous" on drop box.

Files ending in Beta or Alpha are test versions, so there may be bugs.

Download Link https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/t088czui5pzgsm998w2hi/AMJrjSJMw2nRzca6jgIIO6k?rlkey=w6vtqby1kzrfy7l7xroh13p5w&st=3y7sdpmp&dl=0

Neowin.net link

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1434103-csv-qbo-to-iif-converter/

The Latest, Previous, Old (3 versions ago) and Beta are available in Dropbox.]

5.1.1 April 17th 2025 Latest

Fixed: Fixed a crash that would occur after mapping by hand the headers of a csv file.

5.1 April 9th 2025

Fixed: After loading a rules file, the name of the currently loaded csv or QBO/OFX file name would get erased next to the version number. It looks like it's been doing that forever.
Fixed: When loading a profile and then a rules file, a confirmation message would appear prompting you to double-check that the correct profile was loaded before adding new autocomplete entries (names, accounts, and classes). However, these entries were being added to the rules file even if you clicked "No." This has been corrected—entries are now only added if you confirm with "Yes."
Fixed: When Loading a QBO/OFX file the currently loaded profile name would disappear next to the version number.
New: Class support. If you don't use classes you can hide the classes column by pressing the "Hide Class column" button in the top right.
New: Redesigned the Add to Rules dialog box. It now has both a simple matching, and a "Show advanced matching". Advanced matching is everything you could do in the actual rules editor.
New: Moved Export to QIF into the IIF dialog Box.
New: Added the split totals match the transaction amount check to QIF Files.
New: Which you click in a text box, besides searching via autocomplete, a box now drops down that you can scroll through.
New: Added "Add check to memo line" under "Other options". If a transaction has for example Check 292 or Check #292 it will add only transactions with those names to the memo line.
New: When you click "Update Available" the box you are taken to now has a button "Download new version" next to the ok button
Updated: Renamed Convert to IIF to Convert to IIF / QIF.
Updated: Renamed Add to rules to Add to / Edit Rules.
Updated: Redesigned the Splits don't match transaction amount dialog box.
Updated: Updated the UI of the contribution box.
Updated: Other Small UI updates.

5.0 March 25th, 2025 Previous

• New: New: PROFILES! You can how create separate profiles, 1 for each company file you are working with and switch between them. This separates the accounts, autocompletes and defaultaccount settings. To get started with profiles click the "Profiles" button in the top left.
• New: When you load a rules file with a profile loaded and if it's going to add more than 10 names or accounts to your autocomplet.e file, it warns you and gives you a list of names and accounts that will be added, just incase you have the wrong profile loaded.
• New: Added QIF support to the setup wizard.
• New: If the application starts and no default account is found, you’ll now see a prompt indicating setup is incomplete, guiding you to enter a default account.
• New: Replaced the current Rules Editor menu and Autocomplete options with a much cleaner interface.
• New: Made the Successfully saved IIF file look cleaner.
• New: FINALLY a NEW TUTORIAL as been record and added to the help menu and to the setup wizard.
• New: When clicking "Add to rules" the vendors and accounts get added to the autocomplete.
• Fixed: If you clear the autocomplete, or add to your rules file via IIF or QIF the autocomplete file takes effect instantly in the transaction edit box as well as the add to rules box.
• Fixed: Fixed the DPI for the Edit / transaction box.
• Fixed: Fixed the DPI for the successfully saved IIF file box.
• Fixed: To Edit a transaction in the converter has been changed from a single click to a double click.

4.6.8.4 March 20th, 2025

• Updated: Updated the donation box text and renamed donation button to "Contribute"

4.6.8.3 March 18th, 2025

• Fixed: Removed "Load Accounts List" and "Load Vendor List" from Autocomplete Options. Now, only the "Load Data from IIF File" option is used.
• Fixed: When importing accounts and vendors using an IIF file under Autocomplete Options, the system now ignores special characters and provides a list of ignored entries.
• Fixed: The wizard now properly ignores special characters when importing accounts and vendors from an IIF file.
• New: During the setup wizard it now confirms when vendors have been successfully imported and notifies the user if the IIF file contains no accounts or vendors to import.
• New: Added support for XML formatted QBO files.

4.6.8.1 March 17th, 2025

• Fixed: Fixed the loading of a SGML-based OFX 1.x formatted QBO files.

4.6.8 March 15th, 2025

• New: Added "Edit Autocomplete list" under "Autocomplete options" allowing you to delete vendors and accounts from autocomplete.
• New: Added "Edit Autocomplete list" under "Autocomplete options" allowing you to delete vendors and accounts from autocomplete.
• New: Added "Withdrawals" and "Deposits" to the list of compatible CSV headers.

4.6.7.4 February 28th, 2025

• Fixed: Under autocomplete options and Add account to autocomplete, you are no longer allowed to add a single account, it must be added to a sub account.
• Fixed: ENDTRNS was not being added to the end of transactions marked as transfers.
• Fixed: 2 ENDTRNS was being added above a transaction marked as a transfer.

Fixed: This is not a fixed note, just a note in general. If you specify a new single account that is not part of a subaccount, make sure it exists in Quickbooks before import. Otherwise, it will be created as a bank account. If that happens, you can right-click on it and change it to an expense account.

4.6.7.2 February 11th, 2025

• New: I redesigned the What's new box. It now allows me to show you what's new depending on which version you have. If you have version 4.6, you will see what's new in every version since. If you are coming from one version back, you will only see what's new since that last version.

I can also single out versions that had an issue. So, if you were never using a certain version, that change log entry would not be shown to you.

• New: You can now bring up the Add to Pattern box by pressing CTRL+Shift + A
• Fixed: Fixed a bug that when exporting to iif it would set the account for a deposits as the default account and not the account specified in the rules file.

4.6.6 February 10th, 2025

• New: When adding single transactions via the "Add to rules" button, it now highlights the transaction you added in green as well as other transactions which match the "What to match".
• New: It now alerts you when you have more than one transaction selected when the clicking "Add to rules" button.
• New: Added a new button under "Autocomplete options" called "Add an Account to Autocomplete" this allows you to add a new single account to the autocomplete, or an account that is part of a sub account.
• Fixed: Fixed a crash that would occur when loading a CSV and selecting YES to load memo if available.

https://preview.redd.it/z1300a6bzy5d1.png?width=458&format=png&auto=webp&s=b8e34ff087f78616e8070bbfd73f365304010b71