Stopping QuickBooks Desktop? Keep every year of your books readable, free.
When a QuickBooks Desktop subscription lapses, the company file is limited to viewing for a while, and then QuickBooks won't open it. The BizBooks Pro Desktop History Archive brings every year of that file onto your own PC, where you can open it, run any report and export it whenever you need to. It's free and it doesn't expire.
What you can do with the archive
| Free, with no expiry | Needs a plan |
|---|---|
| Import your QuickBooks Desktop file, every year of it | Recording new transactions |
| Open every register, invoice, bill and journal entry | Bank feeds and integrations |
| Run any report for any period: P&L, balance sheet, general ledger, aging, 1099 detail | The AI assistant |
| Export reports to PDF, Excel or CSV | Free white-glove migration (done by our team) |
| Back up and restore the archive file | More than one company or user |
Why people keep a readable copy
- Records retention. Tax and employment records usually need to be kept for several years, and an auditor or lender asks for a report, not a backup file you can't open.
- Year-end questions. What did we pay that vendor in 2022? Which customer still owed us at the close? Those answers live in old years.
- No second subscription. Keeping QuickBooks running only to look things up is an expensive way to store history.
How it works
- Download BizBooks Pro and choose the archive on the first screen. You'll enter an email address, and no card is needed.
- Create your sign-in, then follow the QuickBooks import. It walks you through the reports to export from QuickBooks Desktop and brings across your accounts, customers, vendors, items and transactions, year by year. Do this while QuickBooks still opens your file, which includes the view-only period after a subscription lapses.
- You have 30 days from your first import to add a missing year or redo a file. After that the archive is read-only for good, which is what an archive is for.
Want to keep your books here going forward instead? Start the 30-day trial at any time and the same file becomes fully editable. Paid plans are an annual subscription, from $299 a year (pricing).
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Importing, viewing and exporting cost nothing and don't expire. The archive runs on your own computer, so there's nothing for us to charge you for.
Does my data leave my computer?
No. The archive and your company data stay on your PC. The app contacts our licence server only to confirm the archive licence.
Will the import be exact?
The importer reports what it brought across and flags anything it couldn't place. If you want a person to tie it out against your QuickBooks reports, that's part of every paid plan.
Can I archive more than one company file?
The free archive holds one company. If you have several QuickBooks files, a paid plan covers more than one company.