You already run QuickBooks. This is the part that worries you.
Most people who buy a QuickBooks Desktop 2024 licence are not new to QuickBooks. They have been using it for years, their release has lost support, and the only thing standing between them and a purchase is one question:
What happens to my company file?
The short answer: QuickBooks Desktop 2024 opens files from older versions and converts them on the way in. The longer answer depends on how old yours is, and that is what the rest of this page covers.
Before anything: back up, and keep the old install
Two rules, and they are the whole of the risk management.
Back up the company file first. In your current version: File → Back Up Company → Create Local Backup. Put the backup somewhere that is not the same drive. Do this even if you are confident.
Do not uninstall the old version. QuickBooks Desktop versions install side by side. Keep the old one until you have opened the converted file in 2024, run your key reports, and satisfied yourself the numbers match. There is no prize for uninstalling early, and it is your only cheap way back.
The conversion writes a new file. Your original is left alone, which is why keeping the old install costs nothing.
From QuickBooks Desktop 2023
The easy case. One year back, same file structure, direct conversion.
Open 2024, choose your file, let it convert, then compare a Balance Sheet and a Profit & Loss against the same reports from 2023 for a closed period. If those two match, everything else has come across.
From QuickBooks Desktop 2022
Also a direct conversion, and still straightforward. The thing to check afterwards is anything that touched a service rather than the file itself — memorised transactions, custom templates, and any third-party add-on. The data converts; an add-on built for 2022 may need its own 2024-compatible version from whoever made it.
From QuickBooks Desktop 2021
Still a direct conversion. This is the release where most of the people reading this are coming from, because it was the last one sold as a one-time purchase before Intuit moved Pro and Premier to subscription-only.
Two things to look at after converting:
- Payroll. If you ran Desktop Payroll on 2021, that subscription does not travel with the file. Payroll is separate from the licence, and the 2024 release has its own service life — see the section below.
- Users and permissions. Multi-user setups carry over, but it is worth opening the user list and confirming the roles rather than assuming.
From QuickBooks Desktop 2019 or earlier
Here the honest answer changes. Very old files sometimes need a two-step conversion: open the file in an intermediate version first, then in 2024. Whether yours does depends on the exact release and how the file has been maintained.
This is not a reason to avoid upgrading. It is a reason to tell us what you have before you buy, so you are not discovering it on a Sunday evening. Send us the version and year from the top of your QuickBooks window — Help → About QuickBooks — and we will tell you straight whether it is a one-step job.
What does not come across, whatever you are upgrading from
Set expectations here rather than after:
- Payroll subscriptions. Separate product, separate subscription, does not transfer with the licence.
- Third-party add-ons. They are licensed by their own makers and usually need a version built for 2024.
- Bank feed connections. You reconnect them in the new version rather than inheriting the link.
- Your old version's service life. Upgrading does not extend anything; it moves you onto the 2024 release's own clock.
The 2024 clock, stated plainly
QuickBooks Desktop 2024's licence has no end date — it is a one-time purchase and the software keeps running indefinitely. But Intuit ends the connected services for the 2024 release on 31 May 2027: Desktop Payroll, online bank feeds, QuickBooks Payments, live Intuit support, and security updates for that version.
If you are upgrading *because* your old version lost those services, do the arithmetic before you pay. You are buying roughly eight months of them at today's date, plus the software itself for as long as you want it. What a lifetime licence means sets out both sides of that.
For plenty of businesses this is fine — they keep their books locally, do payroll elsewhere, and import bank activity by file. For others it is not, and we would rather you knew now.
Moving to a new computer at the same time
Often the upgrade and the new machine happen together. That is two operations, and doing them in one go is where people lose an afternoon. The guide to moving a company file covers the second half; do the move first, confirm the file opens on the new machine in the old version, then convert.
Before you order
- Find your current version. Help → About QuickBooks, top of the window.
- Check the edition you need. Pro Plus, Enterprise, Enterprise Accountant or Mac Plus — the edition comparison lays out the differences.
- Count your seats. Simultaneous users, not headcount. How to count yours.
- Check your computer. 2024 system requirements.
- Tell us what you are coming from if it is 2019 or older, or if payroll matters to you.
Then pick your edition from the catalogue. If any of the above gave you pause, write to us first — we would rather answer a question than process a refund.