Do you want to bring back the invoices you deleted earlier? We will teach you how to undelete an invoice in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop.
Restoring the deleted invoices in QuickBooks can be tricky but you can surely do that. This guide aims to draw your attention to the scenarios when you require to undo a delete action. Besides that, you will learn different ways to recover deleted transactions. So let’s get started!
When Do You Need to Restore Deleted Invoice in QuickBooks?
In some instances, invoices get deleted accidentally due to QuickBooks errors. Below are the different types of scenarios when one wants to find deleted invoices in QuickBooks in order to restore them.
- When you are in multi-user mode, some other user deleted the invoice accidentally.
- Old invoices got deleted in order to speed up the QuickBooks process.
- Unpaid invoices are creating conflicts during reconciliation. As a result, they got deleted.
- Final balance or tax mismatch error occurred due to the unpaid invoices hence got deleted.
- When cleaning out the junk data, your invoices templates got removed.
- You moved QuickBooks to a new computer and forget to move the customer invoices.
- QuickBooks encountered some errors with the backup file during the QuickBooks update.
- If you were using Google Dropbox, G-Suite, Drive, or other services and the subscription is not renewed, the invoices may be removed.
These could be the situations when it is required to restore the deleted invoices. Now, let’s know the procedure of QuickBooks restore deleted invoices.
Can I Recover a Deleted Invoice in QuickBooks Online?
QuickBooks allows its users to manage and track invoices. If you no longer wish to keep the invoices, you can delete them. However, you cannot restore the invoices once deleted from your account as there is no direct way to recover them.
If you want to recover the deleted invoices, all you can do is go to the Audit Log to get the transaction and re-enter them. Another way to restore the invoices is to use the backup files. To know how to undelete an invoice in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop using different methods, you can do the following:
How to Undelete Invoice in QuickBooks using Backup Files?
- First of all, retrieve the most recent backup data file.
- Now, click on the “File” menu.
- Scroll down and click on the “Open or Restore Company” option.
- Select the “Restore a backup copy” button.
- Hit the “Next” button.
Note: At this stage, your screen will prompt in case you want to save the backup copy online or locally. If you choose to store the backup copy in an external drive or a flash drive then click on the Local backup key and click the Next button.
- Search for the latest backup copy on your device.
- Then, click on the “This location” option.
- Click the “OK” button.
- Double click on the backup file or folder.
- Hit the “OK” button.
- Select a location to save your backup files and folders.
- Hit the “OK” button.
- Open that file and check for the lost transaction files.
- Then, enter the data directly.
How Do I Recover a Deleted Invoice in QuickBooks using Audit Log?
- Navigate through the “Settings” option.
- Click on the “Audit Log” option.
- Select the relevant user, events, and date using the “Filter” drop-down menu.
- Click the “Apply” button.
- Now, search for the deleted or lost transactions.
Note: To find the lost and deleted transactions easily, you can also use Ctrl + F keys and type Deleted in the search bar. This will show you a list of deleted invoices.
- Here, go to the “View” option located under the “History” column.
- All the details associated with the invoices can be viewed in the “Event” column.
- Using this detail from “Audit Log”, you can re-enter the transaction with their original date of transaction.
You have learned how to undelete an invoice in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop in two different ways. Although Audit Log is the easiest way to re-enter the transaction, you can also go with the backup file option to bring back the deleted invoices.
After you are done following the procedure of QuickBooks restore deleted invoice, you can use the transaction information to create a new invoice. For that, you can do the following:
- Click the “+New” button.
- Then, click on the “Invoice” button.
- Select the “Customer”.
- Add the “Date”.
- Choose the “Product/service”.
- Mention the “‘Rate” and “Quantity”.
- Choose the appropriate “Tax”.
- Hit the “Save and Close” button.
This way you can restore and re-create the invoice using the information from the recovered invoices.
Don’t Delete Just Void It!
There is no doubt that you can restore the deleted invoices. However, most users have problems recovering the invoices. As a result, you lose the information related to the customer and product or services. Hence, we recommend you not delete the transaction in QuickBooks.
Even if you want to remove a particular invoice then go with the Void option. By setting your invoices as void, you can save the invoice details for future reference while sorting your transaction list.
When you void the transaction, you may need to recover it. If that is the case, you can follow these steps:
- Launch QuickBooks program.
- Go to the “Reports” in the menu section.
- Click on the “Accountants and Taxes” option in the “Voided/Deleted Transactions Detail”.
- Now, check for the voided transaction in the list. Also, add the amount of transaction.
- Go to the main menu and click on the “Lists”.
- Then, select the “Chart of Accounts” using the drop-down menu.
- No, double click on the account that contains voided transactions. By doing so, you will see the account registration.
Note: When the transaction is voided, the transaction amount will appear in the account register. Moreover, the transaction amount turns to Zero.
- Go through the transaction in your account register.
- After this, add the original transaction amount into the “transaction amount” field.
- Click the “Record” or “Save” button.
Once done completing these steps, you can restore the transaction in the account register. This way, you can restore the deleted transactions in your QuickBooks account.
Summing Up
Now, you have learned how to bring back a deleted invoice in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. You can either choose the Audit Log option or restore invoices through the backup file.
The process is quite easy to recover deleted invoices. Yet we suggest you void the invoices rather than deleting them. By doing so you can save the invoice details for future reference.
Apart from this, you may learn more about QuickBooks errors and tutorials. Check out the following links: