QuickBooks Migration Tool

You need to set up the migrator tool and configure various options so that you can smoothly transfer QuickBooks desktop to your new system. Setting up the tool requires minimum work, so you don’t have to worry about a long, laborious process.

Note: log into QuickBooks desktop with an admin account to use the migrator tool.

Here are the steps to configure migrator tool to transfer Quickbooks to a new system:

1. Go to the File menu from the main screen in QuickBooks.
2. Go to the Utilities option.
3. Choose Move QuicKbooks to another computer. 
4. Choose I’m Ready, then input a one-time password that will be required later to move the accounting software to the new system.
5. Use the USB Flash drive with your new system.

After setting up the migrator tool, use the following steps to easily move QuickBooks to your new system:

1. Plug in the USB device that you used to transfer data through the migrator tool.
2. Open the USB device folder.
3. Double click on the Move_QuickBooks.bat file to launch the migrator tool on your new system.
4. Input the password that you created while configuring the migrator tool on your system. 
5. Click on Finish after the migration process finishes.

You’ll get a confirmation message from the migrator tool after the transfer process completes.

You’ve to take a few more steps to complete the process of migration:

• Activate the payroll service by entering the service key.
• Create a backup schedule. (You can also activate the Intuit Data Protect service to store the backup copies automatically on Intuit’s servers.)
• Migrate any other company files from the old system to your new one.

The Migrator tool in QuickBooks desktop only migrates up to 3 company files. So the rest of the company files must be transferred manually. After importing the company files to the new system, you can simply open the company files with QuickBooks desktop, which will import the data and enable you to work with it.

Note: Here is a list of all data types that won’t be migrated when using the QuickBooks migrator tool:

• Payroll & Payment Setup: You’ll have to configure payroll and payment setup once again on your new system after you’ve activated the payroll service with the subscription of the service.
• Intuit Data Protect (IDP) settings: If you’ve subscribed to Intuit data protect, then you can enable it on this system after the migration process so that backups are automatically created and transferred to a server managed by Intuit itself.
• Backup Files: any backup files created on the previous system won’t be migrated to the new one. However, you can manually copy the backup files and create new ones using the backup feature in Quickbooks desktop.
• Few Company Files: The migrator toll does not transfer more than 3 company files to your new system, so you need to manually transfer those files.
• Multi-User settings: If you’ve hosted the company file on a separate server to enable multi-user mode, then you’ll have to reconfigure the entire settings to enable multi-user mode once again.

If you don’t want to rely on the migrator tool to transfer your data to the new system, then you can follow these steps to manually transfer your software and data to your new system:

1. Go to the Control Panel.
2. Choose Program and Features, then Uninstall a Program.
3. Choose QuickBooks, then right click on it.
4. Choose Uninstall/Change.
5. Follow on-screen instructions to uninstall the program from your system.
6. On your new system, download and install QuickBOoks desktop.
7. Transfer your company files and open them using the newly installed software.

Even though you’ve successfully transferred your accounting data, you’ll have to spend a lot more time on configuring most of the tools and features that you won't have had to if you used the migrator tool to transfer Quickbooks desktop to your new system.