We may be in the midst of summer, but Quickbooks can “freeze” at any time! It can be downright obnoxious, but knowing why Quickbooks sometimes stops responding can help you figure out ways to deal with the problem.
Wait it out. If Quickbooks is in the middle of a complicated process, such as filtering a large report, rebuilding a file, or making a portable copy, it may freeze for a few minutes. You’ll probably see a “Not Responding” message at the top of the window, which can sound a lot more serious than the situation really warrants. In this situation, Quickbooks just needs to finish what it’s doing before you can use the system again. Take a small break, work on something else, or just go grab a cup of coffee. Quickbooks will be up and running again very soon.
Upgrade to Enterprise. If Quickbooks seems to be consistently sluggish, it could be that your file is getting too large. At this point Quickbooks may begin to freeze even when performing simple tasks like saving an invoice. If you’re using Quickbooks Pro or Premier, one solution is to upgrade to Enterprise, which can handle a larger amount of data much more efficiently.
If upgrading isn’t an option, you can also condense your file. This will make the file smaller and faster, and it should run more smoothly.
Quickbooks can become corrupted, which can be scary for a business owner. You may suspect corrupted data if Quickbooks always seems to freeze up when you try to go into a particular screen or perform a certain action. First try verifying the data file, and if that doesn’t work rebuild the data. If those two steps fail, restoring your last good backup will often fix the problem, although you will lose any work you’ve done since then.
If all else fails, try a data repair service. In most cases you won’t have to endure much downtime, and your system will be up and running smoothly again very soon.