You can save your QuickBooks for Mac company data as a (QBB) backup file, which can be restored in QuickBooks for Windows, using one of the following menus.
Note: “Save File for Accountant” does not appear to produce a different type of backup file. Choose that option only if you expect to receive an updated backup from your accountant or bookkeeper containing their changes. Do not install any QB updates while expecting a modified backup to restore.
QuickBooks will prompt you to “Verify Before Backup” – and we encourage choosing the “Verify” option. It takes a little longer, but doing so usually ensures there are no problems with your data before creating the QuickBooks for Windows company backup file.
QuickBooks will then ask where you want to save the backup file. “Save As” usually defaults your company’s name, and rarely needing to be changed.
Tip: Setting “Where” to “Desktop” makes it easy to find 😉
Optional: Password protecting the backup. If you do, the password will be required by anyone attempting to restore your company file in QuickBooks for Windows.
Once the backup is complete, send the QBB backup file to whoever needs to open it using QuickBooks for Windows!
Note: Windows backup files created by QuickBooks for Mac appear to adhere to the QuickBooks 2005 data format. If the recipient has QuickBooks 2005 or newer, they should be able to restore your company’s QuickBooks backup without difficulty.