Installations & Downloads

Periodically, Intuit provides updates to QuickBooks that you can download from the Internet. These updates, also called maintenance releases or “patches”, are free product releases that improve program functionality and fix known issues. Updates should not be confused with upgrades, which add significant new features or functions to the program and must be purchased on CD-ROM.

QuickBooks provides three methods for downloading updates from the Internet. All of these methods require an Internet connection:

• Automatic Update Method
• On-Demand (Immediate) Update Method
• Release Download
• Manual Update

Once QuickBooks downloads an update, the program installs the necessary files to the correct location on your computer. The next time you restart QuickBooks, you are automatically prompted to install the update. In most cases, you must exit and restart QuickBooks before the update will take effect. If you use QuickBooks Pro or Premier in multi-user mode, you need to install the update on each computer that has QuickBooks Pro or Premier installed on it. See the multi-user instructions for information about sharing updates between networked computers.

Automatic Update Method (default setting)

QuickBooks is set up to automatically download updates from the Intuit server to your computer, whether or not QuickBooks is running. With this method, QuickBooks periodically checks the Intuit server for new updates and downloads new information gradually whenever your Internet connection is not heavily used. QuickBooks continues to download updates automatically until you disable the Automatic Update option.

To enable or disable the Automatic Update option, please follow these steps:

1. Go to the Help menu and click Update QuickBooks.
2. In the Update QuickBooks window, click the Options tab.
3. Select Yes to enable (or No to disable) the Automatic Update option.
   • If you enabled the Automatic Update option, select the updates you want to receive and clear the updates that you do not want in the Updates section.
   • If you disabled the Automatic Update, you will no longer be notified when a new update becomes available. However, you will occasionally receive a message asking if you would like to use the Update Service. This is a reminder to periodically check for updates and does not necessarily mean that an update is available.
4. Click Save and then click Close.

If you experience problems with the automatic update, try the alternative Immediate Update Method. If you are still unable to download an update, please contact QuickBooks Product Support, as the situation may be unique to your computer.

Immediate Update Method

With this method, you can immediately download updates from the Intuit server to your computer. You can use this option at any time (even if Automatic Update is enabled) and you can immediately download, whether or not QuickBooks is open. It is recommended that you check for updates approximately once a month.

To check for and install updates to QuickBooks, follow the steps below.

1. Go to the Help menu  and click Update QuickBooks.
2. Click the Update Now tab.
3. Select the updates to download and click Get Updates. To see what is included in the update, in the Updates column, click the Maintenance Releases link. A page is displayed that lists the changes/improvements in the update
4. Exit QuickBooks. Depending on the version you have, QuickBooks will prompt you to install the update now or the next time you start your software. When it does, click Install Now or Yes to install the update. After installing the update, restart your computer.

Note: Maintenance releases cannot be installed automatically. To install a maintenance release, close and reopen QuickBooks and then click Install Now when prompted.

Note: If you ever have to reinstall QuickBooks, you must also reinstall all applicable updates in the order they were released, otherwise you may not be able to open your company file.

Release Download

If you do not want to install updates using the update feature in QuickBooks or you are having problems with the update feature, you can download and install available updates. It is strongly recommended, however, that you use the update feature in QuickBooks to install updates. If you own multiple copies of QuickBooks, be sure to update them all, otherwise you may not be able to open your company file(s). See the multi-user instructions for information about sharing updates between networked computers.

For information and steps on downloading and installing available updates see our QuickBooks product updates article.

Updates for Multi-User Mode in QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Premier

If you use QuickBooks Pro or Premier in multi-user mode, you need to install the update on each computer that has QuickBooks Pro or Premier installed on it. You can either connect to the Internet from each computer that has QuickBooks installed on it, or you can download the update to one computer on your network and share it.
To share an update, all QuickBooks Pro or Premier users on your network must complete the following steps:

1. Open the shared company file.
2. Go to the Help menu and click Update QuickBooks.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Set the Share Download option to Yes.
5. Click the Save button.

Once everyone has completed these steps, updates that are downloaded will be distributed to all users. Note: When you turn on the Share Download option, QuickBooks downloads updates to the same location as the company file. Otherwise, QuickBooks downloads updates to the directory or folder where your copy of QuickBooks is installed. Installing new releases updates your QuickBooks company file. Once the company file has been updated, it may not be accessible using earlier releases of QuickBooks.