Regularly you need to maintain your QuickBooks data file. Usually I prefer to do it monthly before I did my bank reconciliation or month-end reporting. This is to ensure my data is in good condition and the accuracy of my report . Especially in the event when there is a power failure or the computer is not properly shutting down. Besides, rebuilding data helps in reducing file size and hence improve the speed in both accessing data and reporting.
Note: You should consider copying the data file to your local drive and run the maintenance directly from your computer instead of running the maintenance over the network, which may cause data corruption if there is a connection issue between your computer and the server.
Rebuild Data
First, you need to rebuild your data file. You have to ensure all users are logged out of the QuickBooks and you switch the QuickBooks to Single User mode (From File menu | Switch to Single-User mode).
Then, from the File menu, select Utilities and follow by Rebuild Data. Follow the rebuild data wizard to backup your data file and continue with the rebuilding of data.
QuickBooks will prompt you that rebuild is completed when there is no error found. If the rebuild failed, you need to contact a QuickBooks technician to manually repair your data file.
Verify Data
After rebuilding your data file, you should continue to run a verification, to ensure that there is no other issue with your data file.
To verify your data, go to the File menu and select Utilities and follow by Verify Data. QuickBooks will prompt you that it detected no problems with your data if the verification is successfully completed. If there is an error, you should contact a QuickBooks technician to repair your data file.