QuickBooks Verify and Rebuild Data: When and How

Updated 10/20/2026. Checked against Intuit's help articles.

Verify Data checks a QuickBooks Desktop company file for damage. Rebuild Data repairs the damage Verify finds. Run Verify first; run Rebuild only when Verify says you need it.

Verify the data

Close every window: Window, Close All.
Choose File, Utilities, Verify Data.
Read the result:
- QuickBooks detected no problems with your data: nothing to do.
- A specific error message: search Intuit’s QuickBooks Desktop support site for it.
- Your data has lost integrity: the file is damaged; rebuild it.

Rebuild the data

Choose File, Utilities, Rebuild Data.
QuickBooks makes you back up first. Save the backup somewhere you will find it, under a new name, and do not overwrite an older backup.
Wait for “Rebuild has completed” and choose OK.
Run Verify Data again.

If you use Assisted Payroll, contact Intuit before you rebuild.

When the rebuild does not fix it

Run Verify again to see what remains.
Look up the remaining errors in the qbwin.log file and search Intuit’s support site for the fix.
If there is no fix, restore a recent backup with File, Open or Restore Company, without replacing the current file, and re-enter what happened since that backup.

The last step is only as good as your backups. On our QuickBooks hosting, the server that holds the company files is backed up every day and each copy is kept for 30 days.

Learn it properly

This topic is one module of our QuickBooks Desktop Training for Bookkeepers, one of seven self-paced QuickBooks courses for bookkeepers and accounting staff.