What is the qbprint.qbp and what does it do?

All versions of QuickBooks programs have a qbprint.qbp file on the computer. This file creates a line entry for each form that is printed from QuickBooks. When a form is customized or a template for a form created, a line is generated and put in the qbprint.qbp file to hold the settings for the form. Some of the forms affected by this are the invoice, credit memo, sales receipt, purchase orders, statements, general journal entries, and estimates. When changes are made to the Printer Setup window or in the Print One form window a new line is written to the qbprint.qbp file that holds the new information.

The recommended method when troubleshooting issues involving the qbprint.qbp file is to rename the file and restarting QuickBooks. This will cause the loss of the custom settings, but by renaming the file, the custom settings are recoverable. When restarting QuickBooks, the default settings are created with a new qbprint.qbp file.

There are times where renaming the file does not work as well as we would like and it is necessary to delete the file. Deletion will cause the forms customizations to have to be recreated. Delete this file only as a last resort after attempting to resolve the issue with the renaming of the file first.

Renaming the qbprint.qbp file

1. Locating the qbprint.qbp file and renaming the file
   
   1. Windows 7 operating system
      1. Right click the Start menu on the Task Bar
      2. Left click on Open Windows Explorer
      3. Click on the C: drive (This can have a name attached such as System, OS or a name given when the operating system was installed)
      4. Click on Organize
      5. Click on Folder and search options
      6. Click the View tab
      7. With the View tab open, look for Show Hidden Files, Folders, or Drives
      8. Enter a check mark in the box
      9. Click OK
      10. Double click on the C: drive
      11. Open the ProgramData folder
      12. Open the Intuit folder
      13. Open the QuickBooks XXXX folder
      14. Locate the qbprint.qbp file
      15. Right click on the file
      16. Left click on Rename
      17. Change the name to qbprint.old, (if you find more than one in the folder, change the name to qbprint.old1, .old2, etc)
   2. Windows Vista operating system
      1. Left click Start on the Task Bar
      2. Left click on Search
      3. Click the arrow drop down for the Advanced Search
      4. Select the Location as the C: drive
      5. Select Include non-indexed, hidden, and system files
      6. Enter qbprint.qbp in the Name window
      7. Click Search
      8. When the search completes, right click the first file on the list
      9. Left click on Rename
      10. Change the name to qbprint.old, (if you find more than one, change the name to qbprint.old1, .old2, etc)
   3. Windows XP operating system
      1. Left click on the Start button on the Task Bar
      2. Left click on Search
      3. Choose All Files or Folders
      4. In All files and folders box enter qbprint.qbp
      5. If the C: drive is not showing in the Look in drop down box, use the drop down to select
      6. Click the More advanced options down arrow
      7. Select Search hidden files and folders
      8. Click Search to start the search on the computer for the files
      9. In the search box, right click the qbprint.qbp file
      10. Left click on Rename
      11. Change the name to qbprint.old, (if you find more than one, change the name to qbprint.old1, .old2, etc)
2. Deleting the qbprint.qbp file
   1. Windows 7, Vista, and XP
      1. Follow the same instructions for each operating system to locate the qbprint.qbp file
      2. Right click on the file
      3. Left click on Delete
      4. Answer yes to the questions
      5. Click OK