Thanks for keeping QuickBooks as your accounting partner, @KernFarm.
I'd be glad to help you upgrade your file to a newer version of QuickBooks.
To start, you'll need to back up your company file first on your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) 2018 version. When done, you'll have to restore it to your QBDT 2021 to upgrade the file. Note that you'll no longer be able to open the file in QBDT 2018 once the upgrade is complete.
Let me guide you on how:
- Open your QuickBooks Desktop 2018 and go to the File menu.
- Hover over Back up Company and select Create Local Backup.
- Choose Local Backup and then Next.
- Click Browse and choose where you want to save your backup company file.
- Click OK.
- In the Create Backup window, specify whether to back up automatically, and select Options to set options for automatic backups.
- Select New to set a backup schedule in the Schedule Backups dialog.
- Click Finish.
For more info about the process, see this article: Back up your QuickBooks Desktop company file.
Once done, you're now ready to upgrade the file to QBDT 2021. To guide you with the process, please check out this link: Upgrade your company files after you switch to a new version of QuickBooks Desktop.
If you're looking for resources or articles you can bookmark or save for future use, you can always visit QuickBooks Help articles page. You can manually search via entering a keyword on the search field or open any of the categories displayed to start browsing.
If you need further assistance upgrading your file, please post a reply below. I'm just a post away to help you in any way I can. More power to your business.
