Your bookkeeping still opens every morning in QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus 2023, Contractor edition. Every job since 2023 is in there, along with the memorized job reports your bookkeeper built. Then bank downloads stopped, and someone mentioned that Intuit had ended support.
Intuit's policy page says that "After May 31, 2026, QuickBooks Desktop 2023 software will be discontinued." That ended live support, security updates, bank downloads, payment processing and automatic payroll tax updates for the 2023 versions. You have three real choices: upgrade to the 2024 version, move to QuickBooks Online, or move to another system. Each one goes better if you clean up the file first.
What does staying on Desktop 2023 cost you?
List what you've lost and what you're doing by hand instead. Intuit's page names these losses for the 2023 versions:
- Live technical support: "you will lose access to live technical support."
- Security updates: "Discontinued versions won't receive critical security updates."
- Online banking: "You won't be able to download transactions, send online payments, or send online transfers."
- Payments: the software "won't be able to process credit card and check transactions."
- Payroll: Basic and Enhanced Payroll won't "automatically calculate payroll taxes or provide payroll tax forms," and Assisted Payroll subscriptions are deactivated.
Intuit also lists the Accountant Copy Transfer Service, multicurrency and emailing forms and reports among the services affected. For each one you use, write down who now does it by hand and how long it takes each month. If you run payroll in Desktop, that line alone usually settles the question.
Why are so many contractors still on 2023?
The file works, so nobody touches it. Contractor files carry years of jobs, change orders and retainage. Nobody wants to be the person who breaks it.
The reports live in Desktop. Memorized job reports, built up over years, are how many owners see job profit. Intuit's own migration guide says memorized reports don't move to QuickBooks Online.
The upgrade is a one-way door. Intuit says that after you upgrade a company file, "you can't use the upgraded file in the older version." Every computer that opens the file has to move at the same time.
The product line changed underneath them. Intuit's release page says Desktop Plus 2024 and Enterprise 24.0 "were our final annual platform releases," and that Pro Plus, Premier Plus and Mac "are no longer available for sale to new customers." It's harder to plan when the product's future is unclear.
How do you handle the move yourself?
1. Decide where you're going.
- Upgrade to Desktop Plus 2024 or Enterprise 24.0. Intuit says existing Plus and Enterprise subscribers "receive version 2024 at no extra cost." This keeps your jobs and memorized reports as they are. Intuit's release page names no end date for the 2024 version yet.
- Move to QuickBooks Online. This ends the version upgrades, but your jobs, reports and some data change shape (step 4).
- Move to another system. Some contractors use the deadline to move to construction accounting software. That's a bigger project, with its own conversion rules.
2. Clean up before you move anything. A move copies your mess to the new place. Before you convert:
- reconcile every bank and credit card account up to the most recent statement;
- review open invoices and bills, and clear out ones that were paid or voided elsewhere;
- make inactive the customers, jobs and items you no longer use;
- merge true duplicates in the customer and vendor lists;
- run Verify Data and, if it finds problems, Rebuild Data, which Intuit's migration page lists as a preparation step.
Which history to move, all of it or only opening balances, is a decision for your accountant, not the software.
3. Back up in a separate folder. Before converting, save a full backup of the Desktop file in its own clearly labeled folder, for example "Pre-Conversion Backup". Keep it, and keep a copy of the Desktop 2023 installer, so you can always open the old file.
4. If you're moving to QuickBooks Online, know what changes. Intuit's guide to what transfers says:
- jobs with no jobs beneath them "will migrate as projects," and all other jobs "will migrate as sub-customers";
- memorized reports don't move;
- the audit trail doesn't move;
- job status and job description don't move, and job types aren't available in QuickBooks Online;
- past reconciliation reports don't move;
- units of measure don't move for inventory items, and custom fields on items don't move.
Export every memorized report you rely on to Excel first, for at least the last full year. Those exports become your test: after the move, the new reports should give the same totals.
5. Check the file's size. In Desktop, press F2 or Ctrl+1 to open Product Information and check Total Targets. Intuit says it must be below 4,000,000; above that, you have to condense the data before moving.
6. Run the export. Intuit's page says to update Desktop to the latest release first. In Pro or Premier, go to Company, select Migrate this company file to QuickBooks Online, then Export Your Company File to QuickBooks Online. In Enterprise, press Ctrl+1 to open Product Information, then Ctrl+B+Q to open the export window. Intuit gives you 90 calendar days to move your data if you signed up for QuickBooks Online yourself, and 180 if your accountant signed you up. If the online company already has data, you'll be asked to replace it, and Intuit warns that you can't undo that.
7. Compare before you switch off Desktop. Run your balance sheet and profit and loss for the same dates in both systems. Then compare your exported job reports with the new versions, job by job. Only stop entering in Desktop once the numbers agree, or the differences are explained and signed off by your accountant.
When does doing it yourself stop working?
- The file is big or damaged. Rebuild errors, a target count near the limit or a file that needs condensing all call for someone who has done it before.
- Your job reports have to match. Rebuilding job profit, cost-to-complete or unbilled-cost reports in a new system and proving they agree is the part most moves skimp on.
- Other software connects to Desktop. Time tracking, estimating or payroll tools that link to your file need to be reconnected or replaced.
- Nobody has the time. A move done in evenings, alongside running jobs, tends to stall halfway, with two systems running at once.
What are your options?
| Option | Good for | Watch for | What you keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself with Intuit's upgrade or export tools | Small, clean files and simple job reports | One-way upgrades, the replace prompt, and reports that don't move | Your backup and your own comparison |
| Buy a tool: a third-party conversion service or app | Large histories, or moves to other systems | Check what it carries over and what still has to be rebuilt | The converted file |
| Hire a freelancer or your bookkeeper | The cleanup and the move, if they've converted files before | Ask who rebuilds the reports and proves they match | Their notes |
| An outside team that learns how you work and builds on your data | Files with years of jobs, connected apps, and reports that must match | Needs read access and time with whoever runs the books | The cleaned file, the rebuilt reports and the comparison, documented |
What can you hand off, and what should stay with your team?
Hand off the cleanup work, the conversion, the report exports, the comparisons and rebuilding the reports.
Keep the decisions: which system you move to, how much history comes along, when Desktop stops being used, and the sign-off that the numbers match. Your accountant should agree on the history and opening balances. Your project managers should check that the job reports still answer their questions.
Questions to ask anyone you hire, us included
- Have you moved contractor files with jobs and sub-customers before? What changed shape?
- What cleanup will you do before the move, and what will you leave for us?
- Which of my reports won't move, and how will you rebuild them?
- How will you prove that the balances and job reports match?
- What happens to the apps connected to my Desktop file?
- Where will the pre-conversion backup live, and who keeps it?
You can read how we approach cleanups and bulk changes, or show us your file on a 30-minute walk-through.
FAQ
Does QuickBooks Desktop 2023 stop opening after May 31, 2026? Intuit's policy page lists the services that end, such as support, security updates, bank downloads, payments and payroll tax updates. It doesn't say the program stops opening. Without security updates, though, running it carries risk.
Is the upgrade to 2024 free? Intuit says existing Desktop Plus and Enterprise subscribers receive version 2024 at no extra cost.
Can I go back to 2023 after upgrading? Not with the upgraded file. Intuit says you can't use an upgraded file in the older version. Keep a pre-conversion backup.
Will my jobs come across to QuickBooks Online? Yes, but they change shape. Jobs with nothing beneath them become projects, and the rest become sub-customers. Job status, job description and job types don't come across.
What about my memorized reports? They don't move to QuickBooks Online. Export them first, so you can rebuild them and check the new versions against the old ones.