How do I perform an automatic backup?

IMPORTANT: For the automatic backups to run successfully, all the following points must be TRUE:

• The Automatic configuration must be setup on the computer that stores the data
• That must computer be on at the time the scheduled backup occurs
• Sage 50 Company cannot be in active use

1. Go to File, Automatic Backup or run Automatic Backup Configuration from the Start menu or the desktop shortcut.
2. Select Browse beside Company directory and select the company directory.
3. Select Browse beside Save Backup to and select the destination folder to save the backup files in.
4. If the company has users set up:
   1. Enter the Sage 50 user name
   2. Enter the Password
   3. Confirm the password
   4. Click Verify User Details
5. Under Include, if available: if desired:
   • Select Company name in the backup file name (recommended if using more than one Sage 50 company)
   • Select Archived companies
   • Select Attachments (recommended if attaching files, such as PDFs or images, to transactions or maintenance records)
6. Under If a backup file already exists, select the desired backup option.
   The best practice is to use Automatically create a new backup file. This option will create a new backup file if a backup file of the same name exists in the backup folder.
7. Select Log out users prior to running backup (recommended but not required).
8. Click Save.
9. Choose a save location and a File Name for the configuration file. The company directory is a suitable location.
10. Click Save.
11. Select Schedule.
12. Select the desired backup schedule (weekly backups are recommended).
13. Click OK.
14. When prompted for a password, enter the password (not the pin) for the Windows account and click OK.
    Note: The Windows Task Scheduler requires that the Windows user account has a password configured.
15. Click Save.

• For the automatic backups to complete successfully, Sage 50 does not need to be open, but Windows must be logged in on the computer that created the backup configuration file; for this reason, it is recommended to perform these steps at the server
• If any users are signed into the Sage 50 company at the scheduled backup time and the option to Log out users prior to running backup is not enabled, the backup will not proceed
• The best practice is to save the backups to a specific folder set up for backup files, and to have this folder backed up to an off-site location or external drive periodically to prevent data loss should hardware failure occur
• To view the log of automatic backups, browse to the folder where the backup configuration file (.PTC) was saved, and open the .txt file with the same name